| AD 1897 |
Theodor Herzl founded the
Zionist movement in Basel, Switzerland, to lobby for a Jewish state in
Palestine. |
| 1917 |
Great Britain issued the
Balfour Declaration, expressing support for the establishment of a
Jewish homeland in Palestine after World War I (1914-1918). |
| 1930s |
Large numbers of European
Jews emigrated to Palestine to flee Nazi persecution. |
| 1947 |
The United Nations (UN)
adopted a plan dividing Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.
Sporadic fighting broke out between Jewish groups favoring the plan and
Arab groups opposed to it. |
| 1948 |
Israel officially became
an independent state. Armies from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and
Transjordan (now Jordan) immediately invaded in an attempt to destroy
the Jewish state. |
| 1949 |
Israel defeated the Arab
invaders and acquired much of Arab Palestine, including West Jerusalem
and the northern city of 'Akko. |
| 1956 |
Israel invaded Egypt's
Sinai Peninsula along with French and British forces in retaliation for
Egypt's blocking of the Strait of Tiran. The troops were forced to
withdraw by the United Nations. |
| 1967 |
Fearing an Arab invasion,
Israel attacked and defeated the forces of its Arab neighbors in the
Six-Day War. Israel gained complete control of Jerusalem, the Gaza
Strip, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, and the West Bank. |
| 1972 |
Palestinian terrorists
killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics in Munich, West
Germany. |
| 1973 |
Egypt and Syria attacked
Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. After initial setbacks,
Israeli forces repulsed the invasion and captured additional Syrian
territory. |
| 1979 |
Israel and Egypt signed a
peace treaty, and Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula. |
| 1982 |
Israeli forces mounted a
large invasion of Lebanon in retaliation for attacks on northern Israel
by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Lebanon. The PLO
withdrew from Lebanon. |
| 1987 |
Palestinians in the
occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip began a series of
uprisings known as the intifada against Israeli rule. |
| 1988 |
King Hussein of Jordan
ceded to the PLO all territorial claims to the West Bank. |
| 1993 |
Israel and the PLO signed
a historic peace agreement paving the way for limited Palestinian
self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip under a new ruling body, the
Palestinian Authority (PA). |
| 1994 |
The Gaza Strip and the
West Bank town of Jericho came under the administration of the PA. The
leaders of Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty. |
| 1995 |
Israel and the PLO signed
a second peace agreement extending limited Palestinian self-rule to many
Palestinian areas of the West Bank. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was
assassinated by an Israeli opposed to the peace agreements. |
| 1996 |
The election of a
conservative government and continued Palestinian terrorist activity
stalled further peace agreements. |
| 1998 |
Israel and the
Palestinians signed an accord providing for the transfer of more West
Bank territory to Palestinian control in exchange for Palestinian
security guarantees. Israel, citing Palestinian violations, froze the
accord after the first of three scheduled withdrawals. |
| 1999 |
A new government was
elected, headed by a left-of-center prime minister who pledged to
restart the peace process. |
General Knowledge :: HISTORICAL EVENTS BY COUNTRY :: ISRAEL