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zionism
In 1896 following the appearance of anti-Semitism in Europe, Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism, tried to find a political solution for the problem in his book, 'The Jewish State'. He advocated the creation of a Jewish state in Argentina or Palestine. -
THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
Then on November 2, 1917, the British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour committed Britain to work towards “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” in a letter to leading Zionist Lord Rothschild. -
THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
Britain occupied the region at the end of the World War I in 1918 and was assigned as the mandatory power by the League of Nations on 25 April 1920. -
UN Partition Plan
Britain, which had ruled Palestine since 1920, handed over responsibility for solving the Zionist-Arab problem to the UN in 1947. -
UN Partition Plan
On 29 November 1947, 33 countries of the UN General Assembly voted for partition, 13 voted against and 10 abstained. This led to the creation of Israel -
Establishment of Israel
The State of Israel, the first Jewish state for nearly 2,000 years, was proclaimed on May 14, 1948 in Tel Aviv. The declaration came into effect the following day as the last British troops withdrew. -
Establishment of Israel
The day after the state of Israel was declared (May 15, 1948) five Arab armies from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq immediately invaded Israel but were repulsed, and the Israeli army crushed pockets of resistance. Armistices established Israel's borders on the frontier of most of the earlier British Mandate Palestine. -
The Suez Campaign 1956
In 1956 Israel, France and Britain went to war against Egypt because: Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and closed it to Israel and Western Europe
Concern about Egypt's growing military purchases from the Russians
Raids on Israel by Egyptian units. -
Formation of the PLO
On May 28, 1964, the Palestinians created a genuinely independent organization when Yasser Arafat took over the chairmanship of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1969. His Fatah organization was gaining notoriety with its armed operations against Israel. -
The Six-Day War
On June 5, 1967:
Egypt blockaded Israeli shipping lanes in the Red Sea, expelled UN peacekeeping troops from the border of the Sinai and built up its own troops in the area. -
Terrorism
In the 1970s, under Yasser Arafat's leadership, PLO factions and other militant Palestinian groups launched a series of attacks on Israeli and other targets. -
The Munich Olympics
Members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September on September 5, 1972 -
The Yom Kippur War,1973
On October 6, 1973, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attacked Israel.
After initial Arab military successes, the Israelis managed to push back the attack although severely outnumbered. The U.S. convinced Israel to withdraw from the territories it had taken. -
Arafat at the United Nations
But while the PLO pursued the armed struggle to "liberate all of Palestine," Arafat made a dramatic first appearance at the United Nations in 1974 mooting a peaceful solution. -
The Camp David Accords, 1979
In 1979, after intensive negotiations conducted by the U.S., Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David accords. A peace treaty was concluded and Israel returned the Sinai desert to the Egyptians. -
Sadat Assassinated
Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by Islamist elements in the Egyptian army, who opposed peace with Israel, during national celebrations to mark the anniversary of the October war. -
Death Toll Increases
However in elections, Ariel Sharon was swept to power by an Israeli electorate that had overwhelmingly turned its back on the land-for-peace formulas of the 1990s and now favored a tougher approach to Israel's "Palestinian problem". -
The Oslo Peace Process
The election of the left-wing Labour government in June 1992, led by Yitzhak Rabin, triggered a period of frenetic Israeli-Arab peacemaking in the mid-1990s. -
Jordan-Israeli Peace
In July 1994 Prime Minister Mr. Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace agreement ending 46 years of war and strained relations. -
Arafat Returns!
The returning Palestinian Liberation Army deployed in areas vacated by Israeli troops and Arafat became head of the new Palestinian National Authority (PA) in the autonomous areas. He was elected president of the Authority in January 1996. -
Talks Fail, New Intifada Starts!
After the withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, attention turned back to Yasser Arafat, who was under pressure from Barak and US President Bill Clinton to abandon gradual negotiations and launch an all-out push for a final settlement at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Two weeks of talks failed to come up with acceptable solutions to the status of Jerusalem and the right of return of Palestinian refugees. -
Arafat Dies!
Yasser Arafat, the champion of Palestinian statehood, died on Thursday 11th November, 2004 at age 75 in a military hospital in France.
Israel denies his wishes to be buried in Jerusalem. Instead he was buried at his headquarters in Ramallah with soil brought from Jerusalem. -
New President
Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections on January 25, 2006. The US, Israel and several European countries cut off aid to the Palestinians as the Islamist movement rejects Israel's right to exist