Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The History of Israel - A Chronological Presentation from 1000 BCE



The History of Israel
- A Chronological Presentation

History of Israel | A Chronological Presentation

A basic knowledge of the history of Israel is necessary in order to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict as it unfolds today. This relatively short, yet fairly thorough run-through offers a chronological overview of the conflict. The intention is to clarify the most important developments that are often discussed, but which are too often presented in all kinds of mutated and distorted versions.
The presentation covers the history of Israel from the kingdoms of David and Solomon until today, while focusing mainly on the last 100 years, describing the most important events - including those that are usually forgotten or left out, but are absolutely essential for a meaningful understanding of Israel's long-running conflict with the Arab world. Begin here...

 Introduction
In order to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict, as it unfolds today, it is necessary to have an accurate picture of the historic circumstances that led to the establishment of the Jewish state and the Arab world's rejection of it, as well as the developments that have since then shaped the conflict.
This historic presentation covers the most important events in the history of Israel, from the Jewish kingdoms of David and Solomon to the collapse of the Oslo peace process in the fall of 2000. The remaining period from the turn of the millennium until today will be added as soon as possible.
It is not the intention to dig into and analyse every detail and contentious issue, but rather to provide the reader with a basic historic knowledge and understanding of the conflict's causes and effects.
The material can be read chronologically from beginning to end, or may be used as a work of reference, allowing the reader to select any specific period of interest. If, for instance, you want to focus on the establishment of the modern state of Israel, you may want to skip the first chapter, "Early Times", and move directly to Chapter Two.
Let's start by placing Israel on the map. Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, where Europe, Africa and Asia meet. The country borders on Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the south.
The conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors seems to claim a lot of attention in the world media, but the area that includes both Israel, Gaza and the West Bank actually only comprises about 28.000 square kilometers - or approximately the size of Belgium or Hawaii. On the map you can see Israel (in red) compared to the surrounding Arab or Muslim countries that make up the rest of the Middle East and North Africa.
Follow the chronological presentation by clicking the link below, or go directly to a certain period by using the menu on the left.


 1. Early Times (1000 BCE - 135 CE)
Ca. 1000 (BCE) - The Jewish Kingdoms
King David ruled with Jerusalem as his capital over Judea, the first united kingdom in an area, which roughly corresponds to today's Israel including the West Bank. After the death of David's son, Solomon, in 931 BCE the kingdom was divided into a southern part, Judea, and Israel in the north.
722 (BCE) - The Assyrians
The Assyrians, a powerful people from northern Mesopotamia
(today northern Iraq), invaded the northern Kingdom of Israel and deported the Jews to other parts of the Assyrian Empire. The Kingdom of Israel perished.
586 (BCE) - The BabyloniansAfter the fall of the Assyrian Empire the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, conquered Jerusalem. The most influential Jews of Judea were deported to Babylon (in southern Mesopotamia, today Iraq). The first Jewish temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
The Kingdom of Solomon, the divided kingdom and Judea at the time of the Maccabees (the exact borders are subject to some uncertainty). The red line describes Israel's current borders incl. Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
538 (BCE) - The Persians King Cyrus of Persia (today Iran) conquered the entire Babylonian Empire, allowed the exiled Jews to return from Babylon, and accepted a form of Jewish home rule in Jerusalem. The Jewish temple was rebuilt.
332 (BCE) - The Greeks The Greek-Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire, thereby gaining control over Judea. After the death of Alexander his Hellenistic (Greek) Empire was divided into three parts, and the Jews got squeezed between the competing Greek rulers.
164 (BCE) - The Maccabees A Jewish tribe, the "Maccabees", revolted against the Hellenistic occupiers, and from 142 BCE and the following 80 years Judea once again was an independent, Jewish state.
63 (BCE) - The Roman Conquest The Romans invaded Greece and also conquered the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire in the Middle East. Though the Jews were granted some measure of autonomy in Jerusalem, Judea was in reality ruled from Rome.
A model of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple.
37 (BCE) - Herod The Great Following a failed Jewish rebellion, the Romans turned Judea into a regular Roman province, and installed the Jewish King Herod the Great as administrator. After his death in 4 BCE the province was divided between Herod's sons. One of them, Herod Antipas, who is best known for his role in the New Testament, administered Galilee in the north and Perea to the east (the east bank of the Jordan River, today part of the Kingdom of Jordan).
70 - The Destruction of Jerusalem The Roman Emperor Titus quashed yet another Jewish rebellion. The Jewish temple and the rest of Jerusalem were reduced to rubble. A group of especially persistent Jews sought refuge on the mountain of Masada in the desert near the Dead Sea, but were three years later defeated by the Romans.
135 - Judea Renamed Palestine During a final Jewish uprising against the Romans (the Bar Kochva Revolt) Jerusalem was once again, for a short, three-year period, under Jewish control. After the Romans' inevitable, crushing victory many hundreds of thousands of Jews were either deported, sold as slaves or killed. The Roman Emperor Hadrian leveled Jerusalem to the ground, and barred Jews from entering the city.
In an attempt at definitively eliminating the Jewish connection to the land, the Romans renamed Judea to "Palaestina", a word believed to be derived from the "Philistines", a people from Crete, which a thousand years earlier roamed the Mediterranean coast of Judea. Jews still lived in the area, though, and less than 100 years later they were once again allowed access to Jerusalem.
The destruction of the Second Temple, 70 AD (by Francesco Hayez, 1867).

1. Early Times (313 - 1917)
313 - The Byzantine Era The Roman Emperor Constantine decreed that Christianity would henceforth be the official religion of the Roman Empire, and in 331 AD he moved its capital from Rome to Byzantium, which he then renamed Constantinople (today Istanbul in Turkey). At the end of the century Judea too, now known as Palestine, was a mainly Christian area. Churches and monasteries were being built in the holy places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Galilee, and Jews again were denied access to Jerusalem.
614 - The Persians Return The Persians (from today's Iran) briefly gained control over Jerusalem. But when the Byzantine emperor, Heraclius, repulsed the Persian invasion, and in 629 reconquered the city, he ordered all Jews killed and all synagogues burned. Many Jews sought refuge in Egypt or other parts of the empire.
637 - Arab Rule In the 630's a new religion, Islam, began spreading from the Arabian peninsula, and within only a few years both the Persian and Byzantine empires were defeated. In 638 Jerusalem fell to the Arab caliph Omar and became part of the Muslim empire, which was ruled from the caliphate in the city of Medina (in today's Saudi-Arabia). Omar founded the first mosque at the site in Jerusalem, where the Jewish temple had previously been located.
The following centuries were caracterized by internal strife in the Muslim world. Changing caliphs ruled over most of the Middle East from Damascus (from 661) and Baghdad (from 750). Jews and Christians were tolerated, but subject to special restrictions, which led many to either emigrate or convert to Islam. In 969 Jerusalem was conquered by the Fatimid dynasty, the rivaling caliphate in Cairo, and in 1071 the Arab dominance ended, when the Fatimids were ejected by the Seljuk Turks.
Jerusalem (painted by David Roberts, 1842).
1099 - The Crusaders Pope Urban II called for a crusade against the Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land for the Christians, and in 1099 the first crusaders conquered Jerusalem, while massacring a large number of Jews and Muslims. During the following two centuries the European crusaders fought various Muslim rulers for control of the area. In 1187 Saladin, a Kurdish general who ruled over both Egypt and Syria, succeeded in recapturing Jerusalem for the Muslims.
1291 - The Mamelukes In 1250 the Mamelukes (originally an army of slaves mainly from Turkey and northern Caucasia) seized power in Egypt from Saladin's Ayyubid dynasty. The Crusaders' last bastion in the Holy Land, the port city of Acre, fell to the Mamelukes in 1291. In the next 200 years, with Palestine being ruled from Damascus, the province ceased to function as a centre for trade from the Far East, and the population, including the few thousand Jewish families that were left, lived in extreme poverty. Several towns lay in ruins, and even Jerusalem was almost deserted. In 1351 Palestine was struck by the plague, and around 1500 the area's population numbered a mere 200.000 souls. The Mamelukes ruled the area from Egypt to Syria until they were defeated by the Ottoman Turks.
1517-1917 - The Ottoman Empire In 1517 Kairo fell to the Ottoman Turks, who then ruled the entire Middle East from Constantinople (now Istanbul) for the next 400 years. The area known as Judea or Palestine was no longer considered a political entity of its own, but became part of the Ottoman Empire's Syrian province with Damascus as its local administrative capital. The region remained neglected and underdeveloped, and largely isolated from the outside world.
One of the earliest photos of Jerusalem, 1844.

2. The Re-Establishment of Israel (1880 - 1920)
1880 - The Jews in Palestine aka The Land of Israel
The Turks had ruled Palestine aka Israel as part of the Ottoman Empire's Syrian province since conquering the entire Middle East in the early 16th century. During all these years a Jewish presence had continued to exist in the area, mainly in the four holy cities of Safed, Tiberias, Hebron and Jerusalem. The size of the Jewish community had varied, in 1880 numbering around 25.000, comprising about 1/10 of the total population.
The Ottoman Empire, 1914.
1880 - First Wave of Immigration from Europe
Oppression and persecution in 1880's Europe lead many Jews to emigrate, especially from the Russian controlled Eastern European provinces. One of the targets was Palestine. In the first major wave of immigration an estimated 25.000 Jews arrived. Thus, at the turn of the century there were about 60.000 Jews in Palestine, of a total population of 310.000.
Theodor Herzl.
1897 - Herzl and the Zionist Idea
In respons to European anti-Semitism the Austrian-Jewish journalist and writer Theodor Herzl in 1896 published the book "Der Judenstaat" (The Jewish State). He described a modern social-democratic soceity, in which Jews would be able to live in peace and self-determination. One year later at the first Zionist Congress (Zion is another word for Israel) a world-wide organization was founded with the explicit aim of "establishing a home for the Jewish people in Palestine - The Land of Israel, guaranteed under international law." Herzl and the other Zionist leaders sought backing for the project with the leadears of the major powers - the Ottoman Empire, Germany and England. Only the latter showed any interest in the idea.
Tel Aviv is founded on the sand dunes along
the Mediterranian coast, 1909.
 
1904-14 - Second Wave of Immigration
Renewed Russian pogroms at the start of the century spurred another wave of immigration to Palestine. Jewish organisations collected funds all over the world and purchased land, on which the newly arrived Jews established farms and towns. In 1909 the first kibbutz (socialist agricultural community) was established, and the same year the city of Tel Aviv was founded close to the Arab port of Jaffa. Many Arabs also found their way to Palestine during this time. In 1914 the Jewish popolation had grown to 95.000, the Arab Muslims and Cristians to 450.000.
1915-17 - Promises and Alliances
As Britain planned its invasion of the Ottoman Empire, of which Palestine was a part, it tried to build alliances in several directions. In 1915, in a secret correspondance with the Emir of Mecca, Britain promised support for Arab independence in the Middle East. In 1916 a secret deal to divide the spoils of war was struck with France, and in 1917 the British government issued the "Balfour Declaration" promising the Zionist Organization support for the establishment of "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.
The British General Allenby enters Jerusalem, December 1917.
1917 - The British Invasion
As the Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers it was now at war with England, and soon after British troops invaded all of the Ottoman Middle East. In 1917 General Allenby conquered Jerusalem, and one year after Damascus.
1919 - The Faisal Weizmann Agreement January 3, 1919
Within the framework of the Paris Peace Conference, a political accord was signed on January 3, 1919, by Dr. Chaim Weizmann in the name of the Zionist Organization and by the Emir Feisal, son of the Sherif of Mecca. Under the terms of the agreement, the Arabs would recognize the Balfour Declaration and would encourage Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine. Freedom of religion and worship in Palestine was set forth as a fundamental principle, and the Muslim holy sites were to be under Muslim control. The Zionist Organization promised to look into the economic possibilities of the Arab state which excluded Palestine and to help it develop its resources.
1920 - The San Remo Conference of April 1920
On April 25, 1920, delegations from the Allied nations that triumphed in World War I met in San Remo, Italy, to divide the Middle Eastern lands they had conquered.
That historical meeting transformed the Middle East because, for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, the world's nations called for the establishment under international law; of a Jewish homeland in the land that was then called Palestine by the British.
That decision effectively answered a fundamental issue that still plagues the Israeli-Arab/Palestinian peace talks today: whether Israel is an occupying power or it has a rightful claim to the liberated land.
In San Remo - England, France, Italy, and Japan, with the United States as an observer, divided the Ottoman Empire into three mandates: Iraq, Syria and Palestine.
Until its defeat in World War 1, the 400-year-old empire had spread itself throughout the Middle East. Now, France would oversee Syria, while Iraq and Palestine fell under Great Britain.
The resolution also included the Balfour Declaration, written by England's Lord Balfour in 1917. The declaration called for "the re-establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." One British diplomat, Lord Curzon, called it Israel's "Magna Carta."
"The San Remo Conference decided on April 24, 1920 to assign the Mandate [for Palestine] under the League of Nations to Britain as trustee to promote Jewish immigration and reconstitute The Jewish Homeland in Palestine. The terms of the Mandate were also discussed with the United States which was not a member of the League."
1920 - The Re-Establishment of "Mandates" After the war the victors divided the Middle East into a number of "mandate" areas, under French and British administration. Syria (today Syria and Lebanon) was awarded to France, while Palestine (today's Jordan and Israel including Gaza and the West Bank) and Mesopotamia (Iraq) came under British control. The promise of the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine was integrated into the mandate agreement.
The mandates for Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia.

2. The Re-Establishment of the sovereign state of Israel (1920 - 1939)
1920 - Arab Nationalism in Palestine During and immediately after World War I Arab nationalism awakened. Feisal Ibn-Hussein, a son of the emir of Mecca, and the Zionist leader, Chaim Weizmann, tried to work out a plan to realize the national aspirations of both Jews and Arabs. But with the loss of Damascus, the base of the Arab nationalists, to France, cooperation with the Jews ended, and the focus of Arab nationalism was instead directed towards Jerusalem and Palestine.
1920-21 - The first Arab Riots Arab Nationalist leaders arranged demonstrations against the Jewish National Home. In april 1920 rioters attacked the Jewish population in Jerusalem. Many, both Jews and Arabs were killed or wounded. In May 1921 Arab nationalists attacked Jews in the port city of Jaffa, and soon the violence spread to other parts of the country with several Jewish farming communities coming under attack. After a week of fighting 47 Jews were killed and almost 150 wounded. Many Arabs were also killed and wounded, mostly in clashes with the British troops that quelled the uprising. As a consequence of the Arab violence the British administration tightened the rules of Jewish immigration into Palestine.
1922 - The League of Nations and the Palestine Mandate
On July 24th, 1922 the agreement on the mandates for Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia was confirmed by the League of Nations - the predecessor of the United Nations. At the same time the League of Nations approved the wording of the Balfour Declaration. Thereby the international community charged Britain with securing "the establishment of a Jewish homeland" in Palestine.
Transjordan is severed from Palestine.
1922 - Jordan Severed
from Palestine In September 1922 Britain and the League of Nations in violation of international law and treaties, decided that the 3/4 of Palestine east of the Jordan River would be excluded from the area, in which the Jewish homeland was to be re-established. The area was initially awarded limited autonomy under the name of Transjordan, but was later granted full independence as The Kingdom of Jordan in 1946. As leader of this new state the British installed Abdullah, another son of the Emir of Mecca.
1922-23 - Failed Attemps at Arab-Jewish Power Sharing
Several attempts were made by the British High Commissioner to Palestine at establishing various kinds of home-rule for the mandate, in which both Jews and Arabs were to participate. But the Palestinian Arabs rejected any proposal that included power-sharing with the Jews.
1920's - Development of the "Yishuv"
The Jewish community in Palestine (the "Yishuv") developed rapidly in the 1920's. A Jewish parliament, "Knesset Israel," was established, for which also women could both run and vote. Responsibility for Jewish religious, culturel and social affairs was transferred to the Knesset. Later, in 1927, it was also authorized to collect taxes from the Jewish community, and became responsible for education, health and social welfare within the Jewish sector. Unproductive and arid land areas were cultivated, industrial businesses were founded, and power plants and other infrastructure were being built. Hebrew was used as a business language, there was a Hebrew press, and in 1925 The Hebrew University was inaugurated just outside Jerusalem.

Herzl Street, Tel Aviv, 1920.
The Arabs also benefitted from the economic growth of the Jewish sector. In 1925 the Jews made up only about 15% of the population, while accounting for 45% of the mandate's total tax revenues. Conversely, most of the money was spent on the Arab sector, which, contrary to the Jewish sector, didn't have any functioning welfare system. All through the mandate period, in addition to the massive Jewish immigration, there was a substantial influx of Arabs from the surrounding countries.
Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini.
 
1929 - Renewed Arab Attacks on Jews
The Muslim leader in Palestine, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, initiated a campaign of false rumors about Jewish threats against Muslim holy places, followed by calls for attacks on Jews. Soon Jewish communities all over Palestine were under attack. In some cities Jews succeeded in defending themselves, but in other areas regular massacres on Jews took place. In Hebron 67 Jews were murdered, and the rest of the Jewish inhabitants driven out, ending two thousand years of uninterrupted Jewish presence in the town.
1930-31 - Uncertainty about the Jewish National HomeIn reaction to the Arab violence of 1929 the British leadership in Palestine tightened the rules for Jewish immigration and the sale of land to Jews. But after protests from both the Zionist Organization and the League of Nations, and an intense debate about Britain's continued support for the Jewish National Home, the provisions were annulled.
1933 - Jewish Immigration Increasing
Hitler's rise to power in Germany in 1933 resulted in renewed Jewish emigration from Europe, and Palestine experienced the largest wave of Jewish immigration yet. In the period of 1933-36 an estimated 175.000 Jews arrived, bringing the Jewish population up to around 370.000. The Arab population too, experienced massive growth during the mandate period, since 1914 almost doubling to 950.000.
1935 - Nazi and Arab Anti-Jewish Propaganda
Arab scepticism towards Jewish immigration from Europe was further exacerbated through German and Italian anti-Jewish propaganda in the Arab World. Arab political commentators disseminated myths of Zionist plans to kill Arabs and desecrate mosques, and called for a Palestinian "Jihad" against both Jews and the British. In 1935 the powerful Arab Al-Husseini clan founded the "Palestine Arab Party," along with an armed militia, "al-Futuwwa," for battle against the infidels.
British forces engage Arab demonstrators, Jaffa 1936.
1936 - The Arab Revolt
In April 1936, as a protest against the immigration policy of the British mandate, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, organized an general strike and total Arab boycott of the mandate. Spontaneous violence erupted, followed by organized attacks on Jewish farming communities by Arab gangs. Civilian Jews were murdered, livestock killed and crops destroyed. The British accepted a Jewish demand for the arming of 3000 Jewish guards ("ghaffirs"), which, together with the Jewish underground organization, Haganah, established in reaction to the Arab riots of the 1920's, partly succeeded in defending Jewish settlements against the Arab attacks. The revolt and the accompanying strike was quite costly for the Arab community, and by autumn the strike was called off, and the violence died out.
The Peel Plan, 1937.
1937 - The Peel Commission's Partition Plan
A British commission of inquiry, led by Lord Robert Peel, was sent to Palestine in order to find a solution to the conflict. It suggested that the remaining part of the mandate (after the detachment of Transjordan) be partitioned into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The northwestern fifth of the area would constitute a Jewish state, the remaining, much larger part, would be Arab, while a strip from Jerusalem to the port city of Jafffa would remain an international zone. The plan included a "population swap" in order to make the proposed states as ethnically homogeneous as possible. Opinions on the issue were divided among the Jews of Palestine, but the general sentiment pointed towards hesitant acceptance. The Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, along with the rest of the Arab World, rejected the plan, which was thus abandoned.
Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini in conversa-
tion with Hitler.
1937 - Arab-German AllianceNazi Germany also rejected any partition of Palestine, which could lead to "a Jewish position of power," and intensified its efforts to strengthen its position among the Arabs. In July 1937 the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, expressed his personal admiration of the new Germany. The Arab press in Palestine too, showed support for the European Nazism and fascism, and copied energetically from the European anti-Semitic propaganda. In exchange the Nazis supplied weapons for the Palestinian Arabs' fight against the Jews.
1937 - The Arab Revolt ResumedIn the autumn of 1937 the Arab revolt was resumed, and attacks on Jewish settlements and murders of Jewish civilians reached a new high. In 1938 the Haganah (Jewish underground militia) adopted a more offensive strategy and organized mobile units, which staged nightly attacks against Arab guerrilla bases, inflicting heavy losses on the Mufti's rebels. Also British soldiers were victims of Arab attacks, prompting Britain to clamp down on the Arab leadership. Mufti Haj Amin escaped to Lebanon, from where he continued to direct the fighting - not only against Britain and the Jews, but also against his Arab opponents in Palestine. When the revolt was finally suppressed in August 1939 the number of dead had reached 2.394 Jews, 610 British and 3.764 Arabs, including hundreds of Arab victims of the Mufti's terror.

2. The Re-Establishment of the sovereign state of Israel (1938 - 1947)
1938 - Britain's Last Partition Plan
In November 1938 the British Woodhead Commission issued a report recommending a partition plan uniting a Jewish and an Arab state in a common economic union, allowing the Arabs to enjoy the benefits of the progress within the Jewish community. The partition was modified (compared to the Peel-plan) so that the Jewish state would cover only 1/20 of Palestine, or about 1/100 of the original mandate. The Jews rejected the plan, arguing that the proposed Jewish state was too small. The Arabs rejected the plan, ruling out any form of Jewish independence or national self-determination.
David Ben-Gurion. 
1939 - British Abandonment of the Jewish National Home
The British government presented a plan severely restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine, while proposing the establishment of a single Arab majority state, with no specific protection of the Jewish minority. The leader of the Palestinian Jews, David Ben-Gurion, warned the British that a Jewish uprising in Palestine could be in every way as destructive as the recently ended Arab revolt.
1939 - Jewish-British Alliance
As tensions mounted between Britain and the Jews of Palestine, the latter were forced to make a fateful decision: To be with or against Britain in the impending war against Germany. The choice wasn't difficult. Jewish welfare and security depended on the democratic world. British-Zionist quarrels had to be suspended for the greater cause. The Jewish community in Palestine threw itself wholeheartedly into the war on the side of Great Britain.
The British Army's "Jewish Brigade," Italy 1945.
1939-45 - Palestine during World War IIDuring World War II many Palestinian Jews were mobilized as soldiers on the side of the allies, e.g. under the British East Kent Regiment ("The Buffs"), and later in the "Jewish Brigade," while the rest of the Jewish commumity in Palestine employed all available resources in the production of equipment, foods and other necessities in support of the allied war effort. Some Arabs also entered the British forces. The leaders of the Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, supported the Nazis. The highest Muslim authority, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was especially active, and travelled several times to Berlin in order to persuade the Nazis to extend their program for the extermination of European Jewry to also include the Jews of Palestine. In addition al-Husseini helped organize Bosnian Muslims into the special "Hanzar" SS-division.
The refugee ship 'Exodus', 1947.
 
1945-48 - Refugees from Europe
Despite Jewish support for the victory against Nazi Germany, and the enormous pressure from refugees in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust, Great Britain, in an attempt to appease the Palestinian Arabs, continued to enforce strict quotas for Jewish immigration. Some Jews were smuggled into Palestine, while many perished at sea or ended up in refugee camps in Cyprus. In respons to Britain's policy on Palestine the Jewish military underground organization, Haganah, launched a campaign of sabotage against the mandate's installations. Some smaller, but more radical, Jewish groups carried out regular terror attacks against the British administration in Palestine.
UN partition plan, 1947.
1947 - The UN Partition PlanIn February 1947 Britain decided to turn over the problem of Palestine to the United Nations, which had just been established following the end of World War II. A commission appointed by the UN recommended a partition of the remainder of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem as an international zone controlled by the UN. On November 29, 1947 the UN's General Assembly adopted resolution 181, thus approving the partition plan.
The Jews of Palestine, who by 1947 made up one third of the population, or 600.000, were unhappy with the area allotted to them (most of it was desert), and regretted the separation of Jerusalem with its Jewish majority from the proposed Jewish state. Nevertheless, they accepted the compromise. The leaders of the 1.2 million Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, along with the rest of the Arab World, rejected the plan, and declared its intention to attack and destroy the Jewish state, the moment the last British soldier had left Palestine.




3. The ReNewed State of Israel (1947 - 1957)
David Ben-Gurion reads Israel's
Declaration of Independence,
May 14. 1948.
1947-48 - Preparation for War
Immediately after the UN's decision on the partition of Palestine into one Jewish and one Arab state in November 1947 Arab gangs began attacking Jewish communities all over Palestine. The Arab World made clear its determination to destroy the Jewish state, the moment it was declared. As Britain prepared to pull out its last troops, Jewish and Arab underground militia fought to position themselves most favorably in anticipation of the imminent Arab invasion.
The prospect of war made tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs, including most of the Arab elite, leave Palestine. The intensification of the fighting, as the expiration of the mandate approached, along with circulation of rumors of both actual and fictitious Jewish attacks on Arab villages, further accelerated the flow of refugees. Before the war itself had really begun, around 175.000 Arabs had already left Palestine.
Israel's borders after the
armistice agreements of
1949. 
1948 - Israel's Independence War
On May 14, 1948 Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclamed the establishment of the new Jewish republic. The next day the joint armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded the Jewish state. Measured by firepower and military equipment at the outset of war the Arabs were by far superior to the Israelis. But lack of coordination and internal strife between the Arab governments, along with the higher morale and better organization of the Israeli troops, caused the war to turn in Israel's favor.
When the final cease-fire came into force in the spring of 1949, the Israelis con-trolled about 40% more land than proposed by the UN partition plan. Egypt and Jordan occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, respectively. The projected Arab, Palestinian state never materialized. But it was also never requested, neither by the Palestinian Arabs, nor by the rest of the Arab World. Even though Israel's Arab neighbors all signed armistice agreements with Israel, they didn't recognize the Jewish state's right to exist.
Palestinian civilians flee from their
homes during the fighting in 1948.
1948-53 - Arab and Jewish Refugees
During the fighting many Palestinian Arabs fled or were driven from the areas, which came under Israeli control. Around 300.000 fled to the neighboring Arab countries, while approximately 420.000 ended up in refugee camps in the Arab occupied parts of Palestine. The vast majority fled out of fear of the advancing Israeli forces. But in certain places Arabs were forced from their homes by Israeli troops. The Egyptian and Jordanian controlled areas - including the Old City of Jerusalem - were ethnically cleansed of Jews.
The moment the Jewish State had been proclamed in May 1948, the door was opened for the hundreds of thousands of
Jewish refugees, who had
Tent camp for Jewish refugees near
Tel Aviv, 1948.
survived the European Holocaust. In reaction to the founding of Israel, Jews in Arab countries were subjected to an unprecedented level of violence and persecution. Israel launched a series of spectacular operations, evacuating hundreds of thousands of Jews from Yemen and Iraq. Most of Syria's and Lebanon's Jews also fled to Israel, and later Jews arrived from Egypt, Tunesia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Iran og Turkey. A total of around 650.000 Jews fled from various Muslim countries to Israel.
In stark contrast to Israel's reception of over a million Jewish refugees, the Arab countries - with their far greater capacity for absorption - made no effort whatsoever of integrating the roughly 720.000 Palestinian Arab refugees. To the contrary, they were strictly confined to refugee camps, serving as a political tool in the ongoing fight against Israel.
An Arab attack on a bus in the
Negev Desert leave 11 Israelis
killed, 1954.
 
1950-55 - Border Skirmishes
In the years following Israel's first war both Egypt and Jordan supported attacks by irregular forces across the borders from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank into Israel. The targets were usually Israeli civilians. In respons Israel conducted systematic retaliatory raids against the bases in Gaza and the West Bank, from where the attacks were launched.
1956 - The Sinai Crisis From early 1954 Egypt took over Jordan's role as the primary sponsor of terror against Israel, and during the summer of 1955 Egyptian trained guerillas intensified their attacks from Gaza. In the fall of the same year the Egyptian naval blockade that denied Israeli shipping access to both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea was expanded to include the passage of foreign ships to the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat. The Egyptian president Nasser entered into 
Israel's occupation of Gaza and the
Sinai peninsula, 1956-57.
 
a defense alliance with Syria, and the Soviet Union supplied both countries with large amounts of modern weaponry, far exceeding Israel's military capabilities. In an official declaration Nasser now claimed to posess sufficient military power to destroy Israel.
Under pressure, both militarily and economically, Israel wished to extract itself from the Egyptian stranglehold. And when Nasser in 1956 threatened British and French interests by nationalizing the Suez Canal, the two great powers supported Israel's invasion of Gaza and the Sinai Desert, hereby putting an end to both the terror attacks and the blockade of Eilat. British and French forces bombed Egyptian airfields and occupied the area around the Suez Canal. The international community, headed by the United States pressured England, France and Israel to withdraw its forces. A UN force was established in order to monitor the demilitarization of the Sinai and Gaza, and the US guaranteed Israel's future access to the Red Sea. The last Israeli troops were pulled out in March 1957.




3. The ReNewed Sovereign State of Israel (1964 - 1974)
1964 - The Establishment of the Arab PLO The Arab Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was established in 1964 as an umbrella organization for the various Arab Palestinian armed groups, with the explicit aim of achieving, through armed struggle, the "liberation of Palestine" from "the Zionist Entity."The West Bank and Gaza, occupied by Jordan and Egypt respectively, were at this time not targets of the Arab PLO's struggle for liberation. In the 1960's, with Egypt's loss of Gaza as a base for guerilla operations into Israel, Jordan (the West Bank) and the Syrian Golan Heights became the preferred launching grounds for attacks on Israel. Israel reacted with attacks of retribution across the borders into Jordan and Syria.
Egyptian aircraft destroyed on the
runway, June 5, 1967.
 
1967 - The Six Day War
In 1966 the Syrian attacks on northern Israel from the Golan Heights intensified, and in the spring of 1967 the armed clashes between the two countries escalated further. Fabricated Soviet reports of alleged concentrations of Israeli troops near the Syrian border made the Arab leaders step up their threats against Israel, and on May 15, 1967 the Egyptian president Nasser ordered his troops across the Suez Canal, into the Sinai Desert. In the following days Nasser expelled the UN peace-keeping force and reimposed the blockade of Eilat.
Israel's Defence Minister,
Moshe Dayan (center), and
Chef of Staff, Yitzchak Rabin
(right), arrive in Jerusalem
after the fall of the city i 1967.
Israel sought support for the lifting of the blockade with its Western allies, but was rejected. The Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stated in a speech that Israel did not seek a military confrontation with its Arab neighbors. With Israel completely isolated, Jordan and Iraq joined the Egyptian-Syrian defense pact, while several other Arab countries promised support for the coming war against Israel. Nasser declares that the Arabs' objective was the complete annihilation of Israel.
Surrounded by the Arab armies, which, measured by troops and equipment, outnumbered the Israeli armed forces more than two to one, and with the prospect of being
attacked from all sides, the Israelis chose to strike first. On June 5, 1967 Israeli warplanes bombed Egyptian airfields, and in a matter of a few hours eradicated almost the entire Egyptian air force. Israel appealed to Jordan to stay out of the fighting, and promised that if it did, Israel too would refrain from attacking Jordan.
Israel and the occupied territories
after the Six Day War in June 1967.
 
But when the Egyptians reported of their allegedly successful attack on Israel, Jordan that same morning initiated a massive shelling of West Jerusalem and other Israeli population centres. Syria bombarded northern Israel from the Golan Heights, and Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi planes attacked other Israeli targets.
Israeli jets were dispatched against Jordan and Syria, and quickly destroyed both countries' entire air forces. Left completely without air support, already on the first day, the Arab armies were doomed, and within only six days Israel conquered the Gaza Strip, the Sinai desert, the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including the Old City of Jerusalem.
1967 - UN Resolution 242 and the "Three Noes"In the wake of Israel's overwhelming victory in June 1967, the United Nations Security Council on November 22 the same year adopted resolution 242, setting the guidelines for future peace negotiations. The resolution called for a peaceful solution, negotiated between the parties and based on the following principle: Israeli withdrawal from an unspecified part (to be negotiated) of the territory occupied in June 1967, in exchange for which Israel's neighbors must recognize the Jewish state, guarantee its security and respect its borders.
Israel accepted resolution 242, having from the outset shown willingness to negotiate a withdrawal from most of the territories in exchange for peace. The entire Arab World rejected the resolution. At a summit of the Arab League in Khartoum, already in September 1967, a resolution was adopted containing the following "three noes": no to peace with Israel, no to recognition of Israel, no to negotiations with Israel. Years later, a number of Arab states have accepted resolution 242, however in a somewhat liberal interpretation, according to which Israel must unconditionally surrender all the territories conquered in 1967.
Gamal Abdel Nasser.
1969 - The War of Attrition
The Six Day War had only just ended, when Egyptian forces started shelling Israeli positions along the Suez Canal. Israel's answer was to conduct air and commando raids accross the canal against Egyptian targets. The Soviet Union sent large amounts of advanced weaponry accompanied by Soviet military advisors to Egypt, and in the summer of 1969 Nasser declared a "war of attrition", aiming to inflict on Israel the highest possible amount of losses, and thereby breaking the will of the Israelis to maintain the occupation of the Sinai Desert. But the strategy failed, the crisis escalated, climaxing in the summer of 1970, when Israeli fighter jets downed four MiGs flown by Soviet pilotes. The US pushed for a cease-fire, which then came into effect on August 7, 1970. The War of Attrition ended up claiming several thousand lives on either side of the Suez Canal.
1970-72 - Arab PLO and International Terrorism
After the Six Day War various Arab Palestinian armed groups under the umbrella organization, Arab PLO, continued their attacks on Israel. However, the Israelis managed fairly quickly to crush the Arab PLO's infrastructure in the occupied territories, after which the organization, under its new
PFLP blows up a hijacked passenger
plane, Jordan, September 1970.
leader, Yasser Arafat, established itself in neighboring Jordan. The Arab PLO became an influential power in Jordan, even threatening King Hussein's regime itself, and fighting broke out between the Arab PLO and the Jordanian army. When PFLP, a subgroup of the Arab PLO, hijacked four Western airliners and brought them to Jordan, Hussein had enough, and ordered his army to attack the refugee camps that served as bases for the PLO. 2000 guerrillas and many more innocent civillians were killed.
The surviving Arab PLO menbers escaped to Syria, where they received training and equipment from the Syrian army. Subsequently, the ArabPLO established itself in neighboring Lebanon, from where they were able to launch attacks against residential areas in northern Israel. Following an attack by Arab PLO on an Israeli school bus, in which 12 people, children and their teachers, were killed, Israel in May 1970 launched a large military operation in southern Lebanon, creating a 3 kilometer (2 mile) wide buffer zone, which temporarily reduced the Arab Palestinian attacks.
A masked Palestinian terrorist
during the hostage crisis in
Munich, September 1972.
 
Meanwhile, the PLO developed a new way of placing its cause on the international agenda. In 1968-72 Palestinian terrorists directed a string of attacks against international targets. Hijackings of passenger planes became a specialty, but also other targets related to Israel or Jews were attacked. One of the most spec-tacular attacks was the hostage crisis at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, which ended with the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes.
Golda Meir.
1973 - The Yom Kippur WarThe cease-fire agreement of August 7, 1970, which ended the War of Attrition, was broken that very same day, when the Egyptians moved advanced Soviet weapons systems all the way up to the Suez Canal. The preparations for the next all-out war against Israel had begun, and were, after Nasser's death the same year, taken over by his successor, Anwar sadat. Syria, like Egypt, received enormous quantities of weaponry from the Soviet Union, and in January 1973 the armies of the two countries were placed under joint command. The Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, and her advisors chose 
An Israeli pontoon bridge crossing the
Suez Canal, Oktober 1973.
 
to ignore warnings from the Israeli intelligence community that something was in the offing. The country was therefore completely unprepared, when Egyptian and Syrian forces on October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holiday of "Yom Kippur," initiated a coordinated surprise attack on the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.

During the first days of the war, the Arabs made significant progress. But as the Israeli forces were mobilized, the fortunes of war turned. Having halted the Arab advance, Israel succeeded in breaking through enemy lines on both fronts. When the fighting ended on October 25, Israeli artillery was within firing range of both Cairo and Damascus.
A lightly wounded General Ariel Sharon
meet with Defense Minister Moshe
Dayan, the Yom Kippur War, 1973.
Militarily, Israel emerged victorious from the war. But the Arabs had proved that they still posed a real threat to Israel, and therefore regarded themselves as victors. Almost 2700 Israelis were killed in the Yom Kippur War, and after public protests the Golda Meir government in April 1974 was forces to resign. 






4. Peace With The Arabs? (1977 - 1993)
Sadat, Begin og Carter at the signing
ceremony of the peace treaty between
Israel and Egypt, 1979.
 
1979 - Peace with EgyptAfter four years of unsuccessful peace negotiations in the wake of the Yom Kippur War the Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, took an unpresidented step and accepted the Israeli prime minister, Menahem Begin's, invitation and travelled to Jerusalem in order to discuss the prospects of peace between the two countries. It was a captivated Israeli public, who watched Sadat's televised address to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The ensuing negotiations were hosted by the American presi-dent, Jimmy Carter, at his summer residence, Camp David. In 1979 the parties signed a peace treaty, which included a total Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Desert, in return for Egyptian recognition of Israel's right to exist along with respect for the agreed borders. Regaining control of the Gaza Strip, also conquered by Israel during the Six Day
Jewish settlers are evacuated
from a rooftop during the dis-
mantlement of the town of
Yamit i Sinai, 1982.
War twelve years earlier, was not in Egypt's interest.

The withdrawal from Sinai was completed in stages during the following three years, and included the dismantlement in 1982 of one larger and several smaller Jewish settlements established since 1967. The peace treaty with Israel was met with great resistance in the Arab World, and in 1979 Egypt was excluded from the Arab League. In 1981 Sadat was murdered by a member of an Egyptian fundamentalist Muslim organization.
1982 - The Lebanon WarIn 1982 there was quiet on most of Israel's borders. Only from Lebanon the Arab PLO frequently mounted attacks against northern Israel. Israel's defense minister, Ariel Sharon, worked out a plan in cooperation with Bashir Gemayel, the leader of a Christian militia in Lebanon, to put an end to Arab PLO's power base in the civil war-torn country. Israel undertook the task of neutralizing Arab PLO's forces all the way to Beirut, after which Gemayel's "Phalangist" militia was to deal with the Arab PLO guerrillas that had entrenched themselves in the capital. When Gemayel had taken over power in Lebanon, a peace deal was to be worked out between the two countries.
Lebanon and northern Israel. 
The Israeli forces in a defensive move crossed into Lebanon on June 6, 1982, and defeated both the PLO guerrillas and the Syrian army, which had occupied eastern Lebanon, and on June 13 reached southern Beirut. But Gemayel refused to send his militia into the streets of West Beirut. Instead the Israelis besieged West Beirut and initiated a massive bombardment of PLO's positions in the city. After two months the guerrillas gave up, and were by agreement evacuated from Lebanon to other Arab countries. PLO's leader, Yasser Arafat, went into exile in Tunesia.
Gemayel was elected president in Lebanon, but Israel's subsequent attempt to reach a peace agreement with him failed. In September Gemayel was killed in a bomb attack. Two days later his Christian Phalangists massacred at least 700 Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila outside Beirut. The Israeli army, which controlled the area, did not intervene. After public protests in Israel, an Israeli commission of inquiry found that Sharon indirectly shared responsibility for the massacre, and he was forced to leave the post of defense minister. In January 1985 Israel pulled its forces out of Lebanon, with the exeption of a 10 km (6 mile) wide security buffer north of the Israeli border.
1987 - The First "Intifada"In December 1987 spontaneous riots broke out in Gaza and the West Bank, with Palestinian youth attacking Israeli soldiers and civilians with stones and Molotov cocktails. The disturbances quickly developed into a regular uprising with a general strike, boycott of Israeli products and burning barricades in the
Palestinian youth throw stones against
Israeli soldiers, 1987.
streets. The Arab PLO's attempt to direct the uprising from its headquarters in Tunesia succeeded only to a limited extend, while local groups, including the Islamic organization Hamas, had more influence on the events. The Israeli police and military tried to sup-press the demonstrations, and there were many victims. When the "intifada" died out in 1991, 160 Israelis had been killed. Of the 2100 Palestinians that lost their lives, almost half had been executed by fellow Palestinians due to internal strife or suspicion of cooperation with Israel.

1991 - The Gulf War When Iraq invaded Kuwait in the summer of 1990, Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians chose to side with Saddam Hussein. During
the ensuing war with the international
Tel Aviv under attack. Iraq
launched 39 Scud missiles
against Israel during the
Gulf War.
coalition, many Palestinians cheered as Iraqi Scud missiles rained down on Israel, while its entire population was crammed into sealed bomb shelters for fear of chemical and biological weapons. The missiles caused only limited damage, however, and Israel avoided being dragged further into the conflict. Due to the Palestinian support for Saddam Hussein, the 200.000 Palestinians that had used to work in Kuwait, were expelled. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in opposition to Saddam Hussein completely halted their financial support for the PLO.

1991 - The Madrid ConferenceOn American initiative a peace conference was arranged with the participation of Israel, Syria, Lebanon and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The parties met in Madrid on November 1st, 1991, and both Israelis and Palestinians expressed willingness to negotiate a compromise on a transitional arrangement with Palestinian self-government. The negotiations continued in Washington, but even though the parties met frequently throughout the following year, the differences only grew. The Palestinian Islamist organization, Hamas, in December of 1992 committed a string of terror attacks against Israel, the latter responding by deporting 400 Hamas members to Lebanon. The Palestinian delegation withdrew from the meetings in Washington, and though they were resumed in the spring of 1993, the negotiations lead nowhere.

4. Peace With The Arabs? (1993 - 1996)
1993 - The Oslo Process
Behind the scenes the Israeli leadership was informed, via a Norwegian mediator, that the Arab PLO, which since the Gulf War had been internationally marginalized, and whose influence also was declining in the Palestinian territories, had expressed willingness to negotiate with Israel. Secret meetings between Israeli representatives and Arab PLO members began in Oslo in January 1993. Significant progress was made, and in August that year a "Declaration of Principles" began to take shape.
The document described the principles for a 5-year transitional period with Arab Palestinian self-government, starting with Gaza and Jericho, aiming to eventually include all major Arab/Palestinian population centres on the West Bank. After the transitional period the parties were to negotiate a final status agreement. The questions of final borders, the future status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugee problem were deferred to a later phase.
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin
shakes PLO leader Yasser Arafat's
hand at the White House, 1993.
 
In order to achieve the Arab PLO's approval of the document, the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, offered to recognize the PLO, under Yasser Arafat's leadership, as the rightful representative of the Palestinian people.

Arafat accepted the gesture and reciprocated by recognizing Israel's right to exist in peace and security, and declared that the PLO would give up the use of terrorism and violence. On september 13, 1993 Arafat and Rabin, at a ceremony hosted by the American president, Bill Clinton, shook hands on the "Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government," also known as the Oslo Agreement, outlining the guidelines for the coming peace process.
1994 - Establishment of the Palestinian Authority
The implementation of the agreement on Palestinian self-government went anything but smoothly. While Israel and the PLO were negotiating the details of the arrangement, Palestinians from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's own Fatah organization were trying to derail the process. During the autumn of 1993 fifteen terror attacks cost the lives of 19 Israelis.
In February 1994 a member of the radical, Jewish organization, Kach, gunned down 29 Arabs at the "Tomb of the Patriarchs" in Hebron. Over a hundred were wounded, before the assailant himself was overpowered and killed. 
Most of Gaza and an area
around the town of Jericho are
transferred to Palestinian
control, May 1994.
The Israeli government condemned the massacre, offered financial compensation to the families of the victims, and declared the Kach movement a terrorist organization. Israel and the PLO subsequently agreed on the stationing of interna-tional observers in Hebron, the only town in the West Bank that houses both Jews and Arabs.
In the months of March and April Hamas directed a series of terror attacks against Israeli busses and similar targets, claiming a total of 17 Israeli lives. Despite the setbacks the negotiations between Israel and the PLO continued, and on May 4, 1994 the parties signed an agreement detailing the conditions for the establishment of a "Palestinian Authority," and the implementation of the first phase of the peace proccess, called "Gaza and Jericho First." Israel pulled its troops out of the agreed areas, which were transferred to Palestinian control. Shortly after, Arafat arrived at Gaza Airport as chairman of the Palestinian Authority.
1994 - Peace with Jordan Since Jordan had already relinquished all claims to the West Bank, it was in reality only pressure from other Arab states that had prevented it from making a separate peace with 
King Hussein, Clinton and Rabin at
the presentation of the peace treaty
between Israel and Jordan, 1994.
Israel. So when the general atmosphere in the region allowed, the two countries seized the opportunity to negotiate a peace treaty, which only involved marginal territorial adjustments. The deal was concluded on July 25, 1994, and signed at an official ceremony on October 26, 1994. Jordan thus became the second Arab country to make peace with Israel.


1995 - The Oslo II Agreement
During the summer of 1994 the Palestinian terror intensified, and the follwing year almost 100 Israelis (mainly civilians)
were killed in suicide bombings and other attacks. The 
Area A: territory under Arab/Pale-
stinian control, Area B: terri-
tory under joint Palestinian-
Israeli control.
Islamist organizations, Hamas and Islamic Jihad were responsible for the majority of the attacks.
Despite the Palestinian Authority's poor performance on preventing terror, Israel and the Arab PLO on September 28, 1995 signed the so-called "Oslo II Agreement," outlining further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank. In return the agreement, like its predecessor, contained a series of demands to be met by the Arab Palestinian Authority. It soon became clear, however, that the Arab Palestinian Authority was still not honoring its side of the agreement. Nevertheless Israel did - with some delays - carry out the projected withdrawals.
The moment when Rabin is shot,
November 4, 1995 (from Israeli TV).
1995 - The Murder of Rabin
In yet another assault on the peace process the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was murdered by a right-wing radical Orthodox Jew during a peace rally in Tel Aviv. The assassin was caught and later sentenced to life inprisonment. Deputy prime minister Shimon Peres took over the post as prime minister. The peace pro-cess continued, and in the following three months Israeli forces were withdrawn from most of the larger Arab Palestinian occupied cities.
At the May 1996 Israeli general election Shimon Peres and the Labor Party sought a renewed mandate to continue the peace process with Yasser Arafat and the Arab Palestinian Authority. But a fresh wave of suicide attacks committed by Hamas, in which 57 Israelis were killed in a single week in March-April 1996, sent tremors through the Israeli public, and Benjamin Netanyahu from the right-wing Likud Party, who were opposed to the negotiations with the Arab PLO, won the election.

4. Peace With The Arabs? (1997 - 2000)
1997-1999 - Hebron, Wye River and Sharm el-Sheikh
In August 1996 the peace negotiations were resumed, if at a somewhat lower pace. On January 15, 1997 Netanyahu and Arafat signed the "Hebron Agreement" about Israeli withdrawal from most of Hebron, the last major Arab Palestinian city under Israeli control.
Arafat and Netanya-
hu, Wye River, 1998.
During 1997 Arab Palestinian suicide bombing attacks, mainly committed by Hamas, claimed the lives of 44 Israeli civilians, while wounding some 400. But after a period of relative calm, Netanyahu and Arafat in October 1998 met under the auspices of US president Bill Clinton in order to negotiate the implementation of the Oslo II Agreement from 1995. They signed the so-called "Wye River Memorandum," which once again stressed the Arab Palestinian obligations regarding security and prevention of terror. That autumn Hamas and Islamic Jihad conducted a string of terror attacks that claimed few deaths, while wounding nearly a hundred. Still Israel regretably initiated the first of three land handovers described in the Wye agreement, after which the process again ground to a halt.
Areas transferred to Palesti-
nian control according to the
Wye River agreement.
In May 1999 Ehud Barak and the Labor Party came to power in Israel, and in September the same year Barak and Arafat signed yet another agreement, the "Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum," the main theme once again being the Arab Palestinians' noncompliance with their security obligations, and the consequent Israeli delays of planned troop withdrawals.
In the spring of 2000 Israel carried out some additional withdrawals, leaving 18% of the total area of the West Bank under the control of the Arab Palestinian Authority (Area A), while 21% was under joint control (Area B). Even though the agreements were still not fully implemented, more than 95% of the Arab Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank now lived under the administration of the Arab Palestinian Authority.
Israeli soldiers rejoicing, as they
cross the border from Lebanon,
March 2000.  
2000 - Israel Leaves Lebanon
Ehud Barak's election promise of 1999 to bring back all the troops from the Israeli security zone in southern Lebanon was fulfilled on March 24, 2000, when the last tank under cover of darkness rolled across the internationally recognized border into Israel. The United Nations subsequently declared the withdrawal complete.
2000 - The Oslo Process in Difficulty
The Israeli withdrawals according to the Oslo agreements were never fully implemented. The reason was not only the Arab Palestinians' lack of will or ability to prevent terror against Israeli civilians. On a number of additional points Arafat and the Arab Palestinian Authority failed to honor their obligations, which voids the Oslo accord.
Generally, the Oslo agreements called for the establishment of a democratic Arab Palestinian society, and there were specific provisions demanding the introduction of a Arab Palestinian legal system, operating independently of the political leadership. In reality, Arafat had created yet another Arab dictatorship, in which ordinary Arab Palestinians had no basic democratic rights. The police force of the Authority, which, according to the agreements, were to be limited to 24.000, totaled at the end of the decade around twice that number. Moreover, the many different military factions, rather than being under the control of the Interior Ministry, to a large extend answered directly to Yasser Arafat.
The Jew, portrayed in classi-
cal anti-Semitic style, holds
the key to the US coffers,
Palestinian newspaper, March
2000.
The Oslo II Agreement from 1995 also included a clause, which obligated the parties to contribute, through educational institutions and media, to the peace between the two peoples, and to fight the spread of propaganda against the other party. While Israel complied fully with this requirement, the Arab Palestinian Authority continued, through its educational and religious institutions as well as the media, which were under Arafat's control, to promote an endless stream of anti-Israel propaganda and violence.
The Israelis demanded removal of the passages in the Arab PLO charter, which denied Israel's right to exist and called for the destruction of Israel, was also never carried out.
On the other hand, the Arab Palestinians claimed that the ongoing expansions of the Jewish settlements on the West Bank, not only sent a less than constructive message vis-a-vis the peace process, but were also inconsistent with the signed agreements. The latter claim was made with reference to a stipulation, which prohibited the parties from taking actions that could change the status of the territories before reaching a final peace deal. Conversely, Israel pointed out that there nowhere in the agreements were any limitations regarding the Jewish communities and settlements, the issue of which were explicitly deferred to the upcoming final status negotiations.
2000 - Camp David, Breakdown of the Peace ProcessIn the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum of 1999, the date of September 13, 2000 was set as the deadline for a final peace agreement, and as this date drew nearer, the pressure on the political leaders to find a solution intensified. Arafat even threatened to unilaterally declare an Arab Palestinian state, if no results emerged at the negotiating table.

Barak, Clinton and Arafat at Camp
David, July 2000.
 
In the months of March-May 2000, four suicide bombings claimed the lives of 8 Israelis and wounded more than 170. Still, the hope for a peaceful solution with the Arab Palestinians was at its highest, when Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat in July headed off to Bill Clinton's summer residence, Camp David, in order to participate in negotiations about a final peace deal.
After a few weeks of intense negotiations behind closed doors Clinton achieved Barak's acceptance of a proposal, according to which, an Arab Palestinian state would encompass all of Gaza plus some 95% of the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital and an Arab Palestinian control over parts of the Old City, including the Temple Mount (where Muslim religious buildings are situated atop the ruins of the ancient Jewish temple). In addition it was suggested that the Arab Palestinians, as compensation for the inclusion of the largest 
Bill Clinton's vision for a Pale-
stinian state in Gaza and most
of the West Bank (additional
land swaps not shown).
  
settlement blocks into Israel, would receive a similar amount of land from Israel proper. In return Arafat was asked to declare an end to the conflict with Israel, and accept that no further demands would be made of Israel in the future.
But Arafat rejected the proposed solution, and then chose to leave the negotiations without making any counterproposal.
The deadline of September 13 passed, and the disappointment was great on both sides of the conflict. The atmosphere among the Palestinians was particularly tense, and on September 28, 2000 a visit by the Israeli oppositon leader, Ariel Sharon, to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem became the catalyst for Palestinian riots that soon developed into a regular, violent uprising under the name of "the Al-Aqsa Intifada" or "the Second Intifada."
In the fall of 2000 and January 2001, as the violence was raging, another few attempts were made at getting the negotiations back on track, with meetings in Washington and the Egyptian holiday resort of Taba. But the efforts proved unsuccessful, and the Oslo process had in reality broken irreversibly down.
Chapter 5, which is under development, will cover the period from September 2000 until today and include, among other subjects, the following: The Second Intifada, Operation "Defensive Shield", Israel's Security Barrier, "The Roadmap for Peace", Withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas' Rise to Power, The Second Lebanon War, Hamas' Takeover of Gaza and The Gaza Wars between Israel and Hamas.


The History of Israel - Time Line

1. Early Times (1000 BCE - 1900)

 David rules Judea, first
united kingdom in the
area, from Jerusalem.
King Solomon dies, kingdom
divided into Judea (south)
and Israel (north).
Divided Kingdom931 BCE
The Assyrians invade
and destroy the northern
Kingdom of Israel.
The Babylonians conquer
Jerusalem, destroy the first
temple and exile influential
Jews to Babylon.
Babylonians
586 BCE
The Persians defeat the
Babylonians, allow Jews
to return to Jerusalem.
Alexander the Great
destroys the Persian
Empire, conquers Judea.
Greeks
332 BCE
The Maccabees revolt
against the Greeks, Judea
once again independent
Jewish state.
The Romans conquer
Greek Empire including
Judea, Jews granted some
measure of autonomy.
Romans
63 BCE
Herod The Great
administers the Roman
province of Judea.
Titus quashes yet another
Jewish rebellion, Jerusalem
reduced to rubble.
Destruction of Jerusalem
70 AD
Bar Kochva Revolt, many
Jews deported or killed by
Romans, Judea renamed
to "Palaestina".
Byzantine Era, Roman
Emperor Constantine makes
Christianity official religion
of entire empire.
Byzantine Era
313
Persians retake Jerusalem,
Byzantine emperor defeats
Persians, kills Jews, burns
synagogues.
Arab Caliph Omar invades
Jerusalem, builds Al-Aqsa
mosque on ruins of
Jewish temple.
Arab Rule
638
Jerusalem conquered
by Cairo-based Fatimid
dynasty.
Fatimids ejected by the
Seljuk Turks, end of Arab
dominance.
Seljuk Turks
1071
The Crusaders conquer
Jerusalem, massacre many
Jews and Muslims.
Kurdish general Saladin,
ruler of Egypt and Syria,
captures Jerusalem.
Saladin
1187
Mamelukes take over
Egypt, eject last Crusa-
ders from the Holy Land.
Ottoman Turks take Cairo,
rule entire Middle East from
Constantinople (Istanbul)
for 400 years.
Ottoman Empire
1517-1917



2. The Establishment of Israel
(1880 - 1947)
First major wave of
European Jews immigrate
to Palestine.
First Zionist Congress in
Basel found World Zionist
Organization chaired by
Theodor Herzl.
First Zionist Congress
1897
Second wave of Jewish
immigration from eastern
Europe.
British government issues
the Balfour Declaration pro-
mising a "Jewish National
Home" in Palestine.
Balfour Declaration
1917
The British General
Allenby conquers
Jerusalem.
Establishment of the man-
dates for Syria, Mesopota-
mia (Iraq) and Palestine.
Mandates Established
1920
Jewish-Arab cooperation
breaks down, Arab
nationalists turn their
attention to Jerusalem.
Arab rioters attack Jewish
population in Jerusalem,
April 1920.
First Arab Riots
1920
First elections to Jewish
parliament, "Knesset"
take place in April 1920.
In May 1921 Arab
Nationalists attack Jews in
Jaffa, violence spreads
throughout Palestine.
More Arab Riots
1921
Mandate for Palestine,
Jewish national home con-
firmed by predecessor to
UN, League of Nations.
Transjordan is severed from
Palestine, 3/4 of mandate's
area excluded from poten-
tial Jewish homeland.
Transjordan
1922
British attempts at estab-
lishing Jewish-Arab power
sharing in Palestine fail due
to Arab rejection.
The Hebrew University
founded at Mount Scopus,
east of Jerusalem, Juni 1925
Hebrew University
1925
Knesset authorized to
collect taxes from Jewish
community. Responsible for
education, health, welfare.
Jewish communities all over
Palestine under attack.
Hebron Jews massacred.
Renewed Arab Attacks
1929
Britain tightens rules for
Jewish immigration in
reaction to Arab violence.
Hitler's rise to power in
Germany results in a spike
in Jewish emigration from
Europe
Jewish Immigration
Increases
1933
Al-Husseini clan founds
Palestine Arab Party, and
armed militia, "al-Futuwwa"
to fight Jews and British.
Arabs mount general
strike, attack Jews all over
Palestine. Jewish defense
partly effective.
The Arab Revolt
1936
Arabs reject British Peel
Commission's plan to create
Jewish state in 20% of
Palestine, Arab in 80%.
Arab-Nazi cooperation,
Germany supplies weapons
for Palestinian Arab's fight
against Jews.
Arab-Nazi Alliance
1937
Attacks on Jewish civilians
reach new high. Jews stage
counterattacks against Arab
guerrillas.
Britain proposes plan
unacceptable to Jews, then
abandons Jewish National
Home altogether.
Jewish National
Home in Peril
1938-39
Jews allied with Britain
during war, Palestinian Arabs side with Nazi-
Germany.
Despite Jewish war effort,
Britain blocks refugees from
entering Palestine. Jewish
sabotage against British.
Jewish Refugees
from Europe
1945-48
The UN decides to partition Palestine into a Jewish and
an Arab state. Jews accept,
Arabs reject the plan.



3. The New State (1947 - 1973)
Arabs attack Jewish commu-
nities all over Palestine. Civil
war breaks out, many Arabs
flee ahead of Arab invasion.
Civil War in Palestine
1947-48
Israel attacked by armies
of Egypt, Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon and Iraq. Cease-
fire agreed in spring 1949.
More than 700.000 Arabs
flee new State of Israel.
Almost as many Jews flee to
Israel fromArab countries.
Arab and Jewish Refugees
1948-53
Egypt and Jordan support
guerrilla attacks into Israel
from Gaza and West Bank.
Israel rutinely retaliates.
Egypt's blockade of the Red
Sea and nationalization of
the Suez Canal spurs an
international crisis. Israel
invades Gaza and the Sinai.
Sinai Crisis
1956
The PLO is founded in
order to "liberate" Palestine
from the Zionists.
Arab forces build up all
around Israel threatening to
attack. Israel strikes first,
defeats Egypt, Jordan and
Syria in six days.
Six Day War
1967
UN calls for negotiated
solution, Arabs reject
negotiations, recognition,
peace with Israel.
Egypt shells Israeli forces in
Sinai, who respond with air
and commando raids.
War of Attrition
1967-70
PLO attacks Israelis and
Jewish civilians all over
the world.
Egypt and Syria initiate
coordinated surprise attack
on two fronts, Israel
repels invaders.
Yom Kippur War
1973




4. Peace with the Arabs?
(1977 - 2000)
Egypt and Israel sign peace
deal, Israel withdraws from
demilitarized Sinai.
After years of attacks
from Lebanon, Israel
invades and ejects PLO.
The Lebanon War
1982
Riots brake out in Gaza and
West Bank. Israel tries to
suppress the uprising.
There are many losses.
PLO supports Iraq as it
invades Kuwait, launches
rockets at Israel, which re-
frains from retaliating.
The Gulf War
1991
Israel and its Arab
neighbors meet in Madrid
and later in Washington
with limited results.
A breakthrough is made
between Israel and PLO. A
peace process is launched.
The Oslo Process
1993
Palestinian Authority assu-
mes power over some areas
in Gaza and West Bank.
Jordan becomes the second
Arab country to make peace
with Israel.
Peace with Jordan
1994
Israel hands over further
terriroty to the Palestinian
Authority.
Israel's prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin is shot by
radical, Orthodox Jew.
Murder of Rabin
1995
Several additional accords
are signed. Peace process
continues at slow pace.
Israel pulls out all troops
from Lebanon, ending 22
years of military presence.
Israel Leaves Lebanon
2000
Israel refuses to implement
withdrawals citing Palestini-
an failure to honor agree-
ments.
Israel makes offer to
Palestinians, who reject it,
make no counteroffer and
leave negotiations.
Camp David, Breakdown of the Peace Process
2000



5. The Post-Oslo Era (2000 - today)
The Second Intifada
2000
Palestinians launch wave
of suicide bombs and other
attacks on Israelis at an
unprecedented level.
Israel reinvades most major
Palestinian cities on West
Bank in order to destroy
terrorist infrastructure.
Operation
"Defensive Shield"
2002
Israel's Security Barrier
2002
Israel constructs barrier
on West Bank preventing
suicide bombers from reach-
ing Israeli civilians.
World's major powers
sponsor phased peace plan.
Phase one is never
implemented.
"The Roadmap for Peace"
2003
Withdrawal from Gaza
2005
Israel unilaterally withdraws from Gaza Strip, evacuating 8000 Jewish settlers.
Hamas wins Palestinian
parliamentary elections,
attempts to share power
with Fatah.
Hamas Assumes Power
2006
The Second Lebanon War
2006
Hizbollah attack on Israeli
soldiers and civilians leads
to major one-month military
operation by Israel.
Heavy internal fighting
among Palestinians. Hamas
ousts Fatah from power in
Gaza in violent coup.
Hamas' Takeover of Gaza
2007
The Gaza War
2008-09
Increasing rocket attacks
from Gaza on Israel's civilian
population spurs military
offensive against Hamas'
positions in the strip.

Chapter 5 in the Chronological Presentation, covering the events of the Post-Oslo Era (the period from September 2000 until today) is under development.

Important Important legal documents

The British Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour, wrote to the Jewish leader, Lord Rothschild, in order to assure him and the Zionist Organization of the British government's continued support for the idea of the recreation of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.
The "Balfour Declaration" became the foundation of the international support for the establishment of the modern state of Israel. The letter was published a week later in The Times of London.

The Balfour Declaration 1917
November 2nd, 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour

The League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations, on July 24, 1922 approved "The Mandate for Palestine" according to which, England was charged with administering Palestine (today Jordan, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank). Britain was also obligated to work towards the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland within the same area.

San Remo Conference of April 1920


"The San Remo Conference decided on April 24, 1920 to assign the Mandate [for Palestine] under the League of Nations to Britain. The terms of the Mandate were also discussed with the United States which was not a member of the League. An agreed text was confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922, and it came into operation in September 1923."
The Council of the League of Nations:
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have agreed, for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory selected by the said Powers the administration of the territory of Palestine, which formerly belonged to the Turkish Empire, within such boundaries as may be fixed by them; and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country; and
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connexion of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country;
and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have selected His Britannic Majesty as the Mandatory for Palestine; and 
Whereas the mandate in respect of Palestine has been formulated in the following terms and submitted to the Council of the League for approval; and
Whereas His Britannic Majesty has accepted the mandate in respect of Palestine and undertaken to exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in conformity with the following provisions; and
Whereas by the aforementioned Article 22 (paragraph 8), it is provided that the degree of authority, control or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory, not having been previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, shall be explicitly defined by the Council of the League of Nations;
Confirming the said Mandate, defines its terms as follows:
Article 1.
The Mandatory shall have full powers of legislation and of administration, save as they may be limited by the terms of this mandate.
Article 2.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion.
Article 3.
The Mandatory shall, so far as circumstances permit, encourage local autonomy.
Article 4.
An appropriate Jewish agency shall be recognized as a public body for the purpose of advising and cooperating with the Administration of Palestine in such economic, social and other matters as may affect the establishment of the Jewish national home and the interests of the Jewish population in Palestine, and, subject always to the control of the Administration, to assist and take part in the development of the country.

The Zionist Organization, so long as its organization and constitution are in the opinion of the Mandatory appropriate shall be recognized as such agency. It shall take steps in consultation with His Britannic Majesty's Government to secure the cooperation of all Jews who are willing to assist in the establishment of the Jewish national home.
Article 5.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of, the Government of any foreign Power.
Article 6.
The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.
Article 7.
The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.
Article 8.
The privileges and immunities of foreigners, including the benefits of consular jurisdiction and protection as formerly enjoyed by Capitulation or usage in the Ottoman Empire, shall not be applicable in Palestine.
Unless the Powers whose nationals enjoyed the aforementioned privileges and immunities on August 1st, 1914, shall have previously renounced the right to their re-establishment, or shall have agreed to their non-application for a specified period, these privileges and immunities shall, at the expiration of the mandate, be immediately re-established in their entirety or with such modifications as may have been agreed upon between the Powers concerned. 
Article 9.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that the judicial system established in Palestine shall assure to foreigners, as well as to natives, a complete guarantee of their rights. 
Respect for the personal status of the various peoples and communities and for their religious interests shall be fully guaranteed. In particular, the control and administration of Waqfs shall be exercised in accordance with religious law and the dispositions of the founders.
Article 10.
Pending the making of special extradition agreements relating to Palestine, the extradition treaties in force between the Mandatory and other foreign Powers shall apply to Palestine.
Article 11.
The Administration of Palestine shall take all necessary measures to safeguard the interests of the community in connection with the development of the country, and, subject to any international obligations accepted by the Mandatory, shall have full power to provide for public ownership or control of any of the natural resources of the country or of the public works, services and utilities established or to be established therein. It shall introduce a land system appropriate to the needs of the country having regard, among other things, to the desirability of promoting the close settlement and intensive cultivation of the land.

The Administration may arrange with the Jewish agency mentioned in Article 4 to construct or operate, upon fair and equitable terms, any public works, services and utilities, and to develop any of the natural resources of the country, in so far as these matters are not directly undertaken by the Administration. Any such arrangements shall provide that no profits distributed by such agency, directly or indirectly, shall exceed a reasonable rate of interest on the capital, and any further profits shall be utilized by it for the benefit of the country in a manner approved by the Administration.
Article 12.
The Mandatory shall be entrusted with the control of the foreign relations of Palestine, and the right to issue exequaturs to consuls appointed by foreign Powers. He shall also be entitled to afford diplomatic and consular protection to citizens of Palestine when outside its territorial limits.
Article 13.
All responsibility in connexion with the Holy Places and religious buildings or sites in Palestine, including that of preserving existing rights and of securing free access to the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites and the free exercise of worship, while ensuring the requirements of public order and decorum, is assumed by the Mandatory, who shall be responsible solely to the League of Nations in all matters connected herewith, provided that nothing in this article shall prevent the Mandatory from entering into such arrangements as he may deem reasonable with the Administration for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this article into effect; and provided also that nothing in this Mandate shall be construed as conferring upon the Mandatory authority to interfere with the fabric or the management of purely Moslem sacred shrines, the immunities of which are guaranteed.
Article 14.
A special Commission shall be appointed by the Mandatory to study, define and determine the rights and claims in connection with the Holy Places and the rights and claims relating to the different religious communities in Palestine. The method of nomination, the composition and the functions of this Commission shall be submitted to the Council of the League for its approval, and the Commission shall not be appointed or enter upon its functions without the approval of the Council.
Article 15.
The Mandatory shall see that complete freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals are ensured to all. No discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants of Palestine on the ground of race, religion or language. No person shall be excluded from Palestine on the sole ground of his religious belief.

The right of each community to maintain its own schools for the education of its own members in its own language, while conforming to such educational requirements of a general nature as the Administration may impose, shall not be denied or impaired.
Article 16.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for exercising such supervision over religious or eleemosynary bodies of all faiths in Palestine as may be required for the maintenance of public order and good government. Subject to such supervision, no measures shall be taken in Palestine to obstruct or interfere with the enterprise of such bodies or to discriminate against any representative or member of them on the ground of his religion or nationality. 
Article 17.
The Administration of Palestine may organize on a voluntary basis the forces necessary for the preservation of peace and order, and also for the defence of the country, subject however, to the supervision of the Mandatory, but shall not use them for purposes other than those above specified save with the consent of the Mandatory. Except for such purposes no military, naval or air forces shall be raised or maintained by the Administration of Palestine.
Nothing in this article shall preclude the Administration of Palestine from contributing to the cost of the maintenance of the forces of the Mandatory in Palestine.
The Mandatory shall be entitled at all times to use the roads, railways and ports of Palestine for the movement of armed forces and the carriage of fuel and supplies.

Article 18.
The Mandatory shall see that there is no discrimination in Palestine against the nationals of any State Member of the League of Nations (including companies incorporated under its laws) as compared with those of the Mandatory or of any foreign State in matters concerning taxation, commerce or navigation, the exercise of industries or professions, or in the treatment of merchant vessels or civil aircraft. Similarly, there shall be no discrimination in Palestine against goods originating in or destined for any of the said States, and there shall be freedom of transit under equitable conditions across the mandated area.
Subject as aforesaid and to the other provisions of this mandate, the Administration of Palestine may, on the advice of the Mandatory, impose such taxes and customs duties as it may consider necessary, and take such steps as it may think best to promote the development of the natural resources of the country and to safeguard the interests of the population. It may also, on the advice of the Mandatory, conclude a special customs agreement with any State the territory of which in 1914 was wholly included in Asiatic Turkey or Arabia.
Article l9.
The Mandatory shall adhere on behalf of the Administration of Palestine to any general international conventions already existing, or which may be concluded hereafter with the approval of the League of Nations, respecting the slave traffic, the traffic in arms and ammunition, or the traffic in drugs, or relating to commercial equality, freedom of transit and navigation, aerial navitation and postal, telegraphic and wireless communicatiion or literary, artistic or industrial property.
Article 20.
The Mandatory shall co-operate on behalf of the Administration of Palestine, so far as religious, social and other conditions may permit, in the execution of any common policy adopted by the League of nations for preventing and combating disease, including diseases of plants and animals.
Article 21.
The Mandatory shall secure the enactment within twelve months from this date, and shall ensure the execution of a Law of Antiquities based on the following rules. This law shall ensure equality of treatment in the matter of excavations and archaeological research to the nationalals of all States Members of the League of Nations....
Article 22.
English, Arabic and Hebrew shall be the official languages of Palestine. Any statement or inscription in Arabic on stamps or money in Palestine shall be repeated in Hebrew and any statement or inscription in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.
Article 23.
The Administration of Palestine shall recognize the holy days of the respective communities in Palestine as legal days of rest for the members of such communities. 
Article 24.
The Mandatory shall make to the Council of the League of Nations an annual report to the satisfaction of the Council as to the measures taken during the year to carry out the provisions of the mandate. Copies of all laws and regulations promulgated or issued during the year shall be communicated with the report. 
Article 25.
In the territories Iying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.
Article 26.
The Mandatory agrees that if any dispute whatever should arise between the Mandatory and another Member of the League of Nations relating to the interpretation or the application of the provisions of the mandate, such dispute, if it cannot be settled by negotiation, shall be submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice provided for by Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations.
Article 27.
The consent of the Council of the League of Nations is required for any modification of the terms of this mandate. 
Article 28.
In the event of the termination of the mandate hereby conferred upon the Mandatory, the Council of the League of Nations shall make such arrangements as may be deemed necessary for safeguarding in perpetuity, under guarantee of the League, the rights secured by Articles 13 and 14, and shall use its influence for securing, under the guarantee of the League, that the Government of Palestine will fully honour the financial obligations legitimately incurred by the Administration of Palestine during the period of the mandate, including the rights of public servants to pensions or gratuities.
The present instrument shall be deposited in original in the archives of the League of Nations and certified copies shall be forwarded by the Secretary General of the League of Nations to all Members of the League.
DONE AT LONDON the twenty-fourth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two."



The Mandate for Palestine
July 24, 1922

The mandates for Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine were assigned by the Supreme Court of the League of Nations at its San Remo meeting in April 1920. Negotiations between Great Britain and the United States with regard to the Palestine mandate were successfully concluded in May 1922, and approved by the Council of the League of Nations in July 1922. The mandates for Palestine and Syria came into force simultaneously on September 29, 1922. In this document, the League of Nations recognized the "historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine" and the "grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."

Text:
The Council of the League of Nations
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have agreed, for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory selected by the said Powers the administration of the territory of Palestine, which formerly belonged to the Turkish Empire, within such boundaries as may be fixed by them; and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country ; and
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country; and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have selected His Britannic Majesty as the Mandatory for Palestine; and
Whereas the mandate in respect of Palestine has been formulated in the following terms and submitted to the Council of the League for approval; and
Whereas His Britannic Majesty has accepted the mandate in respect of Palestine and undertaken to exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in conformity with the following provisions; and
Whereas by the afore-mentioned Article 22 (paragraph 8), it is provided that the degree of authority, control or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory, not having been previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, shall be explicitly defined by the Council of the League of Nations;
Confirming the said mandate, defines its terms as follows:
Article 1.
The Mandatory shall have full powers of legislation and of administration, save as they may be limited by the terms of this mandate.
Article 2.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self -governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion.
Article 3.
The Mandatory shall,so far as circumstances permit, encourage local autonomy.
Article 4.
An appropriate Jewish agency shall be recognised as a public body for the purpose of advising and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine in such economic, social and other matters as may affect the establishment of the Jewish national home and the interests of the Jewish population in Palestine, and, subject always to the control of the Administration, to assist and take part in the development of the country.
The Zionist organisation, so long as its organisation and constitution are in the opinion of the Mandatory appropriate, shall be recognised as such agency. It shall take steps in consultation with His Britannic Majesty's Government to secure the cooperation of all Jews who are willing to assist in the establishment of the Jewish national home.
Article 5.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of, the Government of any foreign Power.
Article 6.
The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency. referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews, on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.
Article 7.
The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.
Article 8.
The privileges and immunities of foreigners, including the benefits of consular jurisdiction and protection as formerly enjoyed by Capitulation or usage in the Ottoman Empire, shall not be applicable in Palestine.
Unless the Powers whose nationals enjoyed the afore-mentioned privileges and immunities on August 1st, 1914, shall have previously renounced the right to their re-establishment, or shall have agreed to their non-application for a specified period, these privileges and immunities shall, at the expiration of the mandate, be immediately re-established in their entirety or with such modifications as may have been agreed upon between the Powers concerned.
Article 9.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that the judicial system established in Palestine shall assure to foreigners, as wen as to natives, a complete guarantee of their rights.
Respect for the personal status of the various peoples and communities and for their religious interests shall be fully guaranteed. In particular, the control and administration of Wakfs shall be exercised in accordance with religious law and the dispositions of the founders.
Article 10.
Pending the making of special extradition agreements relating to Palestine, the extradition treaties in force between the Mandatory and other foreign Powers shall apply to Palestine.
Article 11.
The Administration of Palestine shall take all necessary measures to safeguard the interests of the community in connection with the development of the country, and, subject to any international obligations accepted by the Mandatory, shall have full power to provide for public ownership or control of any of the natural resources of the country or of the public works, services and utilities established or to be established therein. It shall introduce a land system appropriate to the needs of the country, having regard, among other things, to the desirability of promoting the close settlement and intensive cultivation of the land.
The Administration may arrange with the Jewish agency mentioned in Article 4 to construct or operate, upon fair and equitable terms, any public works, services and utilities, and to develop any of the natural resources of the country, in so far as these matters are not directly undertaken by the Administration. Any such arrangements shall provide that no profits distributed by such agency, directly or indirectly, shall exceed a reasonable rate of interest on the capital, and any further profits shall be utilised by it for the benefit of the country in a manner approved by the Administration.
Article 12.
The Mandatory shall be entrusted with the control of the foreign relations of Palestine and the right to issue exequaturs to consuls appointed by foreign Powers. He shall also be entitled to afford diplomatic and consular protection to citizens of Palestine when outside its territorial limits.
Article 13.
All responsibility in connection with the Holy Places and religious buildings or sites in Palestine, including that of preserving existing rights and of securing free access to the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites and the free exercise of worship, while ensuring the requirements of public order and decorum, is assumed by the Mandatory, who shall be responsible solely to the League of Nations. in all matters connected herewith, provided that nothing in this article shall prevent the Mandatory from entering into such arrangements as he may deem reasonable with the Administration for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this article into effect; and provided also that nothing in this mandate shall be construed as conferring upon the Mandatory authority to interfere with the fabric or the management of purely Moslem sacred shrines, the immunities of which are guaranteed.
Article 14.
A special Commission shall be appointed by the Mandatory to study, define and determine the rights and claims in connection with the Holy Places and the rights and claims relating to the different religious communities in Palestine. The method of nomination, the composition and the functions of this Commission shall be submitted to the Council of the League for its approval, and the Commission shall not be appointed or enter upon its functions without the approval of the Council.
Article 15.
The Mandatory shall see that complete freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, are ensured to all. No discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants of Palestine on the ground of race, religion or language. No person shall be excluded from Palestine on the sole ground of his religious belief.
The right of each community to maintain its own schools for the education of its own members in its own language, while conforming to such educational requirements of a general nature as the Administration may impose, shall not be denied or impaired.
Article 16.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for exercising such supervision over religious or eleemosynary bodies of all faiths in Palestine as may be required for the maintenance of public order and good government. Subject to such supervision, no measures shall be taken in Palestine to obstruct or interfere with the enterprise of such bodies or to discriminate against any representative or member of them on the ground of his religion or nationality.
Article 17.
The Administration of Palestine may organise on a voluntary basis the forces necessary for the preservation of peace and order, and also for the defence of the country, subject, however, to the supervision of the Mandatory, but shall not use them for purposes other than those above specified save with the consent of the Mandatory, Except for such purposes, no military, naval or air forces shall be raised or maintained by the Administration of Palestine.
Nothing in this article shall preclude the Administration of Palestine from contributing to the cost of the maintenance of the forces of the Mandatory in Palestine.
The Mandatory shall be entitled at all times to use the roads, railways and ports of Palestine for the movement of armed f forces and the carriage of fuel and supplies.
Article 18.
The Mandatory shall see that there is no discrimination in Palestine against the nationals of any State Member of the League of Nations (including companies incorporated under its laws) as compared with those of the Mandatory or of any foreign State in matters concerning taxation, commerce or navigation, the exercise of industries or professions, or in the treatment of merchant vessels or civil aircraft. Similarly, there shall be no discrimination in Palestine against goods originating in or destined for any of the said States, and there shall be freedom of transit under equitable conditions across the mandated area.
Subject as aforesaid and to the other provisions of this mandate, the Administration of Palestine may, on the advice of the Mandatory, impose such taxes and customs duties as it may consider necessary, and take such steps as it may think best to promote the development of the natural resources of the country and to safeguard the interests of the population. It may also, on the advice of the Mandatory, conclude a special customs agreement with any State the territory of which in 1914 was wholly included in Asiatic Turkey or Arabia.
Article 19.
The Mandatory shall adhere on behalf of the Administration of Palestine to any general international conventions already existing, or which may be concluded hereafter with the approval of the League of Nations, respecting the slave traffic, the traffic in arms and ammunition, or the traffic in drugs, or relating to commercial equality, freedom of transit and navigation, aerial navigation and postal, telegraphic and wireless communication or literary, artistic or industrial property.
Article 20.
The Mandatory shall co-operate on behalf of the Administration of Palestine, so far as religious, social and other conditions may permit, in the execution of any common policy adopted by the League of Nations for preventing and combating disease, including diseases of plants and animals.
Article 21.
The Mandatory shall secure the enactment within twelve months from this date, and shall ensure the execution of a Law of Antiquities based on the following rules. This law shall ensure equality of treatment in the matter of excavations and archaeological research to the nations of all States Members of the League of Nations.
(1) 'Antiquity' means any construction or any product of human activity earlier than the year A.D. 1700.
(2) The law for the protection of antiquities shall proceed by encouragement rather than by threat.
Any person who, having discovered an antiquity without being furnished with the authorisation referred to in paragraph 5, reports the same to an official of the competent Department, shall be rewarded according to the value of the discovery.
(3) No antiquity may be disposed of except to the competent Department, unless this Department renounces the acquisition of any such antiquity.
No antiquity may leave the country without an export licence from the said Department.
(4) Any person who maliciously or negligently destroys or damages an antiquity shall be liable to a penalty to be fixed.
(5) No clearing of ground or digging with the object of finding
antiquities shall be permitted, under penalty of fine, except to persons authorised by the competent Department.
(6) Equitable terms shall be fixed for expropriation, temporary or permanent, of lands which might be of historical or archaeological interest.
(7) Authorisation to excavate shall only be granted to persons who show sufficient guarantees of archaeological experience. The Administration of Palestine shall not, in granting these authorisations, act in such a way as to exclude scholars of any nation without good grounds.
(8) The proceeds of excavations may be divided between the excavator and the competent Department in a proportion fixed by that Department. If division seems impossible for scientific reasons, the excavator shall receive a fair indemnity in lieu of a part of the find.
Article 22.
English, Arabic and Hebrew shall be the official languages of Palestine. Any statement or inscription in Arabic on stamps or money in Palestine shall be repeated in Hebrew, and any statement or inscription in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.
Article 23.
The Administration of Palestine shall recognise the holy days of the respective communities in Palestine as legal days of rest for the members of such communities.
Article 24.
The Mandatory shall make to the Council of the League of Nations an annual report to the satisfaction of the Council as to the measures taken during the year to carry out the provisions of the mandate. Copies of all laws and regulations promulgated or issued during the year shall be communicated with the report.
Article 25.
In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.
Article 26.
The Mandatory agrees that, if any dispute whatever should arise between the Mandatory and another Member of the League of Nations relating to the interpretation or the application of the provisions of the mandate, such dispute, if it cannot be settled by negotiation, shall be submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice provided for by Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations.
Article 27.
The consent of the Council of the League of Nations is required for any modification of the terms of this mandate.
Article 28.
In the event of the termination of the mandate hereby conferred upon the Mandatory, the Council of the League of Nations shall make such arrangements as may be deemed necessary for safeguarding in perpetuity, under guarantee of the League, the rights secured by Articles 13 and 14, and shall use its influence for securing, under the guarantee of the League, that the Government of Palestine will fully honour the financial obligations legitimately incurred by the Administration of Palestine during the period of the mandate, including the rights of public servants ,to pensions or gratuities.
The present instrument shall be deposited in original in the archives of the League of Nations and certified copies shall be forwarded by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations to all Members of the League.
Done at London the twenty-fourth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two.
UN Resolutions which are recommendations only and other Important Documents:

Documents Prior to the Establishment of the United Nations:
The Balfour Declaration
November 2, 1917 - The British government expresses its support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The League of Nations - Mandate for Palestine
July 24, 1922 - Britain is awarded control of Palestine and is given the task of working towards the restoration of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

United Nations Resolution on the recommendation the Partition of Palestine and the Re-Establishment of Israel as a sovereign state:
UNGA Resolution 181 - Partition Plan
Adopted on November 29, 1947 - The UN's partition plan for Palestine.
Note: Only resolutions adopted by the Security Council are binding for the member states, while those adopted by the General Assembly only have advisory status.

UN Security Council Resolution regarding the Establishment of Israel:
UNSC Resolution 42 - Confirmation of Partition Plan
Adopted on Marts 5, 1948 - a few months before the declaration of The State of Israel. The UN Security Council's first resolution regarding Israel, confirms the partition plan of General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947.

UN General Assembly Resolution regarding Refugees:
UNGA Resolution 194 - Refugees
Adopted on December 11, 1948 - regarding refugees.
Note: Only resolutions adopted by the Security Council are binding for the member states, while those adopted by the General Assembly only have advisory status.

UN Security Council Resolution regarding borders and security:
UNSC Resolution 242 - After the Six Day War
Adopted on November 22, 1967 - a few months after the Six Day War. This resolution constitutes the foundation for all future peace negotiations.
UNSC resolution 338 - After the Yom Kippur war
Adopted on Oktober 22, 1973 - shortly after the Yom Kippur War. This resolution confirms UNSC Resolution 242.
UNSC resolution 1701 - Ceasefire in Lebanon
Adopted on August 11, 2006. The resolution sets the terms for the ceasefire between Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Israel after the "Second Lebanon War".
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