Timeline of Modern Israel
From San Remo to Nazi Germany
British General Edmund Allenby defeats the Ottoman Turks and occupies all of Palestine.
Third wave of Jewish immigration arrives, mostly from Russia.
Britain receives League of Nations mandate over Palestine at San Remo Conference and is told tofacilitate creation of a nationalJewish homeland there; Arabs riot.
First Jewish moshav, Nahalal, is founded. Arabs riot in Jaffa.
Churchill White Paper reduces British commitment to the Jewishpeople and gives 77 percentof area designated forthem to Abdullah and theArabs (Transjordan).
Fourth wave of immigration arrives, mostly from Poland.
Hebrew University foundedin Jerusalem.
Arabs riot in Hebron, killing Jews.
Arabs riot in Jerusalem and massacre Jews in Hebron and Safed. SecondWhite Paper further reneges onBritain’s Jewish commitment andlimits Jewish immigration.
Hitler comes to power.
Fifth wave of immigration, mostly from Poland and Germany.
Trying to flee Hitler, Jews begin “illegal” immigration because Britain refusesthem entry while allowing massive, illegalArab immigration—36,000 Arabsfrom Syria alone in just a few months.
Record 65,000 Jewish people immigrate.
Arabs revolt and go on strike, demanding Jewish immigrationstop; 500 Jews killed; BritishCapt. Orde Wingate establishes“night squads” to defend Jewishsettlers. Massive illegal Arab immigrationcontinues.
Peel Commission recommends partitioningremaining 23 percent of theland designated for the Jews into twocountries: one Jewish, one Arab.
Hitler invades Poland. White Paper limits Jewish immigration to a mere 60,000 for five years. Ben-Gurion states, “We shall fight thewar as if there is no White Paperand we shall fight the White Paperas if there is no war.”
From Nazi Germany to Independence
Third British White Paper rejects partition concept, further restricts immigration, and severely limits land sales to Jews. Massive illegal Arab immigration continues, and Arabs appropriate the land Jews are clearing for Holocaust refugees.
While Britain fights Hitler, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, grand mufti of Jerusalem,moves to Berlin to help Hitler.
Britain refuses entry to the ship Struma, carrying 767 Romanian-Jewish refugees. It sinks. All aboard die.
Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Meanwhile, Britain deports “illegal”Jewish refugees to Cyprus while allowing illegal Arab immigrants.
World War II ends. Jews smuggle Holocaust survivors into Palestine.Jewish underground works against the British.
The Jewish Irgun blows up the west wing of the King David Hotel. Transjordan becomes the independent, Hashemite kingdom of Jordan.
The British repel the ship Exodus. Its 4,500 Jewish refugees are returned to displaced-persons camps in war-torn Europe.
NOVEMBER 29, 1947
UN partitions Palestine into two states: one Arab, one Jewish. The Arabs reject the plan; the Jews accept it.
NOVEMBER 29, 1947–MAY 14, 1948
Jews defend themselves against Arab gangs. Guerrilla warfare rages. Arabs blockade road to Jerusalem. More than 1,200 Jewish people are killed,more than half of them civilians.
MAY 14, 1948
Ben-Gurion declares independence. Within minutes, U.S. President Harry Truman recognizes the new State of Israel.
From Independence to the Yom Kippur War
MAY 15, 1948–JANUARY 1949
Five Arab nations attack. The yearlong War of Independence ensues.
Over 725,000 Palestinian Arabs leave their homes despite Israel’s pleas for unity.
Suez Canal crisis.
Fatah forms, with Yasser Arafat as its leader.
George Habash forms the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Six-Day War (June 5–10). Israel defends itself against five Arab nations;captures the Sinai and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria,and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan. Israel reunites Jerusalem and assumes control of the Temple Mount. UN adopts Resolution 242.
The PLO claims to speak for “all Palestinians.” Arafat is its head. Golda Meir becomes Israel’s prime minister.
Syria and militant Palestinians threaten King Hussein’s rule.Hussein strikes back in event called Black September. Jordanian forces kill well over 3,000 Palestinians.
Palestinian terrorists move their bases to Lebanon.
OCTOBER 6–NOVEMBER 11, 1973
On Yom Kippur Soviet-backed Egypt and Syria attack Israel and almost destroy her. The United States airlifts supplies to Israel, and by October 18 Israeli soldiers are outside Cairo. UN passes Resolution 338.
From the Yom Kippur Warto Netanyahu
Arafat addresses the UN and calls for a united “Palestine” with a democratic,secular government “where Christian, Jew, and Muslim can live injustice, equality and fraternity.”
Menachem Begin becomes Israel’s prime minister and supports keeping all disputed territories.
Israel and Egypt sign Camp David Accords.
Israel moves into Lebanon to protect Israel’s northern border and stabilize a weak and struggling Lebanese people.
Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israeli control explodes in the disputed territories.
The PLO supposedly recognizes Israel and renounces terrorism, calling for negotiations. Yitzhak Shamiris elected Israel’s prime minister.
Gulf War. Iraqi Scud missiles attack Israel. United States deploys Patriot missiles to help Israel.
Yitzhak Rabin becomes Israel’s prime minister.
U.S. President Bill Clinton, Rabin, and Arafat sign the Declaration of Principles (Oslo I) at the White House.
Between 7,000–15,000 Palestinians organized by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and PFLP protest Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian negotiators sign an agreement on water rights at Oslo.
Palestinians and Israelis discuss transferring authority to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.
Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and Israeli Prime Minister Rabin receive the Nobel Prize.
Israel recognizes Palestinian passports, permits Palestinian vehicles on Israeli roads, and lets Palestinian men over 50 and students cross between Gaza and Jericho.
Arafat and Rabin sign Oslo II, allowing expansion of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.
Rabin assassinated. Peres becomes acting prime minister.
Palestinians elect Arafat president.
Hamas detonates bus bomb that kills 19 people. Peres declares war on Hamas, increases security, and begins destroying homes of suicide bombers and their families.
Benjamin Netanyahu elected Israel’s prime minister.
From Netanyahu to the Road Map
“Al-Aqsa tunnel riots.” Arabs spread lie that an exit door Israel installed to an underground tunnel to help tourists endangers the Al-Aqsa mosque. (The tunnel existed 800 years before the mosque.)
Israel and Palestinians reach agreement on Israeli redeployment in Hebron.
MARCH 21, 1997
Hamas suicide bomber detonates bomb at Cafe Apropos in central Tel Aviv.
JULY 30, 1997
Two suicide bombers hit Mahane Yehuda open-air market in Jerusalem, killing 12 and wounding at least 150.
Wye River Plantation talks. Israel agrees to redeploy and release political prisoners in exchange for Palestinian promises to stop violating Oslo accords, including excess police force.
Israel elects former General Ehud Barak as prime minister.
Israel withdraws from Lebanon.UN declares Israel in compliance with Resolution 242, but Hezbollah continues terrorism.
Barak, Clinton, and Arafat meet.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
Palestinians initiate riots after Ariel Sharon legally visits the Temple Mount. Violence and terrorism mount and continue today, termed the Oslo War.
FEBRUARY 6, 2001
Sharon elected prime minister.
JUNE 1, 2001
Suicide bombers hit Dolphinarium Discotheque in Tel Aviv; 20 killed, including many Israeli teenagers.
AUGUST 9, 2001
Islamic Jihad suicide bomber hits Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem; kills 15, wounds 130.
OCTOBER 17, 2001
PFLP assassinates Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi in an Israeli hotel.
JANUARY 3, 2002
Israel captures Karine-A ship carrying 50 tons of illegal, advanced weaponry to the Palestinian Authority.
MARCH 27, 2002
Hamas suicide bombing kills 27 and maims scores at Passover seder in Netanya’s Park Hotel.
In retaliation for an unprecedented number of suicide bombings, Israel mounts Operation Defensive Wall.
MAY 30, 2002
Arafat signs PA transitional constitution to guarantee Palestinian rights. However, it is based on Islamic Sharia law; declares Islam the official religion of“Palestine”; and contradicts Arafat’s “democratic, secular state” UN speech.
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) elected Palestinian prime minister; Arafat maneuvers to retain control. Violence continues unabated. U.S. releases Road Map peace plan.