TIMELINE FOR THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL; HISTORY OF PALESTINE.
with thanks, among others, to: http://www.infoplease.com/world/countries/israel-palestine-conflict/timeline-2000-present.html#2009
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/israelpalestine.php
Canaan
3,000 BC- site of Jerusalem first occupied.
2500-1675 BC- the Canaanites.
1900 BC- Jerusalem is the capital of a Canaanite city state. Samaria, to the north, lies at the center of Canaan.
1750 (circa)-1570- the Hyksos warlords of Palestine invade and rule lower Egypt.
1490-1200- Palestine ruled by the New Kingdom of Egypt.
1400s BC - Gaza an important trading city.
1250-1030- the Jews colonize Canaan.
1220- Joshua, successor to Moses, takes Jerusalem for the Hebrews.
-Hebrew tribes, without any single leader, begin to unite to face the menace of the Canaanites and especially the Philistines.
The Hebrew Kingdom
1200-586 BC- the Hebrew Kingdom.
1200-1050- the period of the Judges.
1150-587- along the coastal region, Gaza and other Philistine City States flourish.
-Saul becomes the first king of Judah and leads the tribes to victory.
-Saul, after defeat by the Philistines, is succeeded by his son in law David who retakes land conquered by the Philistines, takes Jerusalem and unites north and south under one kingdom.
Kingdom of Israel
1022-922- Kingdom of Israel.
1010 - 970 -King David, according to tradition, is devout, powerful and just- the perfect monarch.
-northern Samaria given to the tribe of Manasseh and southern Samaria to the tribe of Ephraim.
-Jerusalem remains independent until captured by King David in 1010.
-David transfers the ark of the Covenant from Hebron to Jerusalem, making it the religious capital of Israel.
-David captures Jerusalem from the Jebusites.
1000- Jerusalem becomes capital of Israel.
970 – King Solomon- criticized by the prophets for the political expediency of being lenient to other local religions.
The First Temple.
953- Solomon builds the first temple.
-Solomon destroys the temple of Dagon in Gaza.
-Solomon taxes Israel heavily.
922- after the death of Solomon the north, Israel, secedes from Judea in the south.
The Two Kingdoms- Judah and Israel.
-922-587- the Kingdom of Judah and 922-721- the Kingdom of Israel.
-the northern Manasseh and Ephraim tribes of Samaria split from southern Samaria becoming the Samaritans but retaining the name Kingdom of Israel.
-Solomon’s son Rehoboam rules the southern kingdom of Judah, which is poorer and more agricultural than Israel, to the north. Israel, meanwhile, remains wealthier, more urban and cosmopolitan. A chronic power struggle develops between the two kingdoms.
-the Samaritans form a dissident sect of Judaism.
Assyrian and Babylonian Exile
-721- Tiglath Pilesser of Assyria conquers Israel and takes its people captive.
721-600- rule by Assyria.
597- Judah falls to the new power of Babylon and First Temple destroyed as Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem and transports the Judean upper class to the city of Babylon.
559-330- rule by Persia. Judah becomes a Persian satrapy.
-Gaza provides Persia with a deep-water port on the Meditarranean.
The Second Temple.
537-515- the temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem.
537- Cyrus allow the Jews safe return from exile, to Jerusalem
530- death of Cyrus the Great.
530-522- rule by Cambyses II, son of Cyrus.
522-486- rule by Darius I. The Persians allow the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem.
Alexander and the Seleucids.
-Alexander’s conquest of the Persian-ruled the Levantine coast,
-Batis, Persian governor of Gaza, holds out against Alexander but in the end Gaza falls, and Alexander has Batis dragged around the city behind a chariot, in memory of Achilles’ vengeance on Hector.
-according to legend, Alexander makes sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem.
-as Alexander marches on Egypt, he leaves his general, Parmenion, to take Jerusalem and Judah. Only Samaria has to be reduced by force. Samaria is colonized by Macedonians.
332-301- rule by Antigonus of Macedon.
322- Greeks build a fortress in Samaria.
-Gaza however resists conquest by Alexander. As a consequence, he enslaves the population.
301-200- rule by Ptolemaic Egypt.
200-150- rule by the Greek Seleucids.
175- Antioch IV, Epiphanes consolidates Cilicia (SE Turkey), Syria, Babylonia, Media. Encourages Hellenism and Greek manners. Tries to abolish Judaism in order to unify everyone against Rome.
175-164- Antioch IV persecutes the Jews. Jewish Apocalyptic movement begins.
168-142- The Maccabees found an independent Jewish state which will last until 63 BC. Jerusalem is its capital.
The Second Temple
-the Second Temple is restored by the Maccabees.
150-50- rule of Judah by the Hasmoneans.
The Maccabees
129- A new Jewish state has formed- wrested from the Seleucids by the Maccabees.
104 BC -Hasmoneans take Galilee.
65-62- Sacaurus is first governor of Syria under Pompey. Sacaurus invades Judea during a civil war between Hycanus II and Aristobulus II. Scaurus supports Aristobulus. Scaurus' envoy was Antipater, father of Herod.
64- Syria annexed by Pompey- including the coastline from Pontus round Anatolia and down to Egypt. Emesa, the Itureans, Jews and Nabateans become client states.
Rome
63- Pompey enters Jerusalem and the Temple and tears away the veil of the Holy of Holies. The deed is never forgotten.
48- Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsallus in Egypt.
-the high priest Hyrcanus brings Judea into alliance with Caesar. Caesar makes Antipater procurator of Judea.
47 BC- Zealots begin when a group of insurgents under Ezechais, father of Judas the Galilean, were executed by the young Idumean Jew, Herod, as bandits. But the Sanhedirn protest the killing of jews.
40- in Rome, Herod is appointed to restore order to Judea. He returns to Israel, attacks Galilee first and takes Sepphoris and the people of Sepphoris flee.
38- Antigonus, last of the Hasmonean priest-kings is attacked by the forces of Herod who is supported by Mark Antony. Hasmonean Dynasty falls when Herod takes Jerusalem with troops from Mark Antony under C. Sosius, governor of Syria. Antigonus is captured and taken to Syria where he is beheaded by Sosius on orders of Mark Antony- who was bribed to do so by Herod.
-Herod loots the wealthiest families of Jerusalem and puts 45 Hasmoneans to death.
King Herod the Great
37- Antony sends legions under C. Socius to install Herod, son of Antipater on throne of Judea in Jerusalem. Sosius joins his legions with Herod's amry and they storm the Hasmoneans who are under the command of Antigonus in Jerusalem. Herod the Great begins his reign. Judea becomes a client kingdom of Rome- loses status as a Roman province.
30- Herod brings Judea to high development. But he is hated by the Jews for being a Hellenizer.
27- Herod begins to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Makes sure that there are no images in the temple or on coins.
-Herod makes Caesarea his capital and rebuilds it as a Greek city.
19 BC- Herod begins to restore the temple in Jerusalem. Overseen by priests for purity. Herod has a Roman Eagle placed over the door. Rioting ensues
7-4 BC- probable dates for the birth of Jesus
-at the birth of Jesus, Galilee is under the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas. And Judea is under direct Roman rule.
Judean rebellion
4BC- Judean rebellion starts when the Roman gold eagle is set up on the gates by Herod. Judas Sepphoraeus and Matthias, sons of Margolathus, are the 2 Pharisee teachers behind the rebellion - falsely believing Herod was dead, they got one of the pupils to pull down the eagle and smash it.
-Herod massacres the Pharisees in Judea for attempting to pull down the Roman Eagle from the temple in Jerusalem. He may also have initiated the 'massacre of the innocents'.
4 AD- death of Herod the Great just before passover. Rule of his son Herod Archelaus begins. His rival is Herod Antipas. Archelaus gets Judea and Idumea; Philip gets the north east.
-death of Herod sparks a revolt provoked by his abuses. Judas the Galilean and a small army capture Sepphoris and terrorized the region.
Herod Archelaus
-Varus invades Samaria, Judea and Idumea- uses all three legions in Syria to crush a revolt in Judea. Judas and the rebels are driven underground. Galilee is crushed first. Sepphoris is destroyed. Varus achieves victories in Gallilee and in Judea, thus returning Herod's kingdom to Roman rule.
-2,000 rebels crucified by the Romans.
4 AD- Augustus decides to break up Herod's kingdom into three. Replaces the Herodean kingdom with Judea.
Rebellion of the Zealots
6-rural resistance movement revived against Rome and its Jewish Pharisee and Sanhedrin collaborators. Resistance is led by Judas the Galilean. Together with Zadok the Pharisee he founds the Zealots and the Sicarii. Judas holds that Isreal should have no earthly lord.
-legate of Syria Sulpicius Quirinius marches south to repress the rebellion. Tries to impose the census. Quirinius sells off the property of Archelaus, dismisses unpopular high priest Joazar and appoints Ananus as high priest.
6- Judea annexed by Rome. Becomes a provinice under Quirinnius, Governor of Syria. Census finally held and tribute being paid.
Jesus
25- circa- Jesus begins his ministry.
26- Pilate appointed prefect of Judea. Succeeds Valerius Gratus.
26- Pilate marches his legion into Jerusalem needlessly offending the Jews.
27- February- Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Christ announces his Ministry then spends 40 days in the desert. He returns to John the Baptist and recruits his disciples.
27- John the Baptist arrested and executed by Herod Antipas.
30- Passover- Wed 5 April or 14 of Nisan- or March 17, probable date of the crucifixion. Of Christ.
Caligula
39-40- Caligula orders governor Publius Petronius to take half the legions ot Judea and negotiate the placement of Caligula's statue in the temple. The Jews refuse. Mass protests follow at Petronius' HQ in Ptolemais, Petronius asks Caliguala to cancel the edict and is supported by King Agrippa I who is visiting Caligula in Rome.
40- Christianity spreading fast among the Jews.
41- Emperor Claudius makes Herod Agrippa King of Roman Judea and Samaria.
44- Herod Agrippa executes James (brother of John), leader of the Christian community in Judea and imprisons Peter.
45-46- Fadus is procurator of Judea. The zealot Theudas leads a crowd to the Jordan. Fadus decodes it's a rebellion and has Theudas decapitated and his head impaled on the gates of Jerusalem.
The Jewish War
66-70 AD- rebellion of the Jews against Rome. The Jewish war begins.
70- the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman general Vespasian ends the Jewish War.
132-5 AD- the Kingdom of Israel ends with the collapse of the Bar Kochba uprising. The messianic figure of Simon Bar Kochba leads a revolt against occupation by Hadrian’s Rome. Sucessful at first, the movement is defeated by the Roman general, Julius Severus. Jericho and Bethlehem are destroyed and the Jews prohibited from entering Jerusalem.
Byzantine Jerusalem; Gradual Exodus of the Jews from Palestine.
-Hadrian reconstructs Jerusalem as a Roman colony.
312- after Constantine converts to Christianity, Palestine becomes a destination of Christian pilgrimage. Jews begin to leave the region, reducing the Jewish population.
-Christian revivial in Jerusalem.
325-637- Palestine under the rule of the Byzantine Empire.
335- the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is completed on the site of the crucifixion, on mount calvary.
451- the Council of Chalcedon divides the Roman Empire into five Holy Sees , establishing the see of Jerusalem and Palestine- with its own patriarch.
614- Chosroes II, Sassanian monarch of Persia conquers Jerusalem.
628- Palestine is recovered briefly by the Byzantines.
Muslim Conquest- the Abbasids and the Umayyads.
633-637- Muslim conquest of Palestine and Syria under the Caliph Umar.
-637- Muslims capture Jeruslem. It is made the second holy city after Mecca.
-Gaza is the burial site of the Prophet Muhammad’s great grandfather, Hashem Ibn Abdul Manaf.
-Palestine becomes a holy place for Muslims. The Dome of the Rock is alleged to be a stopping place of Mohammed on his way to heaven.
-691- Umayyad leader Abdul malik ibn Marwan erects the Dome of the Rock on the alleged site of the temple of Solomon. Nearby the Aqsa Mosque is built.
-750- Palestine becomes part of the Abbasid Caliphate. A period of dissension between partisans of the former Umayyad dynasty and the Abbasids.
800-1000- Byzantine and Islamic Arab rivalry over Jerusalem.
Fatimid Rule- Persecution of Christians and Jews
-9th century- Palestine is conquered by the north African dynasty, the Fatamids.
969 -the Fatimid ruler Muizz takes Jerusalem and burns down the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
-Palestine becomes the site of resistance by Bedouins, Byzantines, Seljuks and Karmatians to Fatimid rule.
-Muslim persecution of Christians in Palestine.
996-1021- the Fatimid Caliph Hakim ruthlessly suppresses Palestinian Christians and Jews. Churches are destroyed.
The Crusades
1099- European Crusaders conquer Jerusalem and massacre its Jewish and Muslim population.
-the Crusaders establish a Kingdom at Jerusalem.
-Crusaders periodically occupy Gaza.
1187- Saladin, the Kurdish founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, defeats the Crusaders at the battle of Hittin and retakes Jerusalem.
1244- Jerusalem sacked by the Mongols.
The Mamelukes
1249- the Mamlukes, a Turkish slave corps under the Fatimids, found a dynasty in Egypt, overthrowing the Ayyubids and taking Palestine.
1250-1517- a Mameluke sultanate in Egypt and the Levant.
-the Mamelukea finally stem advance by the Mongols.
1291- the fall of Acre. The Crusaders are driven from Palestine once and for all by the Mamelukes.
-the Mamelukws try to resist the growing power of the Turks by making trade contact with Europe. Europe, however, takes advantage of the situation to trace new trade routes to the far east, by-passing the Middle east. As a result, the region, including Palestine begins to suffer.
Decline of Palestine
-Palestine goes into decline under Mamluk rule.
1516- the Mamluks are beaten by the Ottoman Turks.
Ottoman Rule
1517- Palestine and Gaza come under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. But for the Ottomans, there is no single entity called Palestine. It is divided into the Sanjak (district) of Jerusalem in the south. In the north it is part of the vilayat (province) of Beirut. The city of Jerusalem is ruled directly from Constantinople.
-the Ottomans bring an end to strife between Turks and Mamelukes in Palesine.
-the Ottomans restore security to trade routes throughout the Middle East.
-Palestine begins a short-lived economic and cultural recovery with the renewed flourishing of Arab traders.
-under Ottoman rule, the Mameluke territory of southern Syria and Palestine is ruled from Damascus.
-the Ottomans isolate Palestine from outside influences. However, they grant Francis I of France the right to protect Christian shrines in Palestine.
1541- Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the magnificent rebuilds city walls of Jerusalem.
1575 (circa) Jerusalem declining as a religious and commercial center.
1656- Grand Vizier Mehmet Koprulu slows Ottoman decline by instituting reforms. Thousands executed for corruption.
1757- contrary to an agreement with the French, the Ottomans agree to Russia being the protector of Christians in the Levant
1774- -the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji also allows Russia to be protector of Greek Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman empire
Invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte.
1798-99- to cut India off from the British, the French, under General Bonaparte, launch an invasion of Egypt and from Egypt to Palestine and Syria, breaking the rule of the Mamelukes. Appealing to English strategic help and Turkish armies, Bonaparte is forced back to Egypt. Though its attempt at domination fails, the French manage to sustain a presence in the region dating back to the Crusades.
The European presence increases.
1807- the Ottoman Sultan, Selim III launches a modernization program
1808- rejecting Selim’s modernization attempts, the Janissaries force him to abdicate. Reformers in his court are massacred.
-Jerusalem begins to experience a Christian revival with pilgrimages and new hospices and churches
-1831- Muhammed Ali, Egyptian viceroy to the Ottomans, deals with rebellions against the Ottomans in Saudi Arabia and in Greece. The Ottoman Sultan, Mahmoud, having promised him Syria and Palestine as a reward, renegs. Ali rebels, takes Syria and from Syria occupies Palestine. He and his son open the area to European influence.
1831-40- Egyptian occupation of Syria and Palestine. Because Ali is a protege of France, France refuses to help the Sultan. Ali wins Cilicia, Palestine and Syria.
1832-41- Jewish immigration to Palestine increases under Muhammed Ali.
1834- a national Ottoman militia is set up to supervise military training in the remote provinces
-the power of the Ottoman provinces is reduced. Roads, trade, postal service and communications are reformed. Corruption is reduced.
-Muslims tend to compete for political positions, while entrepreneurship and progress in commerce is left to Jews, Greeks and Armenians and through them, the Europeans. Increasingly the Muslim population has contempt for Christians and their modernizing tendencies.
1840- in a bid to stop the center of power in the Middle East moving to French-supported Egypt, the British invade and expel Muhammed Ali from Syria and Palestine and the Ottomans reassert control. Nevertheless, western influence continues to penetrate the area.
-1855- Jerusalem expands beyond its city walls. Its population, once small and stagnant, increases.
-the Palestinian Arab Husayni family takes over large tracts of land in southern Palestine.
1875- majority of the population of Jerusalem is Jewish.
1876--Midhat Pasha overthrows Sultan Aziz in a coup. The new sultan dies and is replaced by his brother, Abdul Hamid II. He appoints Midhat Pasha as his vizier. Midhat and Hamid adopt a new constitution. Belgian and French constitutions are used as models. Universal equality before the law is declared and a two-chamber assembly along with some decentralization of government
1880- Ottoman government, in debt to Europe, is bankrupted by the war with Russia.(1874). Taxes and tarrifs used to pay off the debt.
.
-as Sultan Hamid II modernizes he turns the Ottoman empire into a police state. Tries to distract the public with an Islamic revivial
Arrival of European Jews.
1882- settlement in Palestine by a first wave of Russian Jews in flight from pogroms in Russia.
-Palestinian peasants are impoverished under absentee landlords and Osmanli tax collectors. Palestinian Arabs and Christians, ruled in separate “millets” by the Ottomans, have little contact.
-northern Palestine is controlled by landlords based in Damascus and Beirut. The southern half is populated by nomadic Bedouin who range over the region from Jordan and Sinai.
The Husaynis and Palestinian nationalism.
-most Palestinians associate themselves with Syria while the Husayni family takes on leadership of Palestinian Arabs. Between 1865 and World War I, 6 of Jerusalem’s 13 mayors are Husaynis.
-Arab nationalism begins to develop in opposition to Ottoman rule.
-1900- Jews, the largest group in Jerusalem, expand past the city walls.
-1904-14- a second wave of Jewish settlers- primarily intellectual and middle class. So far there is only desire for refuge, not for a state.
-to Arabist scholars and to Arab nationalists, Palestine is historically a part of southern Syria and as such is no less Arab than any other Arab region in the Middle East.
-1913-1918- Ottoman empire is under a dictatorial triumvirate of the Young Turks: Talat Bey, Enver Pasha and Jemal Pasha. Ottoman empire is effectively a police state. More attempts are made to westernize the military.
British Liberation of Palestine from the Ottomans
-World War One- the British, with the help of the Arabs, wrest Palestine from the Ottomans.
1917- the Balfour Declaration: Britain declares support for the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
-meanwhile, the campaign of TE Lawrence has helped to stoke Arab nationalism among Palestinians. Britain promises a Palestinian Arab state as well as a Jewish state.
-Baghdad and Jerusalem also rebel against Istanbul.
- the British, with the help of the Arabs, wrest Palestine from the Ottomans
-Oct. 31- General Allenby defeats the Turks in Palestine at the battle of Beerhsheba.
-Jewish nationalist organizations- Histadruth and Haganha.
1918- Turkey is defeated on its Middle Eastern and European fronts
Oct. 18- Sultan Muhammed VI signs an armistice with the allied powers. The Ottoman empire comes to an end.
- to sustain the Palestinian social structure, the British support Husayni leadership of the Palestinians.
1919- in Palestine there are: 568,000 Muslims, 74,000 Christians and 58,000 Jews.
The Husaynis and the Nashashibis
-the Husaynis lead the anti-Zionist Muslim-Christian Association.
-the Husaynis support the creation of a Palestine independent from Syria. The Husaynis remain ambivalent about British control in the area; they need yet resent British support.
-to control the Husaynis, the British play them off against their rivals, the second most powerful family in Palestine, the Nashashibis.
-British appointment of Amin al-Husayni as mufti and Supreme Muslim Council president make him the predominant figure in Arab Palestine.
The British Mandate.
-1920- Aug. 10 -the Treaty of Sevres makes Syria a French protectorate and Palestine and Jordan a British protectorate.
1920-1947 Israel is fornally a British Mandate.
-with the French administering Syria and the British administering Palestine, what was traditionally southern Syria for 1,300 years of Arab history, is represented by Europeans as a separate entity- Palestine.
First Arab-Jewish Riots
1920- the first Arab, anti-Zionist riots.
-a third wave of Jewish immigrants with a specifically Zionist agenda arrives. Tensions escalate with the Palestinian Arabs.
-Nashashibi-Husayni rivalry for leadership of Palestinians increases
-among the Arabs, a split develops between the radical Husaynis, led by the Haj Amin Husayni and the more moderate Nashishibis which sought negotiation for a two-state solution. Husayni believes that Palestine should retain its traditional membership with Arab Greater Syria.
-the Husayni faction responds with a campaign of violence against moderate Arab mayors.
-the Husayni-Nashishibi rivalry turns into a veritable blood feud.
-Amin Husayni shows signs of starting an Islamist trend, ordering Christian women to wear the veil and attacks begin on Druze and Christian minorities.
1921- -but to conciliate the Arabs, the British pardon al Husayni and make him Grand Mufti of Jerusaelm
-1921- May 1-6- Arabs riot against the new wave of Jewish settlers.
-The Mufti al Husayni begins restoring the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque.
1928- an Arab Conference in Jerusalem fails to unify the 2 Palestinian leadership factions.
1929- Arabs and Jews clash when Mufti Amin Husayni tries to limit Jewish use of the Wailing Wall. Palestinians massacre 200 Jews at Hebron.
1930-1945- Jewish immigration increases due to Nazi persecution. 200,000 Jews arrive.
1935- the Palestinian national parties, unified only by their opposition to Zionism, have still failed to achieve unity.
1935- Palestinian radical Islamist cleric Izz a Din Qassim begins armed insurgent attacks against the British in north Palestine. But Qassim is killed by the British .
The Palestinian Uprising.
1936- the Arab High Committee is formed by Amin al Husayni to oppose all Jewish claims in Palestine.
Apr.-Oct- Arab general strike in protest of arms smuggling by the J ews.
1936-39- Palestinian uprising led by guerilla units started by the late Izza a Din Qassam.
1937-the Peel Commission Report recommends the partition of Israel into a Jewish State, an Arab state and a British mandated state. Jews are divided over accepting it.
Sept. -the Pan Arab Congress at Bludan: the Arabs reject the Peel Commission report. They demand that all Jewish settlement and expansion stop and that Jews be recognized only as a minority in an Arab state.
-Jews and Arabs fighting pitched battles.
-the British arrest the Arab High Committee and deport many to the Seychelles. Haj Amin al Husayni flees to Syria. Syria becomes the base for the Arab insurgents. The radicals get greater control over the Arab movement
1938 January- the British postpone the partition plan.
June- Jewish anti-Arab militant Solomon Ben Yusef is executed.
-July-Aug- fighting intensifies all over Palestine.
Oct 2- the massacre of 20 Jews by militant Arabs at Tiberias.
-meanwhile the Arab resistance collapses as the Husayni-Nashishi feud pushes Arab Palestine into internecine chaos, with the targeting of ‘collaborators’ with Britain and the Jews coalescing with old Arab family vendettas.
Nov 9- Britain’s Woodhead commission abandons the partition plan.
1939- May- both Jews and Arabs reject a further British plan for joint Arab-Jewish government.
-British give in to Arab pressure to curb Jewish immigration and to limit the sale of land to preserve the Arab majority.
-the British and their policy are fought by a Jewish insurgent group, the Irgun, Zwei, Lumi gang.
World War Two
-the Jewish Agency makes Palestine into an allied supply centre.
Holocaust reinforces the idea of a Jewish State.
1945- the opening of the concentration camps and the revelation of the holocaust gives the idea of an Israeli state the force of world opinion.
1945-47- the British evacuate Palestine as Jewish settlers flood in after the war with US support. Tension builds between Jews and Palestinian Arabs.
-after US President Truman advocates a difficult, pro-Zionist solution, Britain seeks to extricate itself from Palestine altogether.
-1947 the UN proposes a Jewish state comprising the Negev in southeast Palestine to the Gulf of Aqaba; south central Israel below Jerusalem; a coastal strip running north from Tel Aviv to Acre and a northeastern strip which includes the Sea of Galiliee and runs northward between southern Syria and Lebanon. This would leave an Arab state along the Sinai border and along tghe coast in the southwest, and separately another area from below Jerusalem northward through Samaria, (the West Bank) and Galilee, the northwestern area against the coast and the Lebanese border. The Arabs, meanwhile, refuse to countenance a Jewish state. Central Jerusalem, at the crossroads of Nablus-Hebron highway and the east-west highway to the coast would remain under British Mandate with the UN-administered city surrounding it.
-UN intends Jerusalem to be an international city with free access to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
1948- May 14- Britain withdraws from Palestine. David Ben Gurion announces the creation of an independent state of Israel.
Israeli War of Independence
1948-49- Jordan, Syria and Egypt attack the new state of Israel. Israel successfully holds them off. Under the terms of UN armistice lines, Israel rules the northwestern Palestinian territory on the Lebanese border in the north and the southwest Palestinian area long the Sinai border as well as a large central area around the West Bank. Eastern Palestine is ruled by Jordan as the West Bank. Gaza, a sliver of coastal territory unconquered by Israel, goes to Egypt. Israel controls all of Jerusalem west of the Ramallah-Bethlehem highway. Jordan rules the reimaining sliver of Jerusalem east of the highway.
-Israel occupies all of Palestine save for Gaza and the West Bank.
-west Jerusalem comes under Israeli control. East Jerusalem is ruled by Jordan.
-Tel Aviv becomes the internationally recognized capital while Jerusalem remains the self-declared capital.
-in Gaza, Amin Husayni tries to found a government of all of Palestine.
-Gaza City becomes the capital of the Gaza Strip.
1955- Israeli troops raid Gaza, killing 36 Egyptian troops.
1956- the Suez Crisis. Egypt’s Abdul Nasser stands down France and Britain as he nationalizes the Suez Canal. Israel occupies Gaza.
1957- Israel returns Gaza to Egypt.
The Six Day War and the PLO.
1967- The Six Day War. Israel emerges victorious and adds East Jerusalem, Gaza, Sinai, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights as occupied territories. The Suez Canal Zone and the Syrian frontier along the Golan Heights are supervised by the UN.
-Israel occupies the remaining strip of Jordanian Jerusalem east of the Ramallah-Bethlehem Road.
1970- many Palestinians are expelled from Jordan into Palestine. They become the PLO.
PLO leader Yasser Arafat is a blood connection of the radical Al Husayni that led the insurrection in 1936.
The Yom Kippur War
1973- The Yom Kippur War- Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack on Israel to recover occupied Syrian and Egyptian lands. Israel defeats Syria and Egypt, providing the basis for eventual peace with Egypt.
1975- Egypt regains the Suez Canal area, supervised by the UN since 1967.
1979- Israel's Begin and Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat sign the Camp David Accord, peace between Israel and Egypt.
1981- Gaza, though still under military command, is placed under civilian adminstration.
-Sinai is returned to Egypt.
The First Lebanon War
1982- The First Lebanon War. Israeli General Ariel Sharon invades Lebanon and Beruit to root out the PLO once and for all.
1982- the PLO evacuates by sea and disperses from Lebanon.
The First Intifada and the founding of Hamas
1987- Dec 9- Palestinians launch the intifadah- permanent resistance to Israel.
Dec 27- Hamas (Movement of Islamic Resistance) is founded by Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its short-term aim is to eject Israel from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza -and in the long run to found an Islamic State, ratified by referendum, in all of Palestine.
-the armed wing of Hamas is called Izz a Din Qassam, after the leader of the 1936-39 intifada.
-initially Hamas rejects Iranian revolution as Shia.
1988- Jordan renounces any claim to the West Bank. In response, the PLO declares Palestine a sovereign state while recognizing the Israeli state of Israel
1989- Hamas leader Yassin imprisoned by Israel. Abdul Aziz Rantizi made leader of Hamas.
1990s- continual attempts to launch peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflct.
1991- Iraq invades Kuwait. The Gulf war ensuses as a US-brokered international alliance invades Iraq, a major supporter of the PLO.
1991- during the Gulf Crisis, Hamas gets funding from the Gulf States after cutting off funding to the PLO as punishment for siding with Iraq.
-Hamas is ambivalent about the 1st Gulf war- because many of its donors are from the oil rich Gulf states.
-after the 1st Gulf war Hamas and Iran hold meetings.
-Hamas sets up an office in Iran and Hamas leaders begin meeting with Hezbiollah leaders in Lebanon.
-as a result of the defeat of Iraq, which had been a supporter of the Palestinians, a weakened PLO decides to bargain for peace with Yitzak Shamir's Labour party government in Israel. The result is secret taks held in Oslo, Norway.
1992- Israel deports 413 Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders to Lebanon.
1993- September- 1/3 of Gaza is taken up by 16 Jewish settlements.
The Oslo Accords
1993- September: the Oslo Accord and Gaza-Jericho agreement: Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip; seven major west bank towns to be handed over to Palestinian rule as Israel formally recognizes a potential Palestinian State. The Palestinian National Authority is recognized as its government. Hamas rejects the agreement.
1993- the Palestinians issue a declaration of principles for self-rule in the occupied territories.
-the problem of a divided Jerusalem is not dealt with in the Oslo Accords.
-after 1993- Hamas begins receiving several million a year from Iran.
-Hezbollah and Hamas cooperate on the level of coordination rather than operations or training. Their cooperation becomes closer as Israel-Palestinian conflict increases.
1994- May-- Gaza becomes the base of the Palestinian National Authority. Under an Interim Agreement, it is enlarged to accommodate buffer zones between Jews and Palestinians. Sections southern coastal border and the southern border with Egypt are under Israeli-Palestinian joint control. Israel occupies a strip along the entire eastern border and three strips running across central Gaza to the coast so that Palestinian Gaza is divided in four. Israel also occupies a strip alng the south end of the west coast. Hamas decries Israeli occupation and declares Israeli settlers to be occupiers who must be resisted.
July- Yasser Arafat returns to the Palestinian territories after 33 years' absence. He becomes chairman of the Palestinian Authroity.
-Jericho also transferred to Palestinian control.
1994- 29 Palestinians murdered in Hebron. In retaliation Israel assassinates Hamas’s Yahya Ayash, commander of Hamas suicide bombers.
1994- Palestinians losing ten times the number of Israelis killed in the Intifadah.
-Israel's commitment to Oslo is revealed as little than a negotiation for security as it begins land confiscations which break up Palestininan areas designated under Oslo, making them difficult to administer.
1994- Peace Treaty between Jordan and Israel.
The Palestinian National Authority clamps down on Hamas.
-Oct.- Hamas kidnaps an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv. The PNA arrests 350 Hamas supporters Hamas begins to oppose the PNA.
1994-5- Jericho and Gaza get autonomous status. Intifadah decreases.
-Hamas begins to incite violence against Israel.
1995- January- Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigade, mounts suicide bombings against Israel in retaliation for death of Yahya Ayash.
1995- January- Arafat becomes president of the Palestinian authority.
November 4- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin is assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
May- Nablus, Tulkarm, Ramallah and Bethlehem transferred to Palestinian control.
-about forty separate islands of land in the West Bank are under Palestinian adminstration.
Collapse of Oslo Accords
1996- June- Benjamin Natanyahu elected prime minister of Israel at head of Likud Party. Oslo Accord collapses
September- Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank: Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah are under Palestinian control. Salim, Birzeit, Halhul, Nahalin, Hebron and Abu Harah are under joint control. Scattered in the entire western half of the West Bank are at least 128 Jewish settlements.
1996- Palestinian suicide bombings carried out in Israeli cities. Israeli forces engage the PLO in south Lebanon and in the West Bank.
-Arafat losing popularity due to increasing poverty among Palestinians and the corruption of the PNA.
-Hamas boycotts PNA elections.
1997- Israeli troops withdraw from Hebron in accordance with the Oslo Accords.
-fast-growing illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories spark renewed fighting.
-Prime Minister Netanyahu orders construction of settlements for 30,000 new Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. Hamas, in response, starts a new suicide bombing campaign.
-Under Israel pressure, the PNA suppresses Hamas.
The Wye Agreement.
1998- the Wye Agreement between Arafat and Netanyahu moderates Jewish settlement in Palestinian lands. Because of that and failure to reach agreement about East Jeruslaem, Netanyahu starts to lose settelrs’ support.and the agreement is suspended. Jerusalem is not dealt with.
-the PNA arrests Hamas leaders for criticizing the Wye Agreement.
1999- Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party is defeated by Ehud Barak’s Labour Party.
2000- President Clinton’s Camp David II peace talks fail. Barak is seen by Israelis as being soft on Palestine during negotiations with Arafat. Barak starts to negotiate the status of Jerusalem.
-Hamas criticizes the PNA for attending Camp David.
Second Intifada
2000- Sept 27- Sharon visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem setting off the Second Intifadah.
-‘Al Aqsa’ Intifadah suicide bombers begin a campaign against Israel.
-Arafat refuses Israeli requests to arrest Hamas leaders and there’s a rapprochement between Hamas and the PNA. Hamas becomes a member of the Popular Resistance Committees which include Islamic Jihad and radical members of Fatah.
-Palestinians start the second intifada. Israel resorts to targeted killings in response to Palestinian suicide bombings.
2001- Barak defeated by Ariel Sharon, who is seen to represent the Jewish settlers.
-late April,- Nasralla and Khalid Mashaal present at Tehran's "International conference on the Palestinoian Intifada"
-2001- Iran tries to get 50 tons of munitions to the Palestinian Authority via Hezbollah.- (Congressman Howard Berman in an address to the American Iranian Council)
-2002- Under Sharon’s direction, Israeli troops re-occupy the Palestinian Territories.
2002- in response to the continuing intifadah, Israel re-occupies the West Bank and begins construction of a security wall between Israel and Palestine. The wall is plotted so that it cuts off chunks of Palestinian land. .But Israeli right wing critics complain that the wall effectively recognizes a Palestinian nation.
-March 2002- meeting of Hamas and Hezbollah leasers in Lebanon about attacking Israel.
-2003- Ariel Sharon re-elected.
-throughout the next two years repeated Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel are accompanied by incursions into the territories by the Israeli Defence Forces and by targeted killings of Hamas leaders.
Mahmoud Abbas is Palestinian Prime Minister.
-2003- under international pressure, Mahmoud Abbas is approved by Arafat as Palestinian prime minister.
-the U.S. releases its updated Road Map to peace.
2003- June-August- Israel carries out targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders.
Abbas resigns; succeeded by Ahmed Qurei
-Mahmoud Abbas resigns. Arafat appoints Ahmed Qurei as new Prime Minister.2003-
Sept-Oct- Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel.
Oct-Nov. Ahmed Qurei resgins as Palestinian Prime Minister and then is reinstated after negotiations with Arafat.
2004- March 22- Israeli forces assassinate Hamas leader, Ahmed Yassin.
-March- (likely after the assassination of Sheikh Yassin in Gaza) Nazrallah decides to join forces with Hamas.
2004- July 9- International Court of Justice rules that the Israeli security barrier violates international law and must be torn down.
Oct 25-26- Israel’s Knesset approves Ariel Sharon’s plan for disengagement.
Arafat Dies; he is succeeded by Abbas as Prime Minister.
Nov. 11- Yasser Arafat dies.
2005- Jan 9- Mahmoud Abbas elected head of Palestinian National Authority.
March- Lt. Genral William Ward is sent to Jerusalem as United States Security Coordinator- to work on security reform of the PA and to prepare the ground for Ariel Sharon's withdrawal of Jewish settlemnts from Gaza.
May 26- Mahmoud Abbas visits Bush at White House. Bush agrees in principle to 1949 borders for Israel.
-European Union observers are placed in Gaza to allay Israel's concerns that Gazan Palestinians are bringing in weapons from Egypt.
Aug 16- Sept 1- under Sharon, Israel evacuates Gaza, handing settlements over to Palestinians.
Sept 15- Sharon calls for peace, recognizes Palestinian rights in an address to the UN.
Nove-Dec- Lt. General Keith Dayton replaces Ward as Us Security Coordinator- Dayton's task is to prevent a takeover of the PA security services by Hamas.
Hamas wins elections. Prime Minister Sharon immobilized by a stroke.
2006- Jan 4- Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke, putting him put of politics permanently.
Jan- Iran’s Ahmedinejad visits Assad in Damascus and they met with leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and PFLP- according to Israel's consuil general in New York.
Hamas wins in Palestinian elections- provoking international economic sanctions.
Jan 26- Hamas wins the election in the Palestinian territories, ending PLO-Fatah rule.
March 28- Ehud Olmert is elected Prime Minister of Israel.
-the Palestinian people suffer as international economic aid dries up due to sanctions in protest of Hamas’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
-Hamas is a branch of Muslim Brotherhood- backed by Saudi Arabia, all of which are anti-Shia. But Hamas coop-erated with Iran because it had been cut off from funding in the west. Iran may have wanted Hamas to attack Israel from Gaza.
June 25- Israel invades Gaza in response to the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas.
July 12- Hezbollah fighters kidnap two IDF soldiers on Israel’s border with Lebanon.
The 2006 Summer war in Lebanon.
-Israel invades Lebanon in response to the kisnapping of its soldiers. Hezbollah retaliates, firing masses of rockets into Israel. Heavy Israeli artillery bombardment, ground attacks and aerial bombardment destroy mush of Lebanon’s infrastructure but fail to destroy Hezabollah. Hezbollah is considered to have womn by standing firm.
Aug 14- the Israel-Lebanon war ends with a UN brokered ceasefire.
Nov. 26- a truce is declared in Gaza but fighting between Israel and Palestinians continues throughout the terriotories.
Strife between Hamas and the PNA
2007- Jan 19- Israel pases 100 million in tax revenues to Palestinian Authority President President Mahmood Abbas to encourage Fatah at the expense of Hamas.
-a power struggle over control of the Palestinian cause begins between Hamas, which holds parliamentary power and the Palestinian National Authority which heads the government.
-US Security Coordinator (USSC) Dayton discourages any unity talks between hamas and Fatah because it wants to see Hamas dmoniated or destroyed by Fatah.
2007- Feb 8- Palestinian Unity Agreement signed in Mecca: the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas agree to share power.
March 12- BBC reporter Alan Johnston kidnapped.
-March-May- despite Mecca accord, fighting between Hamas and the PNA verges on civil war.
May 4- the US sets a timetable for Israel to ease restrictions in the Palestinian territories and for the Palestinians to increase border security for Israel.
May 18-26 Israel launches air strikes at Hamas targets and arrests a Hamas minister.
June- in fighting verging on civil war, Hamas expels the PNA from Gaza- taking over political control there. The Hamas movement's armed wing, better known as al-Qassam Brigades, along with the executive police force formed by Hamas last year, overpower the PNA security headquarters by force.
-Hamas fighters attack Lt. General Dayton's USSC-trained PA security forces, killing 7.
-PA President Mahmoud Abbas apppoints Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister of the PA giving Fayyad, as security man, responsibility for preventing Hamas from taking the West Bank.
-as civil war develops, the PNA begins to expel Hamas from the West bank.
-June-Oct- PA Security man Salam Fayyad, backed by US Security Coordinator Dayton- launches operations almost exclusively against Hamas, causing ordinary Palestinians to claim the US-backed security plan for the PA is actually nothign more than a political weapon of the US and Iszrael against Hamas
Victorious Hamas Rules Gaza.
June 14- Hamas claims victory over Fatah in Gaza.
July 3- Alan Johnston freed by alQaeda-linked group named Army of Islam. Hamas claims responsibility for obtaining his freedom, distances itself from al Qaeda and denies any links. Skeptics call Hamas’s intervention a piublicity stunt in order to secure international recognition and the resumption of aid.
Sept 6- uncompleted Syrian nuclear reactor hit by Israeli air-strike.
Sept. 27- Israel retaliates against rocket attacks launched from Gaza.
Oct 10- Hamas says it is ready for talks with Fatah.
Oct 20- heavy fighting between factions within Hamas.
Oct 25-29- Israel cuts power and fuel to Gaza.
Nov. 12- Hamas fires on Fatah rally held in honour of the 2nd anniversary of the death of Arafat.
Nov. 13- Hamas holds 400 Fatah members arrested at rally, in detention.
Annapolis Two-State Solution Talks.
Nov. 26- President Bush inaugurates peace talks between Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas at Annapolis with the goal of a two-state solution.
2008- January 24- Hamas activists bulldoze and dynamite the containing wall in souhtern Gaza,, opening a border crossing into Egypt. At least half the 1.5 million population of Gaza flows through the crossing into Raffa, Egypt, to get supplies.
January 28- PNA Fatah president Mahmoud Abbas agrees with Arab nations and the European Union that the latter will post observers at Gaza's Raffa crossing provided Abbas posts his PNA guards on the crossing as well.
-Feb 13- Hezbollah terrorist Mughaniyeh assassinated in Damascus
Israel-Gaza Skirmish.
Feb 27- March 3- Isreali military attack on Gaza kills 100, mostly civilians, ostensibly to stop rockets fired at Isreal.
March 6- Palestinian terror attack kills 8 in Jerusalem.
June 19- truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
June 29- Israel and Hamas agree to trade prisoners.
July 30- in the wake of violence, Hamas detains 160 Fatah supporters.
Aug 4- Israel gives Fatah members fleeing Hamas safe passage out of Gaza.
Aug 17- Israeli cabinet approves the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners.
Aug 23- two boatloads of activists break the blockade on Gaza for the first time ever.
-Fatah doctors in Gaza go on strike against Hamas.
Sept 5- Israel allows the shipment of 1,000 rifles to the Palestinian National Authority.
Sept 16- 11 killed in internal fighting in Gaza.
Olmert Resigns, Making Way for Livni
Sept 17- Tzipi Livni to run for Prime Minister of Israel at head of Kadima Party in wake of Olmert's resignation
Sept 21- Olmert resigns.
Oct 20- Israeli army demolishes three illegal settlements in West Bank.
Oct 26- Unable to form a government, Livni calls an election.
Obama Elected President of US.
Nov 4- Obama elected president of US- the Arab world hopes for a radical change in US policy.
-Israel's IDF discovers tunnel from Gaza into Israel sparking new rocket attacks and retaliation by Israel. Both sides resme truce.
Nov 9- Annapolis peace process reaffirmed at meeting of Quartet at Sharm al Sheikh.
-Hamas backs out of Cairo meeting to unify Palestinians.
Israel-Gaza War.
Dec 19- Hamas increases rocket fire from Gaza.
Dec 27- In Operation Cast Lead, Israel bombs tunnels and Hamas bases in Gaza killing about 400 as Hamas rains rockets on Israel.
-PA Prime Minister and security chief Salam Fayyad, backed by US Security Coordinator Dayton, uses Palestinian security to prevent any protest of Israel's Gaza offensive or support of Hamas in the West Bank.
2009- Jan 18- Israel declares cease fire in Operation Cast Lead after killing 1,300 land losing 13 soldiers of its own.
Likud Electoral Victory.
Feb 10- the Likud party, after a close call and mixed result, wins the election and is allowed to form the government.
June 1- Israel refuses to cooperate with UN war crimes investigation.
Obama's Cairo Speech.
June 4- President Obama's Cairo speech: Obama calls for an end to the building of Israeli settlements on occupied land and asks the Arab nations to recognize Israel.
June 14- Prime Minister Netanyahu, in response to Obama's Cairo speech, agrrres to move toward the recongition of a Palestinain state but refuses to halt the building of Israeli settlements.
UN Endorses Unilateral Palestinian State.
-August 26- PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, announces his plan to declare a unilateral Palestinian State by August 2011, the end date for Palestinian-Israeli peace talks on a two-state solution. His plan is endorsed by the Quartet- the UN, the US, the EU and Russia.
2010- Jan. Israelis bomb tunnel for smuggling weapons to Palestinian mortar teams for use against Israel. Three fighters are killed and sever wounded from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
March 3- Mahmoud Abbas agreets to 'proximity talks' for 4 months- allowing him to negotiate with Israel without the requirement of addressing settlements immediately. Hamas rejects Abbas;s decision.
March 7- After Israeli protests at a Jerusalem mosque, Abbas accuses Israel of derailing the peace process by provoking the demonstrations.
US Attempts to Re-start Peace Talks.
2010- March 7-8- US envoy Senator Mitchell meets Abbas and Netanyahu and obtains a framework for preliminary and formal peace talks.
May 9- commencement of inderect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Israel Raids Turkish Ship Attempting to Run Blockade of Gaza.
May 30- Israeli Defence Forces carry out a raid in international waters on a Turksih ship among six others raided in the 'Freedom Flotilla', an international aid convoy on its way to run Israel's blockade of Gaza. Israeli commandos, attacked by men weilding clubs, kill several of them. The international community expresses outrage at the excessive use of force.
2010- June 7- 4 Palestinian diver commandos are killed off Gaza by an Israeli naval patrol. Hamas claims they were only training.
Netanyahu Refuses to Freeze Settlements
July 28- Prime Minister Netanyahu refuses to extend a freeze on the building of more Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory.
July 30- Hamas condemns Abbas's initiative toward peace talks.
Secretary of State Clinton Attempts Direct Talks.
2010- Aug 20- Palestinians are invited to enter direct negotiations with Israel by US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.
Aug 30- Meeting at the White House with President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian authroity agree to begin peace talks.
Sept 1- Palestinian gunmen kill Jewish settlers in the West Bank just as peace talks get started.
2010-Sept. 2- Netanyahu deamnds two pillars for peace: the recognition of the State of Israel as a Jewish state and arrangements to prevent Israel from comong under attack from an independent Palestinian state.
Collapse of Direct Peace Talks.
2010- - Sept 28: A partial freeze of West Bank settlement building expires, leading to the collapse of direct talks.
2010- - November: Palestinian officials begin talking publicly about seeking UN membership for a Palestinian state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War incorporating the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
2011- May 4-Fatah and Hamas sign a reconciliation accord, citing the common cause of opposition to the Israeli occupation and shared disillusionment with American peace efforts as reasons for the détente.
2011- May 19- President Obama declares that the borders demarcated before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war should be the basis of a Mideast peace deal between Israel and Palestine with adjustments made to account for Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
2011- March 20: Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat says seeking UN membership for a Palestinian state is the official strategy although no date is set.
2011- Sept 21: Obama insists at the UN General Assembly that only negotiations can lead to a Palestinian state.
2011- Sept 23- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas officially requests a bid for statehood at the UN Security Council.
2011- Oct. 18- Israel and Palestine prisoner swap in which Palestine exchanges Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners 280 of whom were serving life sentences on charges of terrorism.
UN Pessimistic about Peace Talks.
2012- July 25- the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process briefed the Security Council prior to its quarterly open debate on the Middle East. He reiterated his warning that negative trends regarding the peace process, the Gaza blockade, the solvency of the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli settlement policy consistently undermined the common goal of a negotiated two-state solution
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/israelpalestine.php
Another Round of Violence Between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
2012- Nov 14- Throughout the fall of 2012, militant groups in Gaza fire rockets into Israel with increasing frequency. Israel responds on November 14 with one of its biggest attacks on Gaza since the 2008 invasion. The attack kills Hamas military commander, Ahmed al-Jabari. In the following days, Israel continues to target members of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza, and Hamas launches several hundred rockets, with some hitting Tel Aviv.
2012- Operation Pillar of Defense, Israeli Defense Forces conducted an eight-day military operation in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip during which dozens of targets there were attacked in response to ongoing rocket fire on the western Negev.
Egypt Brokers Peace Between Hamas and Israel
2012- Nov 18- Egypt, while a staunch supporter of Hamas, begins talks in Cairo to broker a peace agreement between Hamas and Israel to prevent the conflict from further destabilizing the region.
2012- Nov. 21- Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announce a cease-fire has been signed. Both sides agree to end hostilities toward each other and Israel says it will open Gaza border crossings, allowing the flow of products and people into Gaza, potentially lifting the 5-year blockade that has caused much hardship to those living in the region.
with thanks, among others, to: http://www.infoplease.com/world/countries/israel-palestine-conflict/timeline-2000-present.html#2009
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/israelpalestine.php
Canaan
3,000 BC- site of Jerusalem first occupied.
2500-1675 BC- the Canaanites.
1900 BC- Jerusalem is the capital of a Canaanite city state. Samaria, to the north, lies at the center of Canaan.
1750 (circa)-1570- the Hyksos warlords of Palestine invade and rule lower Egypt.
1490-1200- Palestine ruled by the New Kingdom of Egypt.
1400s BC - Gaza an important trading city.
1250-1030- the Jews colonize Canaan.
1220- Joshua, successor to Moses, takes Jerusalem for the Hebrews.
-Hebrew tribes, without any single leader, begin to unite to face the menace of the Canaanites and especially the Philistines.
The Hebrew Kingdom
1200-586 BC- the Hebrew Kingdom.
1200-1050- the period of the Judges.
1150-587- along the coastal region, Gaza and other Philistine City States flourish.
-Saul becomes the first king of Judah and leads the tribes to victory.
-Saul, after defeat by the Philistines, is succeeded by his son in law David who retakes land conquered by the Philistines, takes Jerusalem and unites north and south under one kingdom.
Kingdom of Israel
1022-922- Kingdom of Israel.
1010 - 970 -King David, according to tradition, is devout, powerful and just- the perfect monarch.
-northern Samaria given to the tribe of Manasseh and southern Samaria to the tribe of Ephraim.
-Jerusalem remains independent until captured by King David in 1010.
-David transfers the ark of the Covenant from Hebron to Jerusalem, making it the religious capital of Israel.
-David captures Jerusalem from the Jebusites.
1000- Jerusalem becomes capital of Israel.
970 – King Solomon- criticized by the prophets for the political expediency of being lenient to other local religions.
The First Temple.
953- Solomon builds the first temple.
-Solomon destroys the temple of Dagon in Gaza.
-Solomon taxes Israel heavily.
922- after the death of Solomon the north, Israel, secedes from Judea in the south.
The Two Kingdoms- Judah and Israel.
-922-587- the Kingdom of Judah and 922-721- the Kingdom of Israel.
-the northern Manasseh and Ephraim tribes of Samaria split from southern Samaria becoming the Samaritans but retaining the name Kingdom of Israel.
-Solomon’s son Rehoboam rules the southern kingdom of Judah, which is poorer and more agricultural than Israel, to the north. Israel, meanwhile, remains wealthier, more urban and cosmopolitan. A chronic power struggle develops between the two kingdoms.
-the Samaritans form a dissident sect of Judaism.
Assyrian and Babylonian Exile
-721- Tiglath Pilesser of Assyria conquers Israel and takes its people captive.
721-600- rule by Assyria.
597- Judah falls to the new power of Babylon and First Temple destroyed as Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem and transports the Judean upper class to the city of Babylon.
559-330- rule by Persia. Judah becomes a Persian satrapy.
-Gaza provides Persia with a deep-water port on the Meditarranean.
The Second Temple.
537-515- the temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem.
537- Cyrus allow the Jews safe return from exile, to Jerusalem
530- death of Cyrus the Great.
530-522- rule by Cambyses II, son of Cyrus.
522-486- rule by Darius I. The Persians allow the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem.
Alexander and the Seleucids.
-Alexander’s conquest of the Persian-ruled the Levantine coast,
-Batis, Persian governor of Gaza, holds out against Alexander but in the end Gaza falls, and Alexander has Batis dragged around the city behind a chariot, in memory of Achilles’ vengeance on Hector.
-according to legend, Alexander makes sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem.
-as Alexander marches on Egypt, he leaves his general, Parmenion, to take Jerusalem and Judah. Only Samaria has to be reduced by force. Samaria is colonized by Macedonians.
332-301- rule by Antigonus of Macedon.
322- Greeks build a fortress in Samaria.
-Gaza however resists conquest by Alexander. As a consequence, he enslaves the population.
301-200- rule by Ptolemaic Egypt.
200-150- rule by the Greek Seleucids.
175- Antioch IV, Epiphanes consolidates Cilicia (SE Turkey), Syria, Babylonia, Media. Encourages Hellenism and Greek manners. Tries to abolish Judaism in order to unify everyone against Rome.
175-164- Antioch IV persecutes the Jews. Jewish Apocalyptic movement begins.
168-142- The Maccabees found an independent Jewish state which will last until 63 BC. Jerusalem is its capital.
The Second Temple
-the Second Temple is restored by the Maccabees.
150-50- rule of Judah by the Hasmoneans.
The Maccabees
129- A new Jewish state has formed- wrested from the Seleucids by the Maccabees.
104 BC -Hasmoneans take Galilee.
65-62- Sacaurus is first governor of Syria under Pompey. Sacaurus invades Judea during a civil war between Hycanus II and Aristobulus II. Scaurus supports Aristobulus. Scaurus' envoy was Antipater, father of Herod.
64- Syria annexed by Pompey- including the coastline from Pontus round Anatolia and down to Egypt. Emesa, the Itureans, Jews and Nabateans become client states.
Rome
63- Pompey enters Jerusalem and the Temple and tears away the veil of the Holy of Holies. The deed is never forgotten.
48- Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsallus in Egypt.
-the high priest Hyrcanus brings Judea into alliance with Caesar. Caesar makes Antipater procurator of Judea.
47 BC- Zealots begin when a group of insurgents under Ezechais, father of Judas the Galilean, were executed by the young Idumean Jew, Herod, as bandits. But the Sanhedirn protest the killing of jews.
40- in Rome, Herod is appointed to restore order to Judea. He returns to Israel, attacks Galilee first and takes Sepphoris and the people of Sepphoris flee.
38- Antigonus, last of the Hasmonean priest-kings is attacked by the forces of Herod who is supported by Mark Antony. Hasmonean Dynasty falls when Herod takes Jerusalem with troops from Mark Antony under C. Sosius, governor of Syria. Antigonus is captured and taken to Syria where he is beheaded by Sosius on orders of Mark Antony- who was bribed to do so by Herod.
-Herod loots the wealthiest families of Jerusalem and puts 45 Hasmoneans to death.
King Herod the Great
37- Antony sends legions under C. Socius to install Herod, son of Antipater on throne of Judea in Jerusalem. Sosius joins his legions with Herod's amry and they storm the Hasmoneans who are under the command of Antigonus in Jerusalem. Herod the Great begins his reign. Judea becomes a client kingdom of Rome- loses status as a Roman province.
30- Herod brings Judea to high development. But he is hated by the Jews for being a Hellenizer.
27- Herod begins to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Makes sure that there are no images in the temple or on coins.
-Herod makes Caesarea his capital and rebuilds it as a Greek city.
19 BC- Herod begins to restore the temple in Jerusalem. Overseen by priests for purity. Herod has a Roman Eagle placed over the door. Rioting ensues
7-4 BC- probable dates for the birth of Jesus
-at the birth of Jesus, Galilee is under the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas. And Judea is under direct Roman rule.
Judean rebellion
4BC- Judean rebellion starts when the Roman gold eagle is set up on the gates by Herod. Judas Sepphoraeus and Matthias, sons of Margolathus, are the 2 Pharisee teachers behind the rebellion - falsely believing Herod was dead, they got one of the pupils to pull down the eagle and smash it.
-Herod massacres the Pharisees in Judea for attempting to pull down the Roman Eagle from the temple in Jerusalem. He may also have initiated the 'massacre of the innocents'.
4 AD- death of Herod the Great just before passover. Rule of his son Herod Archelaus begins. His rival is Herod Antipas. Archelaus gets Judea and Idumea; Philip gets the north east.
-death of Herod sparks a revolt provoked by his abuses. Judas the Galilean and a small army capture Sepphoris and terrorized the region.
Herod Archelaus
-Varus invades Samaria, Judea and Idumea- uses all three legions in Syria to crush a revolt in Judea. Judas and the rebels are driven underground. Galilee is crushed first. Sepphoris is destroyed. Varus achieves victories in Gallilee and in Judea, thus returning Herod's kingdom to Roman rule.
-2,000 rebels crucified by the Romans.
4 AD- Augustus decides to break up Herod's kingdom into three. Replaces the Herodean kingdom with Judea.
Rebellion of the Zealots
6-rural resistance movement revived against Rome and its Jewish Pharisee and Sanhedrin collaborators. Resistance is led by Judas the Galilean. Together with Zadok the Pharisee he founds the Zealots and the Sicarii. Judas holds that Isreal should have no earthly lord.
-legate of Syria Sulpicius Quirinius marches south to repress the rebellion. Tries to impose the census. Quirinius sells off the property of Archelaus, dismisses unpopular high priest Joazar and appoints Ananus as high priest.
6- Judea annexed by Rome. Becomes a provinice under Quirinnius, Governor of Syria. Census finally held and tribute being paid.
Jesus
25- circa- Jesus begins his ministry.
26- Pilate appointed prefect of Judea. Succeeds Valerius Gratus.
26- Pilate marches his legion into Jerusalem needlessly offending the Jews.
27- February- Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Christ announces his Ministry then spends 40 days in the desert. He returns to John the Baptist and recruits his disciples.
27- John the Baptist arrested and executed by Herod Antipas.
30- Passover- Wed 5 April or 14 of Nisan- or March 17, probable date of the crucifixion. Of Christ.
Caligula
39-40- Caligula orders governor Publius Petronius to take half the legions ot Judea and negotiate the placement of Caligula's statue in the temple. The Jews refuse. Mass protests follow at Petronius' HQ in Ptolemais, Petronius asks Caliguala to cancel the edict and is supported by King Agrippa I who is visiting Caligula in Rome.
40- Christianity spreading fast among the Jews.
41- Emperor Claudius makes Herod Agrippa King of Roman Judea and Samaria.
44- Herod Agrippa executes James (brother of John), leader of the Christian community in Judea and imprisons Peter.
45-46- Fadus is procurator of Judea. The zealot Theudas leads a crowd to the Jordan. Fadus decodes it's a rebellion and has Theudas decapitated and his head impaled on the gates of Jerusalem.
The Jewish War
66-70 AD- rebellion of the Jews against Rome. The Jewish war begins.
70- the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman general Vespasian ends the Jewish War.
132-5 AD- the Kingdom of Israel ends with the collapse of the Bar Kochba uprising. The messianic figure of Simon Bar Kochba leads a revolt against occupation by Hadrian’s Rome. Sucessful at first, the movement is defeated by the Roman general, Julius Severus. Jericho and Bethlehem are destroyed and the Jews prohibited from entering Jerusalem.
Byzantine Jerusalem; Gradual Exodus of the Jews from Palestine.
-Hadrian reconstructs Jerusalem as a Roman colony.
312- after Constantine converts to Christianity, Palestine becomes a destination of Christian pilgrimage. Jews begin to leave the region, reducing the Jewish population.
-Christian revivial in Jerusalem.
325-637- Palestine under the rule of the Byzantine Empire.
335- the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is completed on the site of the crucifixion, on mount calvary.
451- the Council of Chalcedon divides the Roman Empire into five Holy Sees , establishing the see of Jerusalem and Palestine- with its own patriarch.
614- Chosroes II, Sassanian monarch of Persia conquers Jerusalem.
628- Palestine is recovered briefly by the Byzantines.
Muslim Conquest- the Abbasids and the Umayyads.
633-637- Muslim conquest of Palestine and Syria under the Caliph Umar.
-637- Muslims capture Jeruslem. It is made the second holy city after Mecca.
-Gaza is the burial site of the Prophet Muhammad’s great grandfather, Hashem Ibn Abdul Manaf.
-Palestine becomes a holy place for Muslims. The Dome of the Rock is alleged to be a stopping place of Mohammed on his way to heaven.
-691- Umayyad leader Abdul malik ibn Marwan erects the Dome of the Rock on the alleged site of the temple of Solomon. Nearby the Aqsa Mosque is built.
-750- Palestine becomes part of the Abbasid Caliphate. A period of dissension between partisans of the former Umayyad dynasty and the Abbasids.
800-1000- Byzantine and Islamic Arab rivalry over Jerusalem.
Fatimid Rule- Persecution of Christians and Jews
-9th century- Palestine is conquered by the north African dynasty, the Fatamids.
969 -the Fatimid ruler Muizz takes Jerusalem and burns down the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
-Palestine becomes the site of resistance by Bedouins, Byzantines, Seljuks and Karmatians to Fatimid rule.
-Muslim persecution of Christians in Palestine.
996-1021- the Fatimid Caliph Hakim ruthlessly suppresses Palestinian Christians and Jews. Churches are destroyed.
The Crusades
1099- European Crusaders conquer Jerusalem and massacre its Jewish and Muslim population.
-the Crusaders establish a Kingdom at Jerusalem.
-Crusaders periodically occupy Gaza.
1187- Saladin, the Kurdish founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, defeats the Crusaders at the battle of Hittin and retakes Jerusalem.
1244- Jerusalem sacked by the Mongols.
The Mamelukes
1249- the Mamlukes, a Turkish slave corps under the Fatimids, found a dynasty in Egypt, overthrowing the Ayyubids and taking Palestine.
1250-1517- a Mameluke sultanate in Egypt and the Levant.
-the Mamelukea finally stem advance by the Mongols.
1291- the fall of Acre. The Crusaders are driven from Palestine once and for all by the Mamelukes.
-the Mamelukws try to resist the growing power of the Turks by making trade contact with Europe. Europe, however, takes advantage of the situation to trace new trade routes to the far east, by-passing the Middle east. As a result, the region, including Palestine begins to suffer.
Decline of Palestine
-Palestine goes into decline under Mamluk rule.
1516- the Mamluks are beaten by the Ottoman Turks.
Ottoman Rule
1517- Palestine and Gaza come under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. But for the Ottomans, there is no single entity called Palestine. It is divided into the Sanjak (district) of Jerusalem in the south. In the north it is part of the vilayat (province) of Beirut. The city of Jerusalem is ruled directly from Constantinople.
-the Ottomans bring an end to strife between Turks and Mamelukes in Palesine.
-the Ottomans restore security to trade routes throughout the Middle East.
-Palestine begins a short-lived economic and cultural recovery with the renewed flourishing of Arab traders.
-under Ottoman rule, the Mameluke territory of southern Syria and Palestine is ruled from Damascus.
-the Ottomans isolate Palestine from outside influences. However, they grant Francis I of France the right to protect Christian shrines in Palestine.
1541- Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the magnificent rebuilds city walls of Jerusalem.
1575 (circa) Jerusalem declining as a religious and commercial center.
1656- Grand Vizier Mehmet Koprulu slows Ottoman decline by instituting reforms. Thousands executed for corruption.
1757- contrary to an agreement with the French, the Ottomans agree to Russia being the protector of Christians in the Levant
1774- -the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji also allows Russia to be protector of Greek Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman empire
Invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte.
1798-99- to cut India off from the British, the French, under General Bonaparte, launch an invasion of Egypt and from Egypt to Palestine and Syria, breaking the rule of the Mamelukes. Appealing to English strategic help and Turkish armies, Bonaparte is forced back to Egypt. Though its attempt at domination fails, the French manage to sustain a presence in the region dating back to the Crusades.
The European presence increases.
1807- the Ottoman Sultan, Selim III launches a modernization program
1808- rejecting Selim’s modernization attempts, the Janissaries force him to abdicate. Reformers in his court are massacred.
-Jerusalem begins to experience a Christian revival with pilgrimages and new hospices and churches
-1831- Muhammed Ali, Egyptian viceroy to the Ottomans, deals with rebellions against the Ottomans in Saudi Arabia and in Greece. The Ottoman Sultan, Mahmoud, having promised him Syria and Palestine as a reward, renegs. Ali rebels, takes Syria and from Syria occupies Palestine. He and his son open the area to European influence.
1831-40- Egyptian occupation of Syria and Palestine. Because Ali is a protege of France, France refuses to help the Sultan. Ali wins Cilicia, Palestine and Syria.
1832-41- Jewish immigration to Palestine increases under Muhammed Ali.
1834- a national Ottoman militia is set up to supervise military training in the remote provinces
-the power of the Ottoman provinces is reduced. Roads, trade, postal service and communications are reformed. Corruption is reduced.
-Muslims tend to compete for political positions, while entrepreneurship and progress in commerce is left to Jews, Greeks and Armenians and through them, the Europeans. Increasingly the Muslim population has contempt for Christians and their modernizing tendencies.
1840- in a bid to stop the center of power in the Middle East moving to French-supported Egypt, the British invade and expel Muhammed Ali from Syria and Palestine and the Ottomans reassert control. Nevertheless, western influence continues to penetrate the area.
-1855- Jerusalem expands beyond its city walls. Its population, once small and stagnant, increases.
-the Palestinian Arab Husayni family takes over large tracts of land in southern Palestine.
1875- majority of the population of Jerusalem is Jewish.
1876--Midhat Pasha overthrows Sultan Aziz in a coup. The new sultan dies and is replaced by his brother, Abdul Hamid II. He appoints Midhat Pasha as his vizier. Midhat and Hamid adopt a new constitution. Belgian and French constitutions are used as models. Universal equality before the law is declared and a two-chamber assembly along with some decentralization of government
1880- Ottoman government, in debt to Europe, is bankrupted by the war with Russia.(1874). Taxes and tarrifs used to pay off the debt.
.
-as Sultan Hamid II modernizes he turns the Ottoman empire into a police state. Tries to distract the public with an Islamic revivial
Arrival of European Jews.
1882- settlement in Palestine by a first wave of Russian Jews in flight from pogroms in Russia.
-Palestinian peasants are impoverished under absentee landlords and Osmanli tax collectors. Palestinian Arabs and Christians, ruled in separate “millets” by the Ottomans, have little contact.
-northern Palestine is controlled by landlords based in Damascus and Beirut. The southern half is populated by nomadic Bedouin who range over the region from Jordan and Sinai.
The Husaynis and Palestinian nationalism.
-most Palestinians associate themselves with Syria while the Husayni family takes on leadership of Palestinian Arabs. Between 1865 and World War I, 6 of Jerusalem’s 13 mayors are Husaynis.
-Arab nationalism begins to develop in opposition to Ottoman rule.
-1900- Jews, the largest group in Jerusalem, expand past the city walls.
-1904-14- a second wave of Jewish settlers- primarily intellectual and middle class. So far there is only desire for refuge, not for a state.
-to Arabist scholars and to Arab nationalists, Palestine is historically a part of southern Syria and as such is no less Arab than any other Arab region in the Middle East.
-1913-1918- Ottoman empire is under a dictatorial triumvirate of the Young Turks: Talat Bey, Enver Pasha and Jemal Pasha. Ottoman empire is effectively a police state. More attempts are made to westernize the military.
British Liberation of Palestine from the Ottomans
-World War One- the British, with the help of the Arabs, wrest Palestine from the Ottomans.
1917- the Balfour Declaration: Britain declares support for the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
-meanwhile, the campaign of TE Lawrence has helped to stoke Arab nationalism among Palestinians. Britain promises a Palestinian Arab state as well as a Jewish state.
-Baghdad and Jerusalem also rebel against Istanbul.
- the British, with the help of the Arabs, wrest Palestine from the Ottomans
-Oct. 31- General Allenby defeats the Turks in Palestine at the battle of Beerhsheba.
-Jewish nationalist organizations- Histadruth and Haganha.
1918- Turkey is defeated on its Middle Eastern and European fronts
Oct. 18- Sultan Muhammed VI signs an armistice with the allied powers. The Ottoman empire comes to an end.
- to sustain the Palestinian social structure, the British support Husayni leadership of the Palestinians.
1919- in Palestine there are: 568,000 Muslims, 74,000 Christians and 58,000 Jews.
The Husaynis and the Nashashibis
-the Husaynis lead the anti-Zionist Muslim-Christian Association.
-the Husaynis support the creation of a Palestine independent from Syria. The Husaynis remain ambivalent about British control in the area; they need yet resent British support.
-to control the Husaynis, the British play them off against their rivals, the second most powerful family in Palestine, the Nashashibis.
-British appointment of Amin al-Husayni as mufti and Supreme Muslim Council president make him the predominant figure in Arab Palestine.
The British Mandate.
-1920- Aug. 10 -the Treaty of Sevres makes Syria a French protectorate and Palestine and Jordan a British protectorate.
1920-1947 Israel is fornally a British Mandate.
-with the French administering Syria and the British administering Palestine, what was traditionally southern Syria for 1,300 years of Arab history, is represented by Europeans as a separate entity- Palestine.
First Arab-Jewish Riots
1920- the first Arab, anti-Zionist riots.
-a third wave of Jewish immigrants with a specifically Zionist agenda arrives. Tensions escalate with the Palestinian Arabs.
-Nashashibi-Husayni rivalry for leadership of Palestinians increases
-among the Arabs, a split develops between the radical Husaynis, led by the Haj Amin Husayni and the more moderate Nashishibis which sought negotiation for a two-state solution. Husayni believes that Palestine should retain its traditional membership with Arab Greater Syria.
-the Husayni faction responds with a campaign of violence against moderate Arab mayors.
-the Husayni-Nashishibi rivalry turns into a veritable blood feud.
-Amin Husayni shows signs of starting an Islamist trend, ordering Christian women to wear the veil and attacks begin on Druze and Christian minorities.
1921- -but to conciliate the Arabs, the British pardon al Husayni and make him Grand Mufti of Jerusaelm
-1921- May 1-6- Arabs riot against the new wave of Jewish settlers.
-The Mufti al Husayni begins restoring the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque.
1928- an Arab Conference in Jerusalem fails to unify the 2 Palestinian leadership factions.
1929- Arabs and Jews clash when Mufti Amin Husayni tries to limit Jewish use of the Wailing Wall. Palestinians massacre 200 Jews at Hebron.
1930-1945- Jewish immigration increases due to Nazi persecution. 200,000 Jews arrive.
1935- the Palestinian national parties, unified only by their opposition to Zionism, have still failed to achieve unity.
1935- Palestinian radical Islamist cleric Izz a Din Qassim begins armed insurgent attacks against the British in north Palestine. But Qassim is killed by the British .
The Palestinian Uprising.
1936- the Arab High Committee is formed by Amin al Husayni to oppose all Jewish claims in Palestine.
Apr.-Oct- Arab general strike in protest of arms smuggling by the J ews.
1936-39- Palestinian uprising led by guerilla units started by the late Izza a Din Qassam.
1937-the Peel Commission Report recommends the partition of Israel into a Jewish State, an Arab state and a British mandated state. Jews are divided over accepting it.
Sept. -the Pan Arab Congress at Bludan: the Arabs reject the Peel Commission report. They demand that all Jewish settlement and expansion stop and that Jews be recognized only as a minority in an Arab state.
-Jews and Arabs fighting pitched battles.
-the British arrest the Arab High Committee and deport many to the Seychelles. Haj Amin al Husayni flees to Syria. Syria becomes the base for the Arab insurgents. The radicals get greater control over the Arab movement
1938 January- the British postpone the partition plan.
June- Jewish anti-Arab militant Solomon Ben Yusef is executed.
-July-Aug- fighting intensifies all over Palestine.
Oct 2- the massacre of 20 Jews by militant Arabs at Tiberias.
-meanwhile the Arab resistance collapses as the Husayni-Nashishi feud pushes Arab Palestine into internecine chaos, with the targeting of ‘collaborators’ with Britain and the Jews coalescing with old Arab family vendettas.
Nov 9- Britain’s Woodhead commission abandons the partition plan.
1939- May- both Jews and Arabs reject a further British plan for joint Arab-Jewish government.
-British give in to Arab pressure to curb Jewish immigration and to limit the sale of land to preserve the Arab majority.
-the British and their policy are fought by a Jewish insurgent group, the Irgun, Zwei, Lumi gang.
World War Two
-the Jewish Agency makes Palestine into an allied supply centre.
Holocaust reinforces the idea of a Jewish State.
1945- the opening of the concentration camps and the revelation of the holocaust gives the idea of an Israeli state the force of world opinion.
1945-47- the British evacuate Palestine as Jewish settlers flood in after the war with US support. Tension builds between Jews and Palestinian Arabs.
-after US President Truman advocates a difficult, pro-Zionist solution, Britain seeks to extricate itself from Palestine altogether.
-1947 the UN proposes a Jewish state comprising the Negev in southeast Palestine to the Gulf of Aqaba; south central Israel below Jerusalem; a coastal strip running north from Tel Aviv to Acre and a northeastern strip which includes the Sea of Galiliee and runs northward between southern Syria and Lebanon. This would leave an Arab state along the Sinai border and along tghe coast in the southwest, and separately another area from below Jerusalem northward through Samaria, (the West Bank) and Galilee, the northwestern area against the coast and the Lebanese border. The Arabs, meanwhile, refuse to countenance a Jewish state. Central Jerusalem, at the crossroads of Nablus-Hebron highway and the east-west highway to the coast would remain under British Mandate with the UN-administered city surrounding it.
-UN intends Jerusalem to be an international city with free access to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
1948- May 14- Britain withdraws from Palestine. David Ben Gurion announces the creation of an independent state of Israel.
Israeli War of Independence
1948-49- Jordan, Syria and Egypt attack the new state of Israel. Israel successfully holds them off. Under the terms of UN armistice lines, Israel rules the northwestern Palestinian territory on the Lebanese border in the north and the southwest Palestinian area long the Sinai border as well as a large central area around the West Bank. Eastern Palestine is ruled by Jordan as the West Bank. Gaza, a sliver of coastal territory unconquered by Israel, goes to Egypt. Israel controls all of Jerusalem west of the Ramallah-Bethlehem highway. Jordan rules the reimaining sliver of Jerusalem east of the highway.
-Israel occupies all of Palestine save for Gaza and the West Bank.
-west Jerusalem comes under Israeli control. East Jerusalem is ruled by Jordan.
-Tel Aviv becomes the internationally recognized capital while Jerusalem remains the self-declared capital.
-in Gaza, Amin Husayni tries to found a government of all of Palestine.
-Gaza City becomes the capital of the Gaza Strip.
1955- Israeli troops raid Gaza, killing 36 Egyptian troops.
1956- the Suez Crisis. Egypt’s Abdul Nasser stands down France and Britain as he nationalizes the Suez Canal. Israel occupies Gaza.
1957- Israel returns Gaza to Egypt.
The Six Day War and the PLO.
1967- The Six Day War. Israel emerges victorious and adds East Jerusalem, Gaza, Sinai, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights as occupied territories. The Suez Canal Zone and the Syrian frontier along the Golan Heights are supervised by the UN.
-Israel occupies the remaining strip of Jordanian Jerusalem east of the Ramallah-Bethlehem Road.
1970- many Palestinians are expelled from Jordan into Palestine. They become the PLO.
PLO leader Yasser Arafat is a blood connection of the radical Al Husayni that led the insurrection in 1936.
The Yom Kippur War
1973- The Yom Kippur War- Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack on Israel to recover occupied Syrian and Egyptian lands. Israel defeats Syria and Egypt, providing the basis for eventual peace with Egypt.
1975- Egypt regains the Suez Canal area, supervised by the UN since 1967.
1979- Israel's Begin and Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat sign the Camp David Accord, peace between Israel and Egypt.
1981- Gaza, though still under military command, is placed under civilian adminstration.
-Sinai is returned to Egypt.
The First Lebanon War
1982- The First Lebanon War. Israeli General Ariel Sharon invades Lebanon and Beruit to root out the PLO once and for all.
1982- the PLO evacuates by sea and disperses from Lebanon.
The First Intifada and the founding of Hamas
1987- Dec 9- Palestinians launch the intifadah- permanent resistance to Israel.
Dec 27- Hamas (Movement of Islamic Resistance) is founded by Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its short-term aim is to eject Israel from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza -and in the long run to found an Islamic State, ratified by referendum, in all of Palestine.
-the armed wing of Hamas is called Izz a Din Qassam, after the leader of the 1936-39 intifada.
-initially Hamas rejects Iranian revolution as Shia.
1988- Jordan renounces any claim to the West Bank. In response, the PLO declares Palestine a sovereign state while recognizing the Israeli state of Israel
1989- Hamas leader Yassin imprisoned by Israel. Abdul Aziz Rantizi made leader of Hamas.
1990s- continual attempts to launch peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflct.
1991- Iraq invades Kuwait. The Gulf war ensuses as a US-brokered international alliance invades Iraq, a major supporter of the PLO.
1991- during the Gulf Crisis, Hamas gets funding from the Gulf States after cutting off funding to the PLO as punishment for siding with Iraq.
-Hamas is ambivalent about the 1st Gulf war- because many of its donors are from the oil rich Gulf states.
-after the 1st Gulf war Hamas and Iran hold meetings.
-Hamas sets up an office in Iran and Hamas leaders begin meeting with Hezbiollah leaders in Lebanon.
-as a result of the defeat of Iraq, which had been a supporter of the Palestinians, a weakened PLO decides to bargain for peace with Yitzak Shamir's Labour party government in Israel. The result is secret taks held in Oslo, Norway.
1992- Israel deports 413 Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders to Lebanon.
1993- September- 1/3 of Gaza is taken up by 16 Jewish settlements.
The Oslo Accords
1993- September: the Oslo Accord and Gaza-Jericho agreement: Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip; seven major west bank towns to be handed over to Palestinian rule as Israel formally recognizes a potential Palestinian State. The Palestinian National Authority is recognized as its government. Hamas rejects the agreement.
1993- the Palestinians issue a declaration of principles for self-rule in the occupied territories.
-the problem of a divided Jerusalem is not dealt with in the Oslo Accords.
-after 1993- Hamas begins receiving several million a year from Iran.
-Hezbollah and Hamas cooperate on the level of coordination rather than operations or training. Their cooperation becomes closer as Israel-Palestinian conflict increases.
1994- May-- Gaza becomes the base of the Palestinian National Authority. Under an Interim Agreement, it is enlarged to accommodate buffer zones between Jews and Palestinians. Sections southern coastal border and the southern border with Egypt are under Israeli-Palestinian joint control. Israel occupies a strip along the entire eastern border and three strips running across central Gaza to the coast so that Palestinian Gaza is divided in four. Israel also occupies a strip alng the south end of the west coast. Hamas decries Israeli occupation and declares Israeli settlers to be occupiers who must be resisted.
July- Yasser Arafat returns to the Palestinian territories after 33 years' absence. He becomes chairman of the Palestinian Authroity.
-Jericho also transferred to Palestinian control.
1994- 29 Palestinians murdered in Hebron. In retaliation Israel assassinates Hamas’s Yahya Ayash, commander of Hamas suicide bombers.
1994- Palestinians losing ten times the number of Israelis killed in the Intifadah.
-Israel's commitment to Oslo is revealed as little than a negotiation for security as it begins land confiscations which break up Palestininan areas designated under Oslo, making them difficult to administer.
1994- Peace Treaty between Jordan and Israel.
The Palestinian National Authority clamps down on Hamas.
-Oct.- Hamas kidnaps an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv. The PNA arrests 350 Hamas supporters Hamas begins to oppose the PNA.
1994-5- Jericho and Gaza get autonomous status. Intifadah decreases.
-Hamas begins to incite violence against Israel.
1995- January- Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigade, mounts suicide bombings against Israel in retaliation for death of Yahya Ayash.
1995- January- Arafat becomes president of the Palestinian authority.
November 4- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin is assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
May- Nablus, Tulkarm, Ramallah and Bethlehem transferred to Palestinian control.
-about forty separate islands of land in the West Bank are under Palestinian adminstration.
Collapse of Oslo Accords
1996- June- Benjamin Natanyahu elected prime minister of Israel at head of Likud Party. Oslo Accord collapses
September- Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank: Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah are under Palestinian control. Salim, Birzeit, Halhul, Nahalin, Hebron and Abu Harah are under joint control. Scattered in the entire western half of the West Bank are at least 128 Jewish settlements.
1996- Palestinian suicide bombings carried out in Israeli cities. Israeli forces engage the PLO in south Lebanon and in the West Bank.
-Arafat losing popularity due to increasing poverty among Palestinians and the corruption of the PNA.
-Hamas boycotts PNA elections.
1997- Israeli troops withdraw from Hebron in accordance with the Oslo Accords.
-fast-growing illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories spark renewed fighting.
-Prime Minister Netanyahu orders construction of settlements for 30,000 new Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. Hamas, in response, starts a new suicide bombing campaign.
-Under Israel pressure, the PNA suppresses Hamas.
The Wye Agreement.
1998- the Wye Agreement between Arafat and Netanyahu moderates Jewish settlement in Palestinian lands. Because of that and failure to reach agreement about East Jeruslaem, Netanyahu starts to lose settelrs’ support.and the agreement is suspended. Jerusalem is not dealt with.
-the PNA arrests Hamas leaders for criticizing the Wye Agreement.
1999- Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party is defeated by Ehud Barak’s Labour Party.
2000- President Clinton’s Camp David II peace talks fail. Barak is seen by Israelis as being soft on Palestine during negotiations with Arafat. Barak starts to negotiate the status of Jerusalem.
-Hamas criticizes the PNA for attending Camp David.
Second Intifada
2000- Sept 27- Sharon visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem setting off the Second Intifadah.
-‘Al Aqsa’ Intifadah suicide bombers begin a campaign against Israel.
-Arafat refuses Israeli requests to arrest Hamas leaders and there’s a rapprochement between Hamas and the PNA. Hamas becomes a member of the Popular Resistance Committees which include Islamic Jihad and radical members of Fatah.
-Palestinians start the second intifada. Israel resorts to targeted killings in response to Palestinian suicide bombings.
2001- Barak defeated by Ariel Sharon, who is seen to represent the Jewish settlers.
-late April,- Nasralla and Khalid Mashaal present at Tehran's "International conference on the Palestinoian Intifada"
-2001- Iran tries to get 50 tons of munitions to the Palestinian Authority via Hezbollah.- (Congressman Howard Berman in an address to the American Iranian Council)
-2002- Under Sharon’s direction, Israeli troops re-occupy the Palestinian Territories.
2002- in response to the continuing intifadah, Israel re-occupies the West Bank and begins construction of a security wall between Israel and Palestine. The wall is plotted so that it cuts off chunks of Palestinian land. .But Israeli right wing critics complain that the wall effectively recognizes a Palestinian nation.
-March 2002- meeting of Hamas and Hezbollah leasers in Lebanon about attacking Israel.
-2003- Ariel Sharon re-elected.
-throughout the next two years repeated Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel are accompanied by incursions into the territories by the Israeli Defence Forces and by targeted killings of Hamas leaders.
Mahmoud Abbas is Palestinian Prime Minister.
-2003- under international pressure, Mahmoud Abbas is approved by Arafat as Palestinian prime minister.
-the U.S. releases its updated Road Map to peace.
2003- June-August- Israel carries out targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders.
Abbas resigns; succeeded by Ahmed Qurei
-Mahmoud Abbas resigns. Arafat appoints Ahmed Qurei as new Prime Minister.2003-
Sept-Oct- Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel.
Oct-Nov. Ahmed Qurei resgins as Palestinian Prime Minister and then is reinstated after negotiations with Arafat.
2004- March 22- Israeli forces assassinate Hamas leader, Ahmed Yassin.
-March- (likely after the assassination of Sheikh Yassin in Gaza) Nazrallah decides to join forces with Hamas.
2004- July 9- International Court of Justice rules that the Israeli security barrier violates international law and must be torn down.
Oct 25-26- Israel’s Knesset approves Ariel Sharon’s plan for disengagement.
Arafat Dies; he is succeeded by Abbas as Prime Minister.
Nov. 11- Yasser Arafat dies.
2005- Jan 9- Mahmoud Abbas elected head of Palestinian National Authority.
March- Lt. Genral William Ward is sent to Jerusalem as United States Security Coordinator- to work on security reform of the PA and to prepare the ground for Ariel Sharon's withdrawal of Jewish settlemnts from Gaza.
May 26- Mahmoud Abbas visits Bush at White House. Bush agrees in principle to 1949 borders for Israel.
-European Union observers are placed in Gaza to allay Israel's concerns that Gazan Palestinians are bringing in weapons from Egypt.
Aug 16- Sept 1- under Sharon, Israel evacuates Gaza, handing settlements over to Palestinians.
Sept 15- Sharon calls for peace, recognizes Palestinian rights in an address to the UN.
Nove-Dec- Lt. General Keith Dayton replaces Ward as Us Security Coordinator- Dayton's task is to prevent a takeover of the PA security services by Hamas.
Hamas wins elections. Prime Minister Sharon immobilized by a stroke.
2006- Jan 4- Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke, putting him put of politics permanently.
Jan- Iran’s Ahmedinejad visits Assad in Damascus and they met with leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and PFLP- according to Israel's consuil general in New York.
Hamas wins in Palestinian elections- provoking international economic sanctions.
Jan 26- Hamas wins the election in the Palestinian territories, ending PLO-Fatah rule.
March 28- Ehud Olmert is elected Prime Minister of Israel.
-the Palestinian people suffer as international economic aid dries up due to sanctions in protest of Hamas’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
-Hamas is a branch of Muslim Brotherhood- backed by Saudi Arabia, all of which are anti-Shia. But Hamas coop-erated with Iran because it had been cut off from funding in the west. Iran may have wanted Hamas to attack Israel from Gaza.
June 25- Israel invades Gaza in response to the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas.
July 12- Hezbollah fighters kidnap two IDF soldiers on Israel’s border with Lebanon.
The 2006 Summer war in Lebanon.
-Israel invades Lebanon in response to the kisnapping of its soldiers. Hezbollah retaliates, firing masses of rockets into Israel. Heavy Israeli artillery bombardment, ground attacks and aerial bombardment destroy mush of Lebanon’s infrastructure but fail to destroy Hezabollah. Hezbollah is considered to have womn by standing firm.
Aug 14- the Israel-Lebanon war ends with a UN brokered ceasefire.
Nov. 26- a truce is declared in Gaza but fighting between Israel and Palestinians continues throughout the terriotories.
Strife between Hamas and the PNA
2007- Jan 19- Israel pases 100 million in tax revenues to Palestinian Authority President President Mahmood Abbas to encourage Fatah at the expense of Hamas.
-a power struggle over control of the Palestinian cause begins between Hamas, which holds parliamentary power and the Palestinian National Authority which heads the government.
-US Security Coordinator (USSC) Dayton discourages any unity talks between hamas and Fatah because it wants to see Hamas dmoniated or destroyed by Fatah.
2007- Feb 8- Palestinian Unity Agreement signed in Mecca: the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas agree to share power.
March 12- BBC reporter Alan Johnston kidnapped.
-March-May- despite Mecca accord, fighting between Hamas and the PNA verges on civil war.
May 4- the US sets a timetable for Israel to ease restrictions in the Palestinian territories and for the Palestinians to increase border security for Israel.
May 18-26 Israel launches air strikes at Hamas targets and arrests a Hamas minister.
June- in fighting verging on civil war, Hamas expels the PNA from Gaza- taking over political control there. The Hamas movement's armed wing, better known as al-Qassam Brigades, along with the executive police force formed by Hamas last year, overpower the PNA security headquarters by force.
-Hamas fighters attack Lt. General Dayton's USSC-trained PA security forces, killing 7.
-PA President Mahmoud Abbas apppoints Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister of the PA giving Fayyad, as security man, responsibility for preventing Hamas from taking the West Bank.
-as civil war develops, the PNA begins to expel Hamas from the West bank.
-June-Oct- PA Security man Salam Fayyad, backed by US Security Coordinator Dayton- launches operations almost exclusively against Hamas, causing ordinary Palestinians to claim the US-backed security plan for the PA is actually nothign more than a political weapon of the US and Iszrael against Hamas
Victorious Hamas Rules Gaza.
June 14- Hamas claims victory over Fatah in Gaza.
July 3- Alan Johnston freed by alQaeda-linked group named Army of Islam. Hamas claims responsibility for obtaining his freedom, distances itself from al Qaeda and denies any links. Skeptics call Hamas’s intervention a piublicity stunt in order to secure international recognition and the resumption of aid.
Sept 6- uncompleted Syrian nuclear reactor hit by Israeli air-strike.
Sept. 27- Israel retaliates against rocket attacks launched from Gaza.
Oct 10- Hamas says it is ready for talks with Fatah.
Oct 20- heavy fighting between factions within Hamas.
Oct 25-29- Israel cuts power and fuel to Gaza.
Nov. 12- Hamas fires on Fatah rally held in honour of the 2nd anniversary of the death of Arafat.
Nov. 13- Hamas holds 400 Fatah members arrested at rally, in detention.
Annapolis Two-State Solution Talks.
Nov. 26- President Bush inaugurates peace talks between Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas at Annapolis with the goal of a two-state solution.
2008- January 24- Hamas activists bulldoze and dynamite the containing wall in souhtern Gaza,, opening a border crossing into Egypt. At least half the 1.5 million population of Gaza flows through the crossing into Raffa, Egypt, to get supplies.
January 28- PNA Fatah president Mahmoud Abbas agrees with Arab nations and the European Union that the latter will post observers at Gaza's Raffa crossing provided Abbas posts his PNA guards on the crossing as well.
-Feb 13- Hezbollah terrorist Mughaniyeh assassinated in Damascus
Israel-Gaza Skirmish.
Feb 27- March 3- Isreali military attack on Gaza kills 100, mostly civilians, ostensibly to stop rockets fired at Isreal.
March 6- Palestinian terror attack kills 8 in Jerusalem.
June 19- truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
June 29- Israel and Hamas agree to trade prisoners.
July 30- in the wake of violence, Hamas detains 160 Fatah supporters.
Aug 4- Israel gives Fatah members fleeing Hamas safe passage out of Gaza.
Aug 17- Israeli cabinet approves the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners.
Aug 23- two boatloads of activists break the blockade on Gaza for the first time ever.
-Fatah doctors in Gaza go on strike against Hamas.
Sept 5- Israel allows the shipment of 1,000 rifles to the Palestinian National Authority.
Sept 16- 11 killed in internal fighting in Gaza.
Olmert Resigns, Making Way for Livni
Sept 17- Tzipi Livni to run for Prime Minister of Israel at head of Kadima Party in wake of Olmert's resignation
Sept 21- Olmert resigns.
Oct 20- Israeli army demolishes three illegal settlements in West Bank.
Oct 26- Unable to form a government, Livni calls an election.
Obama Elected President of US.
Nov 4- Obama elected president of US- the Arab world hopes for a radical change in US policy.
-Israel's IDF discovers tunnel from Gaza into Israel sparking new rocket attacks and retaliation by Israel. Both sides resme truce.
Nov 9- Annapolis peace process reaffirmed at meeting of Quartet at Sharm al Sheikh.
-Hamas backs out of Cairo meeting to unify Palestinians.
Israel-Gaza War.
Dec 19- Hamas increases rocket fire from Gaza.
Dec 27- In Operation Cast Lead, Israel bombs tunnels and Hamas bases in Gaza killing about 400 as Hamas rains rockets on Israel.
-PA Prime Minister and security chief Salam Fayyad, backed by US Security Coordinator Dayton, uses Palestinian security to prevent any protest of Israel's Gaza offensive or support of Hamas in the West Bank.
2009- Jan 18- Israel declares cease fire in Operation Cast Lead after killing 1,300 land losing 13 soldiers of its own.
Likud Electoral Victory.
Feb 10- the Likud party, after a close call and mixed result, wins the election and is allowed to form the government.
June 1- Israel refuses to cooperate with UN war crimes investigation.
Obama's Cairo Speech.
June 4- President Obama's Cairo speech: Obama calls for an end to the building of Israeli settlements on occupied land and asks the Arab nations to recognize Israel.
June 14- Prime Minister Netanyahu, in response to Obama's Cairo speech, agrrres to move toward the recongition of a Palestinain state but refuses to halt the building of Israeli settlements.
UN Endorses Unilateral Palestinian State.
-August 26- PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, announces his plan to declare a unilateral Palestinian State by August 2011, the end date for Palestinian-Israeli peace talks on a two-state solution. His plan is endorsed by the Quartet- the UN, the US, the EU and Russia.
2010- Jan. Israelis bomb tunnel for smuggling weapons to Palestinian mortar teams for use against Israel. Three fighters are killed and sever wounded from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
March 3- Mahmoud Abbas agreets to 'proximity talks' for 4 months- allowing him to negotiate with Israel without the requirement of addressing settlements immediately. Hamas rejects Abbas;s decision.
March 7- After Israeli protests at a Jerusalem mosque, Abbas accuses Israel of derailing the peace process by provoking the demonstrations.
US Attempts to Re-start Peace Talks.
2010- March 7-8- US envoy Senator Mitchell meets Abbas and Netanyahu and obtains a framework for preliminary and formal peace talks.
May 9- commencement of inderect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Israel Raids Turkish Ship Attempting to Run Blockade of Gaza.
May 30- Israeli Defence Forces carry out a raid in international waters on a Turksih ship among six others raided in the 'Freedom Flotilla', an international aid convoy on its way to run Israel's blockade of Gaza. Israeli commandos, attacked by men weilding clubs, kill several of them. The international community expresses outrage at the excessive use of force.
2010- June 7- 4 Palestinian diver commandos are killed off Gaza by an Israeli naval patrol. Hamas claims they were only training.
Netanyahu Refuses to Freeze Settlements
July 28- Prime Minister Netanyahu refuses to extend a freeze on the building of more Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory.
July 30- Hamas condemns Abbas's initiative toward peace talks.
Secretary of State Clinton Attempts Direct Talks.
2010- Aug 20- Palestinians are invited to enter direct negotiations with Israel by US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.
Aug 30- Meeting at the White House with President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian authroity agree to begin peace talks.
Sept 1- Palestinian gunmen kill Jewish settlers in the West Bank just as peace talks get started.
2010-Sept. 2- Netanyahu deamnds two pillars for peace: the recognition of the State of Israel as a Jewish state and arrangements to prevent Israel from comong under attack from an independent Palestinian state.
Collapse of Direct Peace Talks.
2010- - Sept 28: A partial freeze of West Bank settlement building expires, leading to the collapse of direct talks.
2010- - November: Palestinian officials begin talking publicly about seeking UN membership for a Palestinian state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War incorporating the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
2011- May 4-Fatah and Hamas sign a reconciliation accord, citing the common cause of opposition to the Israeli occupation and shared disillusionment with American peace efforts as reasons for the détente.
2011- May 19- President Obama declares that the borders demarcated before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war should be the basis of a Mideast peace deal between Israel and Palestine with adjustments made to account for Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
2011- March 20: Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat says seeking UN membership for a Palestinian state is the official strategy although no date is set.
2011- Sept 21: Obama insists at the UN General Assembly that only negotiations can lead to a Palestinian state.
2011- Sept 23- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas officially requests a bid for statehood at the UN Security Council.
2011- Oct. 18- Israel and Palestine prisoner swap in which Palestine exchanges Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners 280 of whom were serving life sentences on charges of terrorism.
UN Pessimistic about Peace Talks.
2012- July 25- the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process briefed the Security Council prior to its quarterly open debate on the Middle East. He reiterated his warning that negative trends regarding the peace process, the Gaza blockade, the solvency of the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli settlement policy consistently undermined the common goal of a negotiated two-state solution
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/israelpalestine.php
Another Round of Violence Between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
2012- Nov 14- Throughout the fall of 2012, militant groups in Gaza fire rockets into Israel with increasing frequency. Israel responds on November 14 with one of its biggest attacks on Gaza since the 2008 invasion. The attack kills Hamas military commander, Ahmed al-Jabari. In the following days, Israel continues to target members of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza, and Hamas launches several hundred rockets, with some hitting Tel Aviv.
2012- Operation Pillar of Defense, Israeli Defense Forces conducted an eight-day military operation in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip during which dozens of targets there were attacked in response to ongoing rocket fire on the western Negev.
Egypt Brokers Peace Between Hamas and Israel
2012- Nov 18- Egypt, while a staunch supporter of Hamas, begins talks in Cairo to broker a peace agreement between Hamas and Israel to prevent the conflict from further destabilizing the region.
2012- Nov. 21- Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announce a cease-fire has been signed. Both sides agree to end hostilities toward each other and Israel says it will open Gaza border crossings, allowing the flow of products and people into Gaza, potentially lifting the 5-year blockade that has caused much hardship to those living in the region.
No comments :
Post a Comment