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Balfour Declaration
British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour sends a letter to Lord Rothschild, President of the Zionist Federation, declaring his government would "view with favour the establishment of a national home for the Jewish in Palestine" -
Peel Commission
The Peel Commission proposes a partition plan rejected by the Arab leadership as it included a Jewish state. The Jewish opinion was divided as Jewish immigration was limited to only 12,000, and the Twentieth Zionist Congress ultimately rejected the proposal as well. -
White Paper of 1939
The White Paper of 1939 calls for the creation of a unified Palestinian state. Even though the White Paper states its commitment to the Balfour Declaration, it imposed very substantial limits to both Jewish immigration (restricting it to only 75,000 over the next 5 years), and Jewish ability to purchase land. -
Second World War
The Haganah begins the smuggling of Jews from Europe to Palestine to provide refuge from the Holocaust. Arab leaders are split: while some assist the Allies, others like the Palestinian Amin al-Husayni assist the Axis. Many of the Middle Eastern Jewish communities are hit by pro-Axis Arab regimes, and the early stage of Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands begins. Most Jewish and Arab Palestinian militant groups attain the policy of cease fire with each other and the British. -
Lehi (also known as the Stern Gang) - the most radical jewish organization splits from Irgun.
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Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
Proposed admission of 100,000 Jewish refugees into the Mandate. -
King David Hotel Bombing
Irgun members detonate bombs in the basement of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, where the British had brought a large amount of documents confiscated from the Jewish Agency. The attack kills 91 people and injures 45 more, mostly civilians. The hotel was a center of British administration at the time, although Arabs and Jews were also victims. The Jewish National Council condemns the attack. -
Partition Plan
With a two-thirds majority international vote, the UN General Assembly passes a Partition Plan dividing the British Mandate of Palestine into two states. The Jewish leadership accepts the plan, but the Arab leadership rejects it. -
Haifa Oil Refinery massacre.
Irgun militants hurl two bombs into a crowd of Arab workers from a passing vehicle, killing 6 workers and wounding 42, damaging the relative peace between the two groups in Haifa. Later that day the Arab crowd broke into the refinery compound, killing 39 Jews and wounding 49. Skirmishes continued in Haifa and around the region. -
Deir Yassin massacre
Around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people. The assault occurred as Jewish militia sought to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem during the civil war that preceded the end of British rule in Palestine. Around 107 villagers were killed during and after the battle for the village. -
Arab Israeli War
Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Transjordan, Holy War Army, Arab Liberation Army, and local Arabs attack the new Jewish state with the intent of destroying it. The resulting 1948 Arab-Israeli War lasts for 13 months. -
Israel concludes Armistice Agreements with neighbouring countries.
The territory of the British Mandate of Palestine is divided between the State of Israel, the Kingdom of the Jordan and Egypt. During and after the war about 700,000 Palestinian Arabs become refugees. A very comparable number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands flee and become refugees during and after the war. -
Suez Crisis
The attack followed the President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal, after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam, which was in response to Egypt's new ties with the Soviet Union.The aims of the attack were to regain Western control of the canal and precipitate the fall of Nasser from power. Rressure from the United States and the USSR at the United Nations and elsewhere forced them to withdraw. -
Formation of the PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization is founded in Cairo by the Arab League with Ahmad Shuqeiri as its leader. Even though Ahmad Shuqeiri is the official leader, the organization is more or less controlled by the Egyptian government. The PLO states their goal as the destruction of the State of Israel through armed struggle, and replacing it with an "independent Palestinian state" between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. -
The Six Day War
Israel seized Gaza and the Sinai from Egypt in the south and the Golan Heights from Syria in the north. It also pushed Jordanian forces out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Egypt's powerful air force was put out of action on the first day of fighting when Israeli jets bombed it on the ground in a pre-emptive strike.The territorial gains doubled the area of land controlled by Israel. The victory heralded a new age of confidence and optimism for Israel and its supporters. -
Khartoum Resolution
The Khartoum Resolution issued at the Arab Summit with eight Arab countries adopts the "three nos": 1. No peace with Israel, 2. No recognition of Israel, 3. No negotiations with Israel. -
Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat offers full peace treaty but is rejected by Israel & US
Sadat endorsed in a letter the peace proposals of UN negotiator Gunnar Jarring which seemed to lead to a full peace with Israel on the basis of Israel's withdrawal to its pre-war borders. This peace initiative failed as neither Israel nor the United States of America accepted the terms as discussed then. -
Islamic terrorist group kills Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics
The kidnappers killed eleven Israeli athletes and coaches and a West German police officer. Israel responded to the killings with Operation Spring of Youth and Operation Wrath of God, as well as a series of airstrikes and killings of those suspected of planning the kidnappings. -
Yom Kippur War
Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israel-held lands to coincide with the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. After initial losses, the Israelis regained nearly all of the territory they occupied during the six day war. Soon after the war, Saudi Arabia led a petroleum embargo against states that supported Israel. It caused steep rises in petrol prices and fuel shortages across the world. -
Israel and Egypt make peace
The US combined diplomacy with financial muscle to soften relations between Israel and Egypt. In 1979 the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat signed a mutual recognition pact with Israel and Sinai was returned to Egypt. -
Sadat assassinated by fundamentalist group in Egypt
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Lebanon War - "Operation Peace for Galilee".
Invasion of Lebanon, taking the Israelis right up to and into Beirut.Yasser Arafat and his fighters were forced to depart for Tunisia. But the operation went wrong for Israel. It was condemned by world - and much of its own - opinion when Christian fighters massacred hundreds of Palestinian civilians as the Israeli army stood by, and it failed to make a political agreement with the Christians stick. It pulled back to an enclave north of their border. -
First Intifada
Violence, riots, general strikes, and civil disobedience campaigns by Palestinians spread across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces respond with tear gas, plastic bullets, and live ammunition.After the outbreak of the First Intifada, Shaikh Ahmed Yassin creates Hamas from the Gaza wing of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. -
Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack
A suicide attack which was carried by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member on a crowded Egged commuter bus line No. 405 en route from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem (Israel) whom seized the steering wheel of the bus from the driver and pulled the bus over a steep precipice into a ravine in the area of Qiryat Ye'arim. 16 civilians were killed in the attack—including two Canadians and one American—and 27 more were wounded. -
Massacre of Palestinians at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem
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Madrid Conference
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Yitzhak Rabin of the Labour Party elected Prime Minister.
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Mehola Junction bombing
The first suicide car bomb attack carried out by Palestinian militants. One Palestinian bystander was killed by the blast, and eight Israeli soldiers were slightly injured. -
Oslo Agreement
The Accords provided for the creation of a Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The Palestinian Authority would have responsibility for the administration of the territory under its control. The Accords also called for the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. -
Hamas carries out their second suicide bombing, in Afula, Israel, killing 8 people.
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Hamas carries out their second suicide bombing, in Afula, Israel, killing 8 people.
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A double suicide bombing by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaves 21 killed in one of the biggest attacks which further divides the Israeli public over the peace process.
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Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by Zionist extremists
Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a radical right-wing Orthodox Jew who opposed the signing of the Oslo Accords. -
Second Intifada
Right wing Israeli Opposition Leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount which is administered by a Waqf (Under Israeli law, each religious group is granted administration of their holy sites). The day after the visit, violent confrontations erupt between Muslims and Israeli Police. Arafat names the second intifada the Al-Aqsa Intifada after Sharon's visit, for the Al-Aqsa Mosque contained within the Temple Mount compound (holy also to Jews and Christians). -
Violent confrontations erupt between Muslims and Israeli Police outside a mosque.
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Solidarity demonstrations held by Palestinian citizens of Israel escalate into clashes with Israeli police and Israeli Jewish citizens.
13 Arab civilians (12 with Israeli citizenship) are shot and killed by Israeli police and one Jewish civilian is killed by an Arab citizen. In Hezbollah cross-border raid 3 Israeli soldiers are killed and their bodies kidnapped and Northern Israel is shelled in an attempt to ignite the Israeli-Lebanese border too, but Israelis decide on limited response. -
The lynching in Ramallah.
Two Israeli reservists accidentally enter Ramallah, to be arrested by Palestinian Security Forces, later to be publicly lynched and videotaped inside the Police station. -
Taba Summit.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed to reach the "final status" of negotiations. Ehud Barak temporarily withdraws from negotiations during the Israeli elections, subsequently Ariel Sharon refused to continue negotiating in the face of the newly erupted violence. -
Dolphinarium massacre.
A Hamas suicide bomber exploded himself at the entrance of a club. 21 Israelis killed, over 100 injured, all youth.
Five months prior to the bombing, there was a failed terrorist attempt at the same spot. -
Sbarro restaurant massacre
A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt weighing 5 to 10 kilograms, containing explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb. In the blast 15 people (including 7 children) were killed, and 130 wounded. Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad initially claimed responsibility. -
Patt junction massacre.
A Hamas Palestinian Islamic law student explodes himself with a belt filled with metal balls for shrapnel. 19 Israelis killed, and over 74 wounded. -
US President George W. Bush calls for an independent Palestinian state living in peace with Israel.
In a major speech, Bush states that Palestinian leaders must take steps to produce democratic reforms, and fiscal accountability, in order to improve the negotiations with Israel. He also states that as Palestinians show control over terrorism, Israel must end operations in the West Bank, and in areas which it entered under Operation Defensive Shield. -
Lebanon War
After eight Israeli soldiers had been killed and two captured by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a 33-day war in which Hezbollah fired a hail of rockets into Israel and the Israelis bombed Lebanese towns, villages and infrastructure but made little headway in ground operations. The war ended inconculsively but with Hezbollah largely intact. A new element had also been introduced into Israel's wars. It accused Iran of arming Hezbollah (and Hamas). -
Fox journalists kidnapping.
Palestinian militants kidnap Fox journalists Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, demanding the U.S. to release all Muslims in prison. The two are eventually released on August 27, after stating they have converted to Islam. -
Battle of Gaza
Hamas takes control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah. -
Palestine Authority moves a resolution in UN for recognition of Palestine statehood, calling it a 'Palestine Spring
