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War for Israeli Independence
The United Nations decides to partition Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. Mounting violence leads to the first Arab-Israeli war in early 1948. -
Suez Crisis
Israeli leadership grows increasingly weary of cross-border attacks from the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip as well as Egypt's attempts to block Israeli shipping in the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aqaba.
He nationalizes the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956. Britain, which owns nearly half of the Suez Canal Company, seeks to prevent the nationalization by joining with France and Israel to gain control of the waterway. -
Six-Day War
Israel plans pre-emptive strikes June 5 against Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq — nations that had mobilized for war — while moving troops into the Sinai Peninsula and the canal region.
Jordan launches an offensive in Jerusalem on June 5. Israeli defenses retaliate and capture all of East Jerusalem and the West Bank within three days. -
Yom Kippur War
Arab nations warn Israel that they will not accept Israeli occupation of lands lost in 1967. After Egypt's Nasser was succeeded by Anwar Sadat, Sadat prepares his country for war, including a contract with the Soviets for more sophisticated weaponry. Sadat, allied with President Hafez Assad of Syria, attacks Israel on Oct. 6, 1973, on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Israel fights back and gains back most of the ground lost in the initial attack -
Camp David Accords
Egyptian and Israeli leaders meet at Camp David with President Carter in 1978 to discuss a treaty in which Egypt would regain full control of the Sinai Peninsula.
