Gaza - History of Jewish settlement The last Jews living in Gaza were present until 1929, when they were forced to leave the area due to violent riots and massacres against them by the Arabs. Following these riots, and the death of 133 Jews in all, the British prohibited Jews from living in Gaza to quell tension and appease the Arabs. The earliest Jewish settlement of the area is by Abraham and Issac, both of whom lived in the Gerar area of Gaza, roughly 3,700 years ago, and it since belonged to the Jewish tribe of Judea. Jews lived in Gaza throughout the centuries and many conquerors of the land, with a regaining stronger presence in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Jews in Gaza maintained a religious jewish practice, with synagogues, bet din jewish house of law, and yeshivah in Gaza. Some of its rabbis wrote scholarly works. Farmer owners were obliged to observe the laws of terumah, maasrot, and the sabbatical year. The Dutch Scolar Adrian Reland, wrote an account of his visit of land in 1696. Concerning Gaza he notes, Gaza consisted of 550 people, about 250 Jews the rest mostly Christians. Jews were farmers, they had flourishing vineyards, olive tree orchards and wheat fields. Christians worked in commerce and transportation of produce and other goods. Most of the Arabs living in Gaza and Israel came in the middle to late 1920s to escape economic hardship and political persecution in their former countries (Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabi etc.) In 1967 Israel occupied Gaza from Egypt in the six day war. Jew resettled in Gaza, building 21 small towns, and a population of about 8,000. In 2005, Israel began a disengagement process from Gaza, and since no Jews have been present in the Gaza Strip. https://youtube/watch?v=P2xmmOmHqCU
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 11:15:30 +0000