1882
Leon Pinsker: Autoemancipation. Beginning of First Aliyah

1891
First Arab protests against Zionist settlements in Palestine.

1894-1895
Dreyfus Affair. Karl Lueger, head of Christian Social Party, elected Mayor of Vienna.

1896
Theodore Herzl: Der Judenstaat.

1897
First International Zionist Congress, Basel, August.

1904
Beginning of Second Aliyah. Death of Herzl.

1905
Seventh Zionist Congress (Basel) rules out any alternative to Palestine as the objective of the Zionist enterprise.

1917
November 2 Balfour Declaration
December British conquest of Palestine.

1918
British Jewish Legion formed

1919
Chaim Weizmann leads Zionist delegation at Peace Conference at Versailles. Treaty of Versailles.

1919-1923
Third Aliyah.

1919 and 1921
Anti-Jewish Arab riots in Palestine.

1920
British Mandate over Palestine; Sir Herbert Samuel appointed High Commissioner.

1922 White Paper separates Transjordan from the area to be affected by the "Jewish national home" provisions of the Balfour Declaration and Mandate.

1924-1932
Fourth Aliyah

1925
Hebrew University opens

1929
August Arabs riot in Jerusalem; massacres of Jews in Hebron and Safed.

1930
October The Passfield/White Papers, first attempt at British disengagement from the "Jewish national home" aspects of the Declaration and the Mandate.

1933-1939
Fifth Aliyah

1937
July The Peel Commission recommends the partition of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. The British Government accepts this recommendation in principle.

1937-1938
Arab Revolt

1938
Aliyah B begins ("illegal immigration" of Jews from Europe)

1939
May British White Paper repudiates partition and envisages an independent Palestinian State.
September WWII begins. "We shall fight the war as if there were no White Paper, and the White Paper as if there were no war." - David Ben Gurion.

1942
January 20 Conference at Wannsee, Berlin, coordinates the Final solution (Endlosung).
February Loss of the Struma with 767 Jewish refugees refused admission to Palestine.
May 9-11 Biltmore Conference of American Jews demands "that the gates of Palestine be opened."
November News of the Holocaust reaches the Jews of Palestine.

1944
July 22 Irgun blows up King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing ninety-one people.

1945
End of WWII

1947
July Exodus turned back by force from Palestine to Europe, with 4,500 survivors of the Holocaust.
November 29 U.N. General Assembly votes for the partition of Palestine and a Jewish State.
December 11 British Government announces its intention to terminate, on May 15, 1948, its responsibility under the Mandate.

1948
May 15 Expiration of the British Mandate. Truman extends de facto recognition of State of Israel, Soviet de jure recognition follows three days later.
May 15-16 Arab armies invade Israel.
June 11-July 7 Truce between Israel and Arab states.
July 8-18 Renewed, war; Arab forces beaten back in most of Palestine.
Oct-Dec. Renewed fighting between Israel and Egypt. Egyptian forces driven out of Negev.

1949
January De facto recognition of Israel by Britain.
Feb-July Israel concludes armistice agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
December United Nations General Assembly votes in favor of the internationalization of Jerusalem. Ben Gurion's government declares Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel.

1950
May Tripartite Declaration (Britain, France and the United States) "regulating" supply of arms to the Middle East, etc.

1950-1970
Massive immigration to Israel by the Jewish populations of Arab lands.

1950-1953
Korean War. Israel abandons policy of "non-identification" between the superpowers.

1951
July 20 King Abdullah of Jordan assassinated.

1952
Overthrow of King Farouk of Egypt. Beginning of Nasser's rise to power.

1954
Nasser presides in Egypt. Increasing fedayeen attacks on Israel.

1956
U.S. cancels support for Aswan Dam project.
July Nasser announces the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company. Britain, France and Israel begin planning concerted attacks on Egypt.
October 29 Israel attacks in Sinai.
October 30 United States resolution in Security Council calling for Israeli withdrawal from Sinai vetoed by Britain and France.
November 5 British and French attack in Canal Zone, but Anglo-French military initiative quickly collapses under pressure from the superpowers, leaving Israel isolated and under heavy pressure to withdraw from Sinai.

1958
Revolution in Iraq (July). Strengthening of relations between Israel and U.S.

1958-59
Fatah founded. Yasser Arafat's career begins.

1964
P.L.O. founded

1966
Left-wing coup in Syria. Hafaz al-Assad Minister for Defense. Increased fedayeen activity against Israel, by both Fatah and P.L.O.

1967
May 13 Soviet Union warms Egypt of impending Israeli attack on Syria.
May 17 Nasser declares alert, sends combat troops into Sinai.
May 18 Nasser 'terminates' the U.N.E.F. presence in Sinai.
May 22 Nasser closes the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.
May 23 Israeli Government declares Nasser's blockade an act of aggression against Israel. U.S. reaffirms "right of free and innocent passage."
June 1 Moshe Dayan replaces Eshkol as Minister for Defense. Menachem Begin enters Government of National Unity.
June 5-10 Six Day War.
August Arab Summit at Khartoum: "the three noes."
November 22 Security Council Resolution 242.

1968-1970
Reorganization of P.L.O. around Fatah, with Arafat as chairman. Lebanon and Jordan bases for P.L.O and fedayeen activity. PLO charter/constitution established

1969-1970
War of Attrition - along Suez Canal and border with Egypt

1970
September Fedayeen hijack airliners to Jordan, and Hussein moves against P.L.O.

1971
July Sadat expels Soviet military advisers.
September Black September organization - a cover name for Fatah - kidnaps eleven Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics.
Israeli air attacks on Lebanon, now the principal base of fedayeen operations.

1973
October 6 Yom Kippur, Egypt and syria launch surprise attack on Israel.
October 6-25 Yom Kippur War, Soviet airlifts to Egypt and Syria; American airlift to Israel.
October 17 Arab oil embargo and cutbacks.
October 22 Security Council Resolution 338 urges direct negotiation between Arab states and Israel.
October 25 Belligerents accept cease-fire.
December 21 Geneva Peace Conference. Henry Kissinger in role of Middle East mediator.

1977
May General Elections in Israel. Likud gains, Labor loses.
June Menachem Begin forms Government. Ezer Weizman, Minister for Defense; Moshe Dayan, Foreign Minister.
September 12 U.S. State Department calls for "a comprehensive Arab-Israeli agreement."
October 1 Joint Statement by United States and Soviet Union calls for renewed Geneva negotiations including representatives "of the Palestinian people."
November 9 Sadat, addressing the Egyptian parliament, declares his willingness to go to Israel and talk to the Knesset.
November 14 Begin invites Sadat to Jerusalem.
November 19-20 Sadat in Jerusalem.
December 2-5 Arab Front of Steadfastness and opposition (to Egypt) meets in Tripoli.

1978
January 18 Israel-Egypt negotiations stall (over settlements in sinai).
March 11 Fatah fedayeen, arriving by boat from Lebanon, massacre thirty-seven Israeli civilians.
March 14 Israel launches punitive offensive, Operation Litani, into southern Lebanon.
September 6-18 Camp David talks (Egypt, Israel, U.S.) result in a Framework for a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel and a more nebulous Framework for Peace (Palestine).

1979
January-February Iranian Revolution.
March 26 Treaty of Peace between Egypt and Israel signed in White House.
November 4 Seizure of American Embassy in Teheran, and of American hostages.

1980
September Outbreak of war between Iraq and Iran.

1981
June Israel's air Force destroys Iraq's nuclear reactor, Osirak.
Israel's General elections again provide Begin with a parliamentary majority. Begin forms new Government with Ariel Sharon as Minister for Defense.
August Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Fahd calls for "an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital."
October Sadat assassinated in Cairo. Hosni Mubarek becomes President of Egypt.
November Renewed disturbances in West Bank.

1982
February Syrian Government forces crush revolt at Hama, killing an estimated 25,00 people.
June 3 Sholom Argov, Israel's ambassador in London, shot and seriously wounded by Arab gunmen.
June 6 Israel invades Lebanon.
September 14 Assassination of Bashir Gemayel.
September 17-18 Massacres of Palestinians at Sabra and Chatila, West Beirut.
September 25 Massive protest demonstration in israel over the Sabra and Chatila massacres.

1983
September Begin retires. Yitzhak Shamir becomes leader of Likud.

1984
Operation Moses from Ethiopia

1985
Israel completes withdrawal from Lebanon except for continuing support for the South Lebanon Army on Israel's border. Under attack from Shi'ite militia, retreating Israeli forces take and hold Shi'ite hostages. Shi'ites hijack U.S. airplane and take American hostages. syrian mediation secures release of American hostages. Israel releases about half its Shi'ite hostages. Murders of Jews by Arabs in Israel lead to anti-Arab violence and increasing support for Jewish extremist groups.

1987
First Intifada begins with rioting in Gaza (December 9).

1988-1989
PLO diplomatic offensive based upon Arafat's public recognition of Israel's "right to exist" and renunciation of terrorism. US begins dialogue with P.L.O. that ends in June 1990 after PLO terrorist attack on Israeli beaches.

1989
Mass immigration from FSU begins

1990-91
Persian Gulf War. Iraq invades, occupies, and annexes Kuwait. Iraq launches SCUD missiles at civilian targets throughout Israel and threatens to use chemical warfare.

1992
Beginning of Madrid Peace Conference.
June General Election in Israel. Labor Party elected with Rabin as Prime Minister.

1993
September Signing of PLO-Israel Peace Accord.

1994
Hebron massacre

1995
Israeli-Palestinian Agreement
Rabin Assassination

2000 -
Second Intifada




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