Dictionary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Volume 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.
1897
First Zionist Congress discusses plans to establish a Jewish state in Palestine.
1914–1918
World War I; the Ottoman Empire is defeated.
1916
Sykes-Picot Agreement divides Ottoman Arab lands into zones controlled by either the French or the British.
1917–1918
Palestine comes under British control, as British troops move northward from their bases in Egypt.
1917
Britain issues the Balfour Declaration, supporting “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, …it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine…”
1920
League of Nations at San Remo divides Arab lands into mandates, which are supposed to eventually create nation states for the indigenous peoples. Britain holds the Mandate for Palestine.
1922
British create the Amirate of Transjordan out of Mandatory Palestine east of the River Jordan. The Jewish national home provisions of the Balfour Declaration will be applied only west of the Jordan.
1933
Adolf Hitler begins his rise to power in Germany. Jewish immigration to Palestine increases.
1936–1939
The Arab Revolt against British pro-Zionist policy and in a quest for an independent Arab state in Palestine.
1946
Hostilities in Palestine escalate and include Jewish terrorism against Britain. U.S. president Harry S. Truman expresses support for partition and a “viable Jewish state in an adequate area of Palestine.”
1947
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 recommends the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with greater Jerusalem to be an international city. The resolution is adopted by a vote of 33-13-10, but rejected by Arab and Muslim delegates.
1948
Israel declares statehood as the British Mandate over Palestine ends. Arab armies attack Israel. The resulting war leaves Jerusalem divided and 650,000 Palestinians refugees. UN Resolution 194 declares that refugees should be allowed to return to their homes, and establishes a commission to facilitate their repatriation or compensation.
1949
An armistice is signed at Rhodes between Israel and Egypt. Similar agreements with Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria follow. U.N. conference at Lausanne produces no agreement between Israeli and Arab delegations.
1949–1950
Israel holds 77 percent of the former Pales-tine. Jordan annexes East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Egypt controls the Gaza Strip. The United Nations Relief and Work Agency is established. Jews from several Arab countries begin migration into Israel.
1956–1957
Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal leads to military action by Israel, Britain, and France. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower threatens economic sanctions against Israel and succeeds in forcing Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai and Gaza. United Nations puts UNEF [Emergency Force] along the Egyptian-Israeli frontier.
1964
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is established.
1967
Israel captures the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem from Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. As many as 600,000 Palestinians become refugees. UN Resolution 242 calls for Israeli withdrawal and establishes the “land for peace” principle.
1969–1970
Israel begins establishing settlements in disputed areas. Egypt’s War of Attrition against Israel, with Soviet aid, leads to the Rogers Plan, which uses UN Resolution 242 as the basis for negotiations.
1973
Egypt and Syria attack Israel. No territorial changes result. UN Resolution 338 calls for negotiations between the parties. Minor border changes result as U.S. helps to broker disengagement agreements.
1977
Menachem Begin and the Likud coalition win Israeli elections. Settlements in Occupied Territories increase. Egypt’s president Anwar al-Sadat goes to Israeli Knesset in the first efforts toward an Arab-Israeli peace treaty.
1978
Negotiations between Sadat and Begin are brokered by U.S. president Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Maryland, and result in the Camp David Accords, followed in 1979 by the first peace treaty between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors. The Arab League expels Egypt. Israel invades Lebanon in response to terror attacks and in an attempt to clear out Palestinian fighters along the border.
1980
The Israeli government declares Jerusalem its capital. Ambassadors are exchanged between Israel and Egypt.
1981
Israel annexes the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967. Sadat is assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists.
1982
Israel invades Lebanon a second time, laying siege to Beirut. The PLO moves its headquarters from Beirut to Tunis. The Reagan Peace Initiative and the Fez Summit Peace Proposal are launched.
1987
Palestinian uprising, known as the Intifada, begin in Gaza and spread to the West Bank. Over the next several years, several thousand Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis are killed in the fighting.
1988
The Palestinian National Council (PNC) accepts UN Resolutions 242 and 338, tacitly recognizing Israel, and declares a Palestinian state. The United States government begins dialogue with the PLO.
1991
The Gulf War begins in January. Later that year, a Middle East peace conference opens in Madrid between Israel and Arab nations, including, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Palestinian representative participate, for the first time, in such an international forum as part of the Jordanian delegation.
1992
The administration of U.S. president George H. W. Bush stops $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to Israel in an attempt to curtail the spread of Israeli settlements into disputed areas.
1993
The Oslo Process begins during the administration of U.S. president Bill Clinton. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin meet at the White House. The PLO and Israel sign the Declaration of Principles, outlining a plan for Palestinian self-rule in the Occupied Territories.
1994
The Cairo Accords between the PLO and Israel establish Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho but allow Israeli settlements to remain in place. Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty with Clinton in attendance. Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Rabin receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
1995
The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, known as Oslo II, establishes three areas in the West Bank, one under direct Palestinian control, one under both Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security, and one under Israeli control. Rabin is assassinated in Tel Aviv.
1996
Benjamin Netanyahu is elected Israel’s prime minister. Israel launches Operation Grapes of Wrath in southern Lebanon. Arafat, Jordan’s King Hussein, Netanyahu, and Clinton participate in a political summit in Washington, DC to negotiate for peace.
1997
The Hebron Protocol divides the city of Hebron. Palestinians protest the building of an Israeli settlement, Har Homa, on a hill overlooking East Jerusalem.
1998
The Wye River Memorandum is signed but not implemented.
1999
The PLO postpones a declaration of statehood. Ehud Barak, newly elected prime minister of Israel, pledges to work for peace. The Sharm al-Shaykh memorandum is signed between Israel and the PLO. Clinton attends a PNC meeting in Gaza to witness the elimination of Palestine National Covenant clauses calling for the destruction of Israel.
2000
Israeli Army withdraws from South Lebanon. At the Camp David II meetings in July, Clinton chairs negotiations between Arafat and Barak. Negotiations break down. The al-Aqsa Intifada begins, fueled by Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.
2001
Sharon is elected prime minister of Israel.
2002
Israeli troops reoccupy Palestinian areas in response to a terrorist suicide bombing of elderly people celebrating Passover at a resort hotel. Arafat is placed under house arrest in his Ramallah compound. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is stormed by armed Arab Palestinians. A Saudi peace plan, endorsed by the Arab League, promises recognition of Israel in exchange for ending occupation of all Arab lands. UN Resolution 1397 affirms a two-state vision for Israel. U.S. president George W. Bush announces a plan for a “viable Palestinian state next to a secure Israel.” Israel begins construction of a highly controversial “security fence” around the West Bank in response to suicide bombing inside Jewish civilian population areas.
2003
The United States invades and begins its occupation of Iraq. The Road Map for Peace, sponsored by the “Quartet” (U.S., U.N., Russia, and the European Union), is released.
2004
Ariel Sharon’s government promotes a plan that involves Israeli evacuation of the Gaza Strip and the abandonment of the settlements there. In October the Knesset votes to back Sharon’s plan to remove Israeli troops, as well as twenty-one settlements from Gaza and four small settlements from the northern part of the West Bank. The vote—sixty-seven for, forty-five against, and seven abstentions—marks the first time in twenty years that the parliament had favored the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the region. Sharon rejects a call for a referendum by the Likud which creates turmoil in the Knesset.
2004
In mid-October, Yasir Arafat, suffering from an unknown illness, is allowed to leave his compound in Ramallah to seek diagnosis and treatment in France. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon states that if Arafat dies, he will not allow Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem.
2004–
Yasir Arafat dies 11 November from an unknown illness. Mahmud Abbas sworn in as PLO chairman. Rawhi Fattuh sworn in as interim president of the Palestinian Authority. Faruq Qaddumi named al-Fatah leader.