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'The Jewish State'
Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism, tried to find a political solution for the problem. He advocated the creation of a Jewish state in Argentina or Palestine. -
Establishment in Palestine of a National Home
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 LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Britain occupied the region at the end of the World War I in 1918 and was assigned as the mandatory power -
UN Partition Plan
56.47% of Palestine to the Jewish state
43.53% to the Arab state
An international enclave around Jerusalem.
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, -
Established Borders
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 -
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The Suez Campaign
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
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
*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.
*Syria amassed large numbers of troops on the Golan Heights
Israel launched preemptive strikes against Egypt. Syria and *Jordan joined the fight. -
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Terrorism
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 -
The Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attacked Israel. -
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.
He condemned the Zionist project, but concluded:
The speech was a watershed in the Palestinians' search for international recognition of their cause. -
The Camp David Accords
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. President Sadat of Egypt became the first Arab leader to visit the Jewish state and in a sign of the new relations between the two countries, he addressed the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. -
Sadat Assassinated
Sadat was assassinated by Islamist elements in the Egyptian army, who opposed peace with Israel, during national celebrations to mark the anniversary of the October war. -
The Oslo Peace Process
The PLO, meanwhile, wanted to make peace talks work because of the weakness of its position due to the Gulf War in 1991. The Palestinians consented to recognize Israel in return for the beginning of phased dismantling of Israel's occupation. Negotiations culminated in the Declaration of Principles, signed on the White House lawn and sealed with a historic first handshake between Rabin and Yasser Arafat watched by 400 million people around the world -
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.
The agreement, which was signed at the White House in the presence of U.S. President Bill Clinton, laid the groundwork for a full peace treaty. -
Rabin Assassinated
It took place at 21:30, at the end of a rally in support of the Oslo Accords at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv. The assassin, an Israeli ultranationalist terrorist named Yigal Amir, strenuously opposed Rabin's peace initiative and particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords. -
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!
In the uncertainty of the ensuing impasse, Ariel Sharon, the veteran right-winger who succeeded Binyamin Netanyahu as Likud leader, toured the al-Aqsa/Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem on 28 September. Sharon's critics saw it as a highly provocative move. Palestinian demonstrations followed, quickly developing into what became known as the al-Aqsa intifada, or uprising -
“Road Map to Peace”
The "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations.
The principles of the plan calls for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with the Israeli state in peace. Bush was the first U.S. President to explicitly call for such a Palestinian state. -
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 -
New Hope?
During his acceptance speech in Ramallah, Abbas said that "there is a difficult mission ahead to build our state, to achieve security for our people ... to give our prisoners freedom, our fugitives a life in dignity, to reach our goal of an independent state."
