1516-1918

Ottoman (Turkish) Empire controls most of the Middle East

1880s

Beginning of Arab movement for independence from the Ottoman Empire

1881-1903

Russian pogroms against Jews; first wave (aliyah) of Jewish immigration to Palestine; Dreyfus affair in France reflects widespread European anti-Semitism

1896-1897

Publication of Theodor Herzl's The State of the Jews sets the stage for political Zionism; first Zionist Congress meets in Basel, Switzerland and discusses establishment of a Jewish state

1904-1928

Second and third aliyot (predominantly Russian/Soviet and Polish Jews) reflect a socialist-political form of Zionism

1914-1918

World War I; Britain makes conflicting commitments regarding future of Palestine in the Husayn-McMahon correspondence (1915-1916), Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) and Balfour Declaration (1917); end of Ottoman Empire

1919-1923

US-sponsored King-Crane Commission tells Paris Peace Conference of Arab desires for independence; newly created League of Nations ignores King-Crane and gives Britain mandatory control of Palestine; clashes between Arabs and Jews in Palestine

1924-1928

Fourth aliyah includes fewer leftists, more middle-class Eastern European and Soviet Jews

1929

Western Wall riots between Palestinians and Zionists; Palestinians kill dozens of Jews from Hebron's historic Jewish community and survivors evacuate town; overall, 133 Jews and 115 Arabs killed in a week of communal violence

1933-1935

Hitler comes to power in Germany; Germany's Nuremberg Laws formalize discrimination against Jews; fifth aliyah peaks as Jews escape from Germany and German-controlled areas

1936-1939

Arab Revolt in Palestine; with the assistance of Zionist militias, Britain crushes rebellion, expels or executes its leaders; ever-increasing persecution of Jews in Germany

1937

British Peel Commission report proposes the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab areas, angering Palestinians

1939

British MacDonald White Paper recommends restrictions on Jewish immigration, land purchases and calls for establishment within ten years of independent, binational state in Palestine, angering Jews and ending British-Zionist alliance

1945

World War II in Europe; Holocaust: Nazi regime responsible for death of approximately six million Jews (the Shoah) and millions of Slavs, homosexuals, Roma and other "undesirables"

1944

Militant Jewish group Irgun Zva'i Le'umi, led by Mechachim Begin, declares war on the British in Palestine

1945

United Nations established; World War II ends, leaving 100,000 Eastern and Central European Jews in "displaced persons" camps

1946

Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry recommends UN trusteeship over Palestine; Palestinian and Jewish violence against British and each other; Jewish Holocaust survivors begin to flee to Palestine through clandestine land and sea routes

1947

Britain requests UN deal with the question of Palestine; UN General Assembly Resolution 181 calls for Palestine to be divided into a Jewish state (57 percent of Palestine), an Arab state (43 percent of Palestine) and an internationally controlled corpus separatum for Bethlehem and Jerusalem

1948

Civil war in Palestine; Britain ends its mandate, Israel declares independence and Arab states declare war against Israel; Israel gains control of 77 percent of British Mandatory Palestine, including some areas designated for Palestinian Arab state; Jordan and Egypt hold the West Bank and the Gaza Strip respectively, Jerusalem divided; 600,000-900,000 Palestinians displaced before, during and after the fighting are not allowed to return; UN General Assembly Resolution 194 supports right of Palestinian refugees to regain their homes if they so desire or to receive compensation if they choose not to return; 150,000 Palestinians remain in new State of Israel

1948-1958

Large-scale Jewish immigration to Israel from Europe, North Africa and Asia

1949

Armistice between Israel and Arab states

1950

Israeli Law of Return and Absentee Property Law; extensive confiscation of Arab property; Jordan annexes West Bank but international community does not accept this

1956-1957

Suez War begins when Israel, supported by Britain and France, attacks Egypt; Israel conquers, and later withdraws from, Sinai and the Gaza Strip

1964

Egypt and other Arab states establish Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

1966

Fatah (founded in 1959 by Yasser Arafat and others) conducts first guerrilla action against Israel

1967

June (Six-Day) War begins when Israel attacks Egypt, claiming it is acting preemptively; Israel occupies West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian Sinai and Syrian Golan Heights, expands Jerusalem boundaries, extends Israeli law over East Jerusalem and places rest of Occupied Territories under military administration; UN Security Council Resolution 242 calls for withdrawal of Israeli troops from territories newly occupied; PLO becomes umbrella organization for various Palestinian resistance groups and adopts national charter

1968-1969

Israel begins to establish Jewish settlements in newly occupied territories; PLO adopts goal of a democratic secular state in all of Mandate Palestine; Arafat named chairman of PLO

1968-1970

War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt, Israel and Syria

1970

Civil war between Jordanian army and Palestinians following airplane hijackings by a Palestinian resistance group; PLO expelled from Jordan and moves to Lebanon

1973

October (Yom Kippur/Ramadan) War begins when Egypt seeks to regain by force Egyptian land that Israel captured in 1967; UN Security Council Resolution 338 calls for ceasefire and comprehensive peace conference; oil embargo by Arab petroleum-exporting countries

1974

Arab League declares PLO the sole legitimate representative of Palestinian people; Arafat addresses UN which grants PLO observer status in 1975

1975

US promises Israel it will not talk officially with PLO until, inter alia, PLO accepts UN Resolutions 242 and 338

1976

Pro-PLO candidates sweep Palestinian municipal elections in the West Bank

1977

Likud wins Israeli elections and Menachem Begin becomes prime minister; Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Jerusalem and addresses the Israeli Knesset; peace negotiations begin between Israel and Egypt

1978

Temporary Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon; Begin, Sadat and President Jimmy Carter sign the Camp David Accords

1979

Begin and Sadat sign Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty in Washington

1980

Israel's Basic Law on Jerusalem annexes East Jerusalem; UN Security Council condemns action

1981

Israel attacks Iraqi nuclear reactor; US sponsors ceasefire between Israel and the PLO that lasts until June 1982; Israel annexes Syrian Golan Heights

1982

Israeli invasion of Lebanon; PLO evacuated from Beirut to Tunis; President Ronald Reagan presents peace plan; Fez Summit peace proposal; Phalangist massacre at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps near Beirut; 400,000 Israelis demonstrate and call for investigation of Israel's role in massacre; Palestinian Communist party founded

1984

Early elections in Israel result in split Knesset and Labor-Likud National Unity government

1985

Israel withdraws from most of Lebanon, leaving an Israeli-allied Lebanese force in control of the southern areas; Israel bombs Tunisian headquarters of the PLO

1987-1993

Predominantly non-violent (demonstrations, strikes, tax resistance) Palestinian intifada

1988

Jordanian disengagement from West Bank; emergence of Hamas; Israeli election produces divided Knesset and National Unity Government; declaration of the State of Palestine at the Palestine National Council meeting in Algiers; Arafat condemns terrorism, accepts UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and recognizes the State of Israel; US opens direct discussions with PLO

1989

State Department publishes highly critical report on Israeli human rights practices; massive international peace demonstration in Jerusalem

1990

Israeli coalition government collapses over proposed negotiations with Palestinians; influx of Jews from former Soviet Union to Israel begins; President George Bush reaffirms that US considers East Jerusalem "occupied"; Yitzhak Shamir forms a narrow, right-wing government headed by Likud; US suspends dialogue with PLO; Iraq invades Kuwait

1991

US-led coalition defeats Iraq; international Arab-Israeli peace conference in Madrid with Palestinians included in joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation

1992

Ongoing bilateral and multilateral peace talks; Labor Party wins Israeli elections, Yitzhak Rabin becomes prime minister; Bush administration attempts to limit Israeli settlement by delaying loan guarantees

1993

Israel drastically restricts Palestinian movement between Israel and the Occupied Territories (except East Jerusalem); Israel and the PLO sign Declaration of Principles (the "Oslo Accords") on interim self-government arrangements

1994

Massacre of Palestinians praying in Hebron mosque by Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein; Cairo Agreement on implementation of the Oslo Accords; Arafat establishes Palestinian Authority headquarters in Gaza; Israel and Jordan sign peace treaty

1995

Oslo II Accords establish three types of control in the West Bank (Area A: direct Palestinian control, Area B: Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security control, Area C: Israeli control); Rabin assassinated in Tel Aviv by Israeli Jew Yigal Amir

1996

First Palestinian elections for president and parliament result in Arafat victory; Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; Israeli "Grapes of Wrath" operation against southern Lebanon; Benjamin Netanyahu elected Israeli prime minister

1997

Hebron Protocol divides West Bank city of Hebron into Israeli and Palestinian areas; Israel begins building Har Homa settlement between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem

1998

Wye River Memorandum; PLO renounces anti-Israel clauses in PLO charter

1999

Ehud Barak elected Israeli prime minister; Sharm al-Sheikh memorandum

2000

Palestinian Authority has direct or indirect control of 40 percent of the West Bank and 65 percent of Gaza; Clinton-led Camp David II summit and negotiations end in failure; new Palestinian uprising begins, sparked by Ariel Sharon's visit to al-Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount with 1,000 armed guards

2001

Taba negotiations fail; Palestinian hard-liners continue suicide bombings against Israeli military and civilians; Israeli forces increase "targeted killings" (assassinations) of Palestinians and armed incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas; Sharon elected Israeli prime minister; US Mitchell Report calls for immediate ceasefire and complete freeze on building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

2002

Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli "targeted killings" continue; Israel forcefully reoccupies nearly all Palestinian areas evacuated as part of Oslo process; Arafat under house arrest in Ramallah; Arab League endorses plan to recognize Israel in exchange for end of occupation; Israel begins construction of "security fence"/wall within the West Bank, confiscating additional Palestinian lands; "The Quartet" (European Union, Russia, US, UN) proposes "road map" to peace

2003

Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli "targeted killings" continue; US-led war against Iraq overthrows Saddam Hussein; Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) chosen as Palestinian prime minister; Israel completes first stage of wall; Abu Mazen resigns, replaced by Ahmed Qurei; Israel bombs alleged guerilla training camp in Syria

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