Arab-Israeli Conflict (1917-present)

By kayari

  • Balfour Declaration

    The British Balfour Declaration promised to create a Jewish homeland in the region comprising the ancient Land of Israel.

  • British Mandate Established

    League of Nations divided Ottoman lands between the British and the French after WWI. Arab resistance to Jewish immigration grew, causing the British to sharply limit Jewish immigration.

  • WWI & The Holocaust

    Nazi Germany attacked and conquered most of Europe. After the war, Jewish resistance in the Mandate was conducted against British refusal to allow the immigration of Jewish displaced persons, the remnant of European Jews, who survived the Holocaust and had nowhere else to go.

  • UN Partition Plan

    The UN General Assembly voted to strike a compromise by partitioning the Palestine Mandate into an Arab state and a Jewish state and to internationalize the city of Jerusalem.

  • Independence of the new State of Israel

    David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, proclaimed the independence of the new State of Israel.

  • 1948 War

    Arab armies from Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq attack the new Jewish state.

  • Six day War/ Arab-Israeli War

    Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq moved their armies to Israel’s borders. Egypt closed the international water way, the Straits of Tiran, to all Israeli shipping. As a result of the war, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.

  • The October War / Yom Kippur War / 1973 Arab-Israeli War

    Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur. After the war, Israel retained the territories captured in 1967.

  • Camp David Accords

    Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt signed agreements in Camp David.

  • Egypt and Israel Sign a Peace Agreement

    Egypt’s President, Anwar Sadat realized that a continuing state of war with Israel was harming the Egyptian economy and the well-being of his people. For its part, Israel returned to Egypt all of the Sinai that had been captured during the 1967 war and removed Jewish families from the homes they had established there.

  • The 1982 Lebanon War/ The First Lebanon War

    PLO units in southern Lebanon increasingly attacked communities in northern Israel. In response, Israel launched an attack on PLO militants stationed in Lebanon.

  • The First Intifada

    Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank engaged in an uprising, or intifada, against Israeli control of these territories.

  • The Oslo Accords

    The Oslo Accords were a set of agreements that began in 1993 when Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles (DOP). The Oslo Accords led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority. It also called on Israel to gradually withdraw its military presence from the Gaza Strip and a small area around Jericho. It left Israel the right to defend itself and its citizens, including those in the territories.

  • Israel and Jordan Sign a Peace Treaty

    The United States led a difficult but successful diplomatic process to help Jordan and Israel achieve peace.

  • The Camp David Summit

    It was the first major attempt to negotiate a comprehensive final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Although the negotiations were carried out in secret, participants President Clinton and Dennis Ross attributed the failure of the talks to Arafat’s refusal to compromise. The goal of the summit, two states living side by side in peace, was not achieved and further conflict ensued.

  • The Second Intifada

    Israeli General Ariel Sharon visited the Jewish Temple Mount, a site revered by Jews that is also of major importance to Muslims. There was widespread frustration at the lack of progress in the peace process. This started a conflict. Israelis were terrorized by numerous suicide bombers who targeted and killed hundreds of civilians. In response, Israel’s military returned to major population centers in the territories and carried out operations against terrorist targets.

  • Israel Begins Constructing a Security Barrier

    Israel decided to build a security barrier that would separate its citizens from terrorist groups in the West Bank.

  • The Roadmap for Peace is Proposed

    The Roadmap for Peace, known as the Roadmap, is a plan for peace that was proposed in 2003 by the “Quartet:” the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations.

  • Israel Disengages from Gaza

    Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began a process that led Israel to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements as part of a larger policy of “disengagement,” or the separation of Israel from Palestinian territories.

  • The 2006 Lebanon War

    Hezbollah, a radical Islamist organization committed to destroying Israel based in Lebanon and is believed to be heavily supported by Iran and Syria, crossed the Lebanon-Israel border and attacked an Israeli army unit. It killed eight soldiers and kidnapping two more who were later murdered. At the same time, it began launching rockets into Israeli cities and towns.

  • Battle of Gaza

    Hamas militants attacked Fatah members throughout Gaza. In response, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, dissolved the Hamas government.

  • Annapolis Conference

    US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice organized a conference between Israel and the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah leaders which was attended by many Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Syria. The Annapolis conference marked the first time that a two state solution was publicly referred to as the mutually agreed-upon framework for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nonetheless, Israelis and Palestinians have not reached a formal agreement and conflict continues.

  • Gaza War

    Between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009, Israel attacked Hamas targets in Gaza in order to stop rocket attacks on southern Israel and to disrupt terrorist infrastructure and weapons smuggling.

  • Gaza Flotilla Incident

    After Hamas seized control from the Palestinian Authority, Israel and Egypt began a blockade of Gaza. Israel informed the ships that they could not sail into Gaza, but they could dock at the Israeli port of Ashdod where their cargo would be inspected and permitted goods would be shipped into Gaza. The ships refused. Israeli commandos boarded the ships. On one ship, the Mavi Marmara, the commandos were attacked with iron bars and knives.

  • Arab Spring

    Beginning in Tunisia, citizens in Arab states began to protest against autocratic and oppressive governments.