Brief history of Palestine

2006




July 12th: Hezbollah's military wing attack two armoured IDF Humvees with anti-tank rockets, killing three soldiers and taking the remaining two in captivity to Lebanon's territory. Israel responds by bombing Lebanon. The world community responds by evacuating foreigh nationals and refusing to call for a ceasefire as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are forced to evacuate their homes and hundreds die.
June 25th, an Israeli soldier is captured by Palestinian militants who attacked an army post in Israel after crossing the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Israel responds by invading Gaza and bombing infrastructure.
January 20th: Hamas wins a sweeping victory in the first Palestinian parliamentary elections in a decade. Israel and the United States say they will not deal with a Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas.
January 4th: Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke and Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel.

2005




August: Israel enagages in a "unlateral pullout" from Gaza (which mainly meant evacuating settlers)
January 9th, Mahmoud Abbas wins the Palestinian elections and is sworn in as President of the Palestinian National Authority

2004




November 10th: Arafat dies after being in a coma and on life-support equipment for the several days.
May: Israel Defense Forces commit massacre in Rafah
On April 17th, Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi is assassinated by Israel.
On April 14th, Bush meets with Sharon and they agree on a wall in the West Bank that will make many Israeli settlements permanent.
On March 22nd Israel assassinates Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin.

2000




September 28: Second Intifada Begins. Palestinians riot after Ariel Sharon visits the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque and proclaims the area eternal Israeli territory. The violence escalates rapidly and continues today...

1993




September 13: Oslo Accords. The PLO and Israel agree to mutual recognition. The PLO renounces terrorism, yet the number of new settlements increases and Palestinian groups do not remove their charter goals of destroying Israel.

1987




The First Intifada. An explosion of popular resistance to the Israeli occupation called the Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The PLO signals that it would accept a two state solution in 1988.

1982




June 6: Israel invades Lebanon to fight the PLO. A multinational force lands in Beirut on August 20, 1982 to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon. After a demoralizing occupation, Israel slowly withdraws.

1979




March 26: Egypt and Israel sign peace treaty. Israel withdraws to the pre-1967 border with Egypt.

1973




October 6: Yom Kippur War. In a surprise attack, Egypt retakes the Suez canal. Syria reconquers the Golan Heights. Israel succeeds in pushing back the Syrians.

1967




June 5: The Six-Day War. Israel attacks the Egyptians (reconquering the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza), Jordan (conquering the West Bank and Jerusalem), and Syria (conquering the Golan heights).

1964




May: Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) founded, headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria.

1956




October 29: Suez War. Israel invades the Sinai peninsula and occupies it for several months. Israel withdraws after a UN peace keeping force is placed in Sinai.

1949




April 3: Armistice between Israel and Arab states. The war has created over 780,000 Palestinian refugees. Israel has gained about 50% more territory.

1948




May 15: 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Declaration of Israel as the Jewish State. British leave Palestine. Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia declare war on Israel.

1936




Arab Revolt. Over 5,000 Arabs are killed, mostly by the British, and several hundred Jews are killed by Arabs

1917




October 2: Promising a homeland for the Jews in Palestine, the British issue the Balfour Declaration.