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Foundation of the Zionist Movement
The conflict has been going on since the early 1900s, when the mostly-Arab, mostly-Muslim region was part of the Ottoman Empire and, starting in 1917, a 'mandate' run by the British Empire. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were moving into the area, as part of a movement called Zionism among mostly European Jews to escape persecution and establish their own state in their ancestral homeland. -
Period: to
1900-2018
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Sykes-Picot Agreement Sets Borders
"[O]n May 16, 1916, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, laid down the borders of the Middle East as we have known them for a century. The diplomats, Francois Georges-Picot for France and Sir Mark Sykes for Britain, had worked out the details in five months of negotiations, from November 1915 to March 1916. The agreement was marked out on a map with grease pencil in a series of straight lines, most likely to create 'uncomplicated borders.' -
Balfour Declaration
the British Government stated its support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine when it released the "Balfour Declaration," which read in part: "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object,. -
League of Nations Divides Former Ottoman Territories into Mandates
The League of Nations divided the territory [formerly under Ottoman rule] into new entities, called mandates. The mandates would be administered like trusts by the British and French, under supervision of the League, until such time as the inhabitants were believed by League members to be ready for independence and self-government... -
Start of the 2nd Intifada
On September 28, 2000, Likud leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif... This provocative act, and the massive police presence, touched off riots the next day, in which Palestinian demonstrators were fired on by Israeli soldiers.
At first called the 'al-Aqsa Intifada,' this new wave of violence resembled all-out warfare more than the 'shaking off' of the original intifada.
