Timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
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This is an incomplete timeline of notable events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
[edit] Start of Jewish migration
There had been a continuous Jewish presence in the Holy Land since Biblical times, as well as smaller waves of immigration throughout history. In the mid nineteenth century Jewish communities and families, mostly from Eastern Europe, fleeing increasing antisemitism and pogroms in Europe, begin to immigrate in increasing numbers to Palestine, then a province of the Ottoman Empire, the historic Land of Israel. (See Hovevei Zion, Bilu.) At that time, the Jewish presence in Palestine was roughly 6% of the total population, the rest consisting of Arabs (90% of whom were Muslim, 10% Christian). Islam had been the predominant religion in Jerusalem, and till the 1948 on, the city maintains a Muslim majority.
[edit] 1882-1903
.
[edit] 1915
Hussein-McMahon Correspondence promises Arab state in return for revolt against the Turks. The region of Palestine was not explicitly mentioned. Disputes between Arabs and the British over whether Palestine was meant to be included in these documents would fuel the conflict over nationalism.
[edit] British control
[edit] November 2, 1917
Balfour Declaration 1917: British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour sends a letter to Lord Rothschild, President of the Zionist Federation, declaring his government would "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".
[edit] 1919-1923
In the third Aliyah, roughly 40,000 Jews arrive in Palestine, mostly from Eastern Europe.
[edit] January 18 1919
Faisal-Weizmann Agreement between Emir Faisal (son of the King of Hejaz) and Chaim Weizmann (later President of the World Zionist Organization). "We Arabs," said Faisal, "especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement... We will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home."
[edit] March 1, 1920
Jewish settlements in the Upper Galilee were attacked by Arab forces. Joseph Trumpeldor was among 8 who died defending Tel Hai.
[edit] April-June, 1920
Jerusalem pogrom of 1920 April 4-April 7. The violent 3-day riot against the Jews in Jerusalem's Old City prompts the establishment of Haganah on June 15, 1920.
[edit] May 1-7, 1921
[edit] May 8, 1921
British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel pardons Palestinian Jews and Arabs involved in the 1920 disturbances, including Mohammad Amin al-Husayni.
[edit] March 1922
Under Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, Britain splits the mandate of Palestine into the territories of Palestine (west of the Jordan river) and Transjordan. In return for leading the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, the Hashemites are given rule over Transjordan to form an Arab state under British supremacy. Jewish settlement is restricted to the remaining Palestine.[1].
[edit] June 3, 1922
The Churchill White Paper, 1922 clarifies the British position regarding Palestine.
[edit] July 24, 1922
The League of Nations grants Britain a mandate to administer Palestine. British express interest in Zionism, and describe their main intent of developing a Jewish national home.
[edit] 1924-1929
In the fourth Aliyah, roughly 82,000 Jews fleeing from anti-Semitism in Hungary and Poland, arrive in Palestine.
[edit] 1929-1939
In the fifth Aliyah, due in part to the rise of Nazism in Germany, approximately 250,000 Jews arrived in Palestine during this period. However, restrictions imposed on Jewish immigration by the British authorities in response to events such as the Great Uprising curbed Jewish immigration in the later 1930s.
[edit] Summer 1929
The 1929 Palestine riots erupt due to a dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall. 133 Jews killed and 339 wounded (mostly by Arabs); 116 Arabs killed and 232 wounded (mostly by British-commanded police and soldiers).
[edit] August 23, 1929
In the 1929 Hebron massacre 67 Jews are killed, all but 8 of them foreign students from the local yeshiva. The local residents are saved by Muslim families and neighbours. Nonetheless, the British evacuate the Jewish communities in the Arab enclaves of Hebron and Gaza "to prevent another massacre", ending the ancient Jewish presence in the cities. Both communities would resume after the 1967 War.
[edit] 1930-1935
The Black Hand Islamist group led by Shaykh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam uses violence against Jewish civilians and the British.
[edit] October 20, 1930
In reaction to the disturbances of 1929, the Passfield White Paper and the Hope Simpson Royal Commission recommend limiting Jewish immigration.
[edit] May 7, 1936 — March 1939
The Arab leadership, led by Amin al-Husayni, declares a general strike which rapidly deteriorates into a violent rebellion, known as the Arab revolt, that lasts for three years. The mainstream Jewish defense organization, the Haganah, maintains a policy of restraint, but the smaller Irgun (also called Etzel) group adopts a policy of retaliation and revenge. Roughly 5000 Arabs and 400 Jews are killed.
[edit] July 1937
The Peel Commission proposes a partition plan (map), rejected by the Arab leadership as it included a Jewish state. The Jewish opinion was divided as Jewish immigration was limited to only 12,000, and the Twentieth Zionist Congress ultimately rejected the proposal as well.
[edit] 1938-1949
Lehi (group) (also known as the Stern Gang), as well as other militant Zionist groups, attack British and Arab targets and civilians in Palestine. 1944-1948 the Irgun and then Haganah join in on anti-British attacks.
[edit] 26 July 1938
Revisionist Zionists detonate a bomb in an Arab Melon market in Haifa, killing 53 Arabs, one Jew and wounding at least 46 more Arabs.[2]
[edit] April — August 1938
The Woodhead Commission reverses the Peel Commission's findings, considers two alternative partition plans, known as Plan B (map) and Plan C (map), and reports in November that partition was impracticable. ([4])
[edit] October 2, 1938
In the 1938 Tiberias massacre, Arabs murder 20 Jews in the city of Tiberias.
[edit] February — March 17, 1939
The St. James Conference ends without making any progress as the Arab delegation refuses to recognize or meet with its Jewish counterpart.
[edit] May 17, 1939
The White Paper of 1939 calls for the creation of a unified Palestinian state. Even though the White Paper states its commitment to the Balfour Declaration, it imposed very substantial limits to both Jewish immigration (restricting it to only 75,000 over the next 5 years), and their ability to purchase land.
Between 1939-1948, the Haganah smuggles over 100,000 Jews from Europe to Palestine to provide refuge from the Holocaust.[citation needed]
[edit] June 1940
On 19 June twenty Arabs were killed by explosives mounted on a donkey at a marketplace in Haifa. June 29, 13 Arabs were killed in multiple shootings during one-hour period.
[edit] May 1, 1946
The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry proposes admission of 100,000 Jewish refugees into the Mandate.
[edit] July 22, 1946
King David Hotel Bombing. Irgun members detonate bombs in the basement of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, where the British had brought a large amount of documents confiscated from the Jewish Agency. The attack kills 91 people and injures 45 more, mostly civilians. The hotel was a center of British administration at the time, although Arabs and Jews were also victims. The Jewish National Council condemns the attack.
[edit] February 18, 1947
Great Britain announces intention to hand the Mandate to the United Nations.
[edit] UN Resolution
[edit] November 29, 1947
With a two-thirds majority international vote, the UN General Assembly passes a Partition Plan dividing the British Mandate of Palestine into two states. The Jewish leadership accepts the plan, but the Arab leadership rejects it.
[edit] December 30, 1947
Haifa Oil Refinery massacre. Irgun militants hurl two bombs into a crowd of Arab workers from a passing vehicle, killing 6 workers and wounding 42, damaging the relative peace between the two groups in Haifa. Skirmishes continue in Haifa and around the region.
[edit] November 30, 1947
Following the announcement of the Partition Plan, Palestinian Arabs react violently and fighting broke out leading to the "first phase" of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, also known as the "civil war".
[edit] December 2-5, 1947
1947 Jerusalem riots. The Arab Higher Committee declared a strike and public protest of the vote. Arabs marching to Zion Square on December 2 were stopped by the British, and the Arabs instead turned towards the commercial center of the City, burning many buildings and shops. Violence continued for two more days, with Arab mobs attacking a number of Jewish neighborhoods. 70 Jews and 50 Arabs are killed.
[edit] Creation of Israel
[edit] May 14, 1948
Israel declares Independence from British rule, before the expiration of the British Mandate of Palestine at midnight.
[edit] After Establishment
[edit] Winter and Spring, 1948
"Battle of the Roads". The Arab League sponsored Arab Liberation Army, composed of Palestinian Arabs and Arabs from other Middle Eastern countries, attacked Jewish communities in Palestine, and Jewish traffic on major roads. The Arab forces mainly concentrated on major roadways in an attempt to cut off Jewish communities from each other. Arab forces at that time had engaged in sporadic and unorganized ambushes since the riots of December 1947, and began to make organized attempts to cut off the highway linking Tel Aviv with Jerusalem, the city's only supply route. The Arab Army controlled several strategic vantage points overlooking the sole highway linking Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, enabling them to fire at convoys going to the city, and cutting off supply lines between the two cities. By late March 1948, the vital road that connected Tel Aviv to western Jerusalem, where about 16% of all Jews in the Palestinian region lived, was cut off and under siege.
[edit] February 2, 1948
1948 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing. Arabs arrange three car bombs killing 52 Jews, injuring 123, all civilians.
[edit] April 6-12, 1948
Operation Nachshon. The Haganah decided to launch a major military counteroffensive to break the siege of Jerusalem. On 6 April the Haganah and its strike force, the Palmach, in an offensive to secure strategic points, took al-Qastal, an important roadside town 2 kilometers west of Deir Yassin. But intense fighting lasted for days more as control of that key village remained contested.
[edit] April 9, 1948
Deir Yassin massacre. IZL-Lehi forces attack Deir Yassin, as part of Operation Nachshon, killing between 100 and 254 Palestinian villagers, mainly women, old people and children.
[edit] April 13, 1948
Hadassah medical convoy massacre. Claimed as retribution for the Deir Yassin massacre, Arab mobs attack a large convoy, mostly of unarmed Jewish doctors set off carrying patients, equipment, and supplies, travel from Jerusalem to the besieged hospital which treated the majority of Jewish residents in Jerusalem. 77 Jews are killed. Road attacks continue and convoys were unable to reach the hospital for a week.
[edit] May 15, 1948
Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Transjordan, Holy War Army, Arab Liberation Army, and local Arabs attack the new Jewish state with the intent of destroying it. The resulting 1948 Arab-Israeli War lasts for 13 months. By the end of the war, about 700,000 Palestinian Arabs become refugees.[3][4][5][6] A very comparable number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands flee to Israel.[7]
[edit] June 1948
Violent confrontation between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) under the command of David Ben-Gurion, and the paramilitary Jewish group Irgun known as The Altalena Affair results in the dismantlement of the Irgun, Lehi, and all Israeli paramilitary organizations operating outside the IDF.
[edit] February-July 1949
Israel concludes Armistice Agreements with neighbouring countries. The territory of the British Mandate of Palestine is divided between the State of Israel, the Kingdom of the Jordan (changed from Transjordan) and Egypt. Israel continues to provide for Jewish refugees from different countries. Arab refugees in neighboring states are left unrelieved.
[edit] 1948-1956
Infiltration by fedayeen from Egypt across Israeli border resulting in many minor skirmishes, raids and counter-raids, resulting in hundreds of casualties on both sides, including many civilians.
[edit] 1951
The State of Israel is confronted by a wave of Palestinian infiltrations. In 1951, 137 Israelis, mostly civilians, are killed by such infiltrators.
[edit] 1952
162 Israelis, mostly civilians, are killed by Palestinian infiltrators.
[edit] 1953
160 Israelis, mostly civilians, are killed by Palestinian infiltrators.
[edit] 1953
Qibya massacre. Responding to earlier Palestinian infiltrations, Ariel Sharon in command of Unit 101 carries out a raid in the village of Qibya. Over 60 Arabs are killed, two thirds of which were women and children.
[edit] Suez Crisis
[edit] October 29, 1956
Israel invades Egypt's Sinai Peninsula with covert assent from France and Britain. The European nations had economic and trading interests in the Suez Canal, while Israel wanted to reopen the canal for Israeli shipping and end Egyptian-supported guerrilla incursions and attacks.
Kafr Qasim massacre. 48-49 Arab civilians are killed by Israel Border Police as they return to their village from work.
Egypt expels its Jewish population and confiscates their property.
[edit] March 1957
Israel withdraws its forces from the Sinai Peninsula, ending the Suez Crisis.
[edit] Creation of the PLO
[edit] February 3, 1964
The Palestine Liberation Organization is founded in Cairo by the Arab League with Ahmad Shuqeiri as its leader. Even though Ahmad Shuqeiri is the official leader, the organization is more or less controlled by the Egyptian government. The PLO states their goal as the destruction of the State of Israel through armed struggle, and replacing it with an "independent Palestinian state" between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
[edit] Six-Day War
[edit] June 1967
The Six-Day War. Israel launches a pre-emptive strike against the Egyptian Air Force on suspicion that Egypt and Syria are planning to invade. There had been an Egyptian naval blockade and military buildup in the Sinai Peninsula as well as Syrian support for Fedayeen incursions into Israel. Israel defeats the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and their supporters and captures the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Jewish settlements form and re-form in the territories. After the annexation, Jews and Christians were permitted to enter the Old City and its holy sites, which they (except for some Christians under limited conditions) were forbidden from under Jordanian rule.
[edit] September 1, 1967
The Khartoum Resolution issued at the Arab Summit with eight Arab countries adopts the "three nos": 1. No peace with Israel, 2. No recognition of Israel, 3. No negotiations with Israel.
[edit] Post Six-Day War
[edit] 1968-1970
Egypt wages the War of Attrition against Israel.
[edit] February 2, 1969
Yasser Arafat, head of the Fatah party, is appointed chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, replacing Ahmad Shukeiri, after Fatah becomes the dominant force in the PLO.
[edit] May 8, 1970
Avivim school bus massacre. Palestinian militants originating in Lebanon, attack a school bus, killing 12 (mostly children) and wounding another 19.
[edit] September, 1970
After Black September in Jordan, the PLO was driven out to Lebanon.
[edit] May 8, 1972
Sabena airplane hijacked and liberated in Lod Airport 4 commercial jets were taken to Jordan and blown up.
[edit] May 30, 1972
Lod Airport Massacre. On behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Japanese Red Army members enter the waiting area of Lod Airport in Tel Aviv and fire indiscriminately at airport staff and visitors. 24 people killed, and 78 injured.
[edit] September 5, 1972
Munich Massacre of Israeli Olympic team by Palestinian militant group, Black September.
[edit] April 9, 1973
Israeli commando raid against PLO targets in Beirut, the Lebanon (Operation Spring of Youth)
[edit] Yom Kippur War
[edit] October 1973
The Yom Kippur War. Syria and Egypt surprise-attack Israeli forces in the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula on the holiest day of the Hebrew calendar. Jordan, Iraq, and other Arab nations join in and/or support the Arab war effort.
[edit] Post Yom Kippur War
[edit] April 11, 1974
Kiryat Shmona massacre, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command cross the border into Israel from Lebanon. They enter an apartment building and kill all eighteen residents, half of which are children.
[edit] May 15, 1974
Ma'alot massacre. Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack a van killing two Israeli Arab women, enter an apartment and kill a family, take over a local school and hold at least 90 students and teachers hostage. 26 Israelis killed, 60 wounded.
[edit] October 26-29, 1974
The Arab League recognizes the PLO as sole representative of the Palestinians. On November 13, Yassir Arafat addresses the UN General Assembly.
[edit] March 4, 1975
Savoy Operation. Eight Palestinian terrorists in two teams landed by boat in Tel Aviv. Shooting and throwing grenades, they capture the Savoy Hotel and take the guests as hostages. Five hostages were freed and eight were killed. Three Israeli soldiers were also killed.
[edit] July 4, 1975
A "refrigerator bomb" in Jerusalem kills 15 Israelis and wounds 77.
[edit] July 4, 1976
Operation Entebbe. Air France Flight 139, originating in Tel Aviv, Israel took off from Athens, Greece, heading for Paris, France, is hijacked by four terrorists (two from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine \u2014 External Operations and two from the radical German militant group "Revolutionäre Zellen"). Israel performs a rescue mission to free the 248 passengers and 12 crew members held hostage at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The rescue is only partially successful, with one Israeli fatality. Nevertheless, it is the first successful rescue mission over 2000 miles.
[edit] May 1977
Menachem Begin of Likud is elected Prime Minister, ending nearly 30 years of rule by the left wing Mapai/Alignment.
[edit] March, 1978
Coastal Road Massacre. Fatah Palestinians kill an American photographer, hijack a loaded bus and kill 36 more Israelis and wound 76.
Operation Litani. Israel, in alliance with the mostly Christian South Lebanon Army, launches a limited-scope invasion of Lebanon and attempts to push Palestinian militant groups away from the Israel border. The 7-day offensive results in about 285,000 refugees created and between 300 and 1200 Lebanese and Palestinian militants and civilians killed.
[edit] September 17, 1978
Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat sign the Camp David Accord, with Israel agreeing to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace and a framework for future negotiation over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
[edit] March 26, 1979
Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Egypt becomes the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel.
[edit] April 22, 1979
Samir Kuntar from the Palestine Liberation Front kills 4 Israelis including a four year-old girl in the Israeli town of Nahariya.
[edit] July 17, 1981
Israel bombs PLO headquarters, which had been located in a civilian area of Beirut and caused more than 300 civilian deaths. This led the United States to broker a shaky cease-fire between Israel and the PLO.
[edit] 1982 Lebanon War
[edit] June 6, 1982
Israel launches Operation Peace for Galilee into southern Lebanon. Israel claims the invasion was in order to remove PLO forces after several violations of a cease-fire, most notably an assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, by the Abu Nidal Organization. Israel is allied with the Lebanese Christian army against the PLO, Syria, and Muslim Lebanese. As a result of the war, the PLO leadership is driven from Lebanon and relocates to Tunis.
[edit] September 1982
Sabra and Shatila massacre. Lebanese Phalangists massacre between 700-3500 Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, almost all civilians. While no Israeli soldiers were present in the fighting, Israeli Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, was found to be indirectly responsible by negligence for the massacre by the Kahan Commission, and was asked to resign his position. The commission's conclusions are controversial and remain a subject of debate.[8]
[edit] August 1983
The Israeli Army withdraws from most of Lebanon, maintaining a self-proclaimed "Security Zone" in the south.
[edit] April 9, 1985
Sana'a Mouhadlyof the Syrian Social Nationalist Party detonates herself in an explosive-laden vehicle in Lebanon, killing two Israeli soldiers and injuring two more, becoming the first reported female suicide bomber.
[edit] October 1, 1985
After three Israeli civilians were killed on their yacht off the coast of Cyprus by Force 17 PLO, the Israeli Air Force carries out Operation Wooden Leg and strikes the PLO base in Tunis, killing 60 PLO members.
[edit] October 7, 1985
The Palestine Liberation Front hijacks the Achille Lauro, redirecting the cruise ship to Syria and holding its passengers and crew hostage, demanding the release of 50 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. One man was murdered; Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish American, was celebrating his 36th wedding anniversary with his wife upon the Achille Lauro. At the age of 69 he was shot in the forehead and chest while sitting in his wheelchair.
[edit] December 27, 1985
Intending to hijack El Al jets and blow them up over Tel Aviv, Fatah - Revolutionary Council gunmen open fire with rifles and grenades at the international airports in Rome and Vienna, killing 18 civilians and wounding 138. 6 of the 7 terrorists were either killed or captured.
[edit] First Intifada
[edit] December 8, 1987
First Intifada begins. Violence, riots, general strikes, and civil disobedience campaigns by Palestinians spread across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces respond with tear gas, plastic bullets, and live ammunition.
After the outbreak of the First Intifada, Shaikh Ahmed Yassin creates Hamas from the Gaza wing of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Until this point the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza had enjoyed the support of the Israeli authorities and had refrained from violent attacks, however, Hamas quickly began attacks on Israeli military targets, and subsequently, Israeli civilians.
[edit] November 15, 1988
An independent State of Palestine was proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46.
[edit] July 16, 1989
First Palestinian suicide attack inside Israel's borders: Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 massacre.
[edit] October 30, 1991
[edit] June 1992
Yitzhak Rabin of the Labour Party elected Prime Minister.
[edit] Peace Process
[edit] August 20, 1993
Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sign the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government in Oslo. This event is also seen by many people as the definitive end to the First Intifada[9] (although some argue it had effectively ended by 1991-1992). By 1993, the violence of the Intifada had claimed the lives of 1162 Palestinians and 160 Israelis. The IDF criticized these numbers from not distinguishing combatants and non-combatants.
[edit] February 25, 1994
Cave of the Patriarchs attack, Baruch Goldstein opens fire on a group of Palestinian Muslims worshipping at a Mosque, killing 29 and injuring 125. He is subsequently overpowered and beaten to death by survivors.
[edit] April 6, 1994
Hamas carries out their second suicide bombing, in Afula, Israel, killing 8 people. The first suicide bombing was on April 1, 1993 near Bet El killing 2 people.
[edit] May 18, 1994
Israeli forces withdraw from Jericho and Gaza City in compliance with the Oslo accords.
[edit] July, 1994
Arafat returns from exile to head Palestinian National Authority.
[edit] October 19, 1994
22 Israelis are killed after a suicide attack on a bus in Tel Aviv. This was the first major suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
[edit] October 26, 1994
[edit] December 10, 1994
Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
[edit] January 22, 1995
A double suicide bombing by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaves 21 killed in one of the biggest attacks which further divides the Israeli public over the peace process.
[edit] September 28, 1995
Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, also known as Oslo II, signed in Washington, DC.
[edit] November 4, 1995
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated in Tel Aviv by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir. Shimon Peres assumes the position of acting Prime Minister.
[edit] February 25 - March 4, 1996
A series of suicide attacks in Jerusalem (Jerusalem bus 18 suicide bombings and in the French Hill), Tel Aviv and Ashkelon leave more than 60 Israeli dead. These events are said to have had a major impact on the Israeli elections in May.
[edit] May 1996
Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud is elected Prime Minister.
[edit] January 15-17, 1997
Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron was signed.
[edit] July 30, 1997
16 Israelis are killed in a double suicide attack in the major market of Jerusalem. This was the worst killing during Netanyahu's time which is regarded as a relatively quiet period, attributed by Netanyahu to his tit-for-tat policy and his objection to the Palestinian revolving door policy. A nearby attack on September 4, 1997 killed four Israelis and led to Chicago's Persian heritage crisis.
[edit] October 23, 1998
Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat sign the Wye River Memorandum at a summit in Maryland hosted by Bill Clinton.
[edit] May 17, 1999
Ehud Barak of the Labour Party is elected Prime Minister under the One Israel banner.
[edit] May 24, 2000
The Israeli Army withdraws from southern Lebanon, in compliance with U.N. Resolution 425. Syria and Lebanon insist that the withdrawal is incomplete, claiming the Shebaa Farms as Lebanese and still under occupation. The UN certifies full Israeli withdrawal.
[edit] July 2000
The Camp David Summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat aimed at reaching a "final status" agreement collapses after Yasser Arafat would not accept a proposal drafted by American and Israeli negotiators.
[edit] Second Intifada begins
[edit] September 28, 2000
Right wing Israeli Opposition Leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount which is administered by a Waqf (Under Israeli law, each religious group is granted administration of their holy sites). The day after the visit, violent confrontations erupt between Muslims and Israeli Police. Arafat names the second intifada the Al-Aqsa Intifada after Sharon's visit, for the Al-Aqsa Mosque contained within the Temple Mount (holy also to Jews and Christians). This event is considered by some to be one of the possible catalysts of the second intifada, however, it is commonly accepted in most circles that there had been numerous underlying causes.
[edit] September 29, 2000
Violent confrontations erupt between Muslims and Israeli Police outside a mosque.
[edit] November 22, 2000
Two Israeli women killed and 60 civilians were wounded in a car bomb attack in Hadera.
[edit] October 12, 2000
[edit] December 10, 2000
Prime Minister Ehud Barak resigns.
[edit] January 21-27, 2001
Taba Summit. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed to reach the "final status" of negotiations. Ehud Barak temporarily withdraws from negotiations during the Israeli elections, subsequently Ariel Sharon refused to continue negotiating in the face of the newly erupted violence.
[edit] February 6, 2001
Ariel Sharon of Likud is elected Prime Minister and refuses to continue negotiations with Yasser Arafat at the Taba Summit.
[edit] June 1, 2001
Dolphinarium massacre. A Hamas suicide bomber exploded himself at the entrance of a club. 21 Israelis killed, over 100 injured, all youth.
Five months prior to the bombing, there was a failed terrorist attempt at the same spot.
[edit] August 9, 2001
Sbarro restaurant massacre. A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt weighing 5 to 10 kilograms, containing explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb. In the blast 15 people (including 7 children) were killed, and 130 wounded. Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad initially claimed responsibility.
[edit] August 27, 2001
Abu Ali Mustafa, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is assassinated by an Israeli missile shot by an Apache helicopter through his office window in Ramallah.[citation needed]
[edit] October 17, 2001
Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi is assassinated in Jerusalem by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
[edit] March 13, 2002
The U.S. pushes through the passage of U.N. Resolution 1397 by the Security Council, demanding an "immediate cessation of all acts of violence" and "affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders".
[edit] March 14, 2002
Israeli forces continue the raid on Ramallah and other West Bank towns. A helicopter attack near Tulkarm kills Mutasen Hammad and two bystanders. A bomb in Gaza City destroys an Israeli tank which was escorting settlers, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 2. A taxi in Tulkarm explodes, killing 4 Palestinians. Palestinians execute two accused collaborators in Bethlehem, planning to hang one of the corpses near the Church of the Nativity until Palestinian police stop them.
[edit] March 27, 2002
Passover massacre. The Park Hotel in Netanya held a big Passover dinner for its 250 guests. A Palestinian suicide bomber enters the hotel's dining room and detonates an explosive device. Thirty people are killed and about 140 injured, all civilians. Hamas claims responsibility.
[edit] March 28, 2002
The Beirut Summit approves the Saudi peace proposal.
[edit] March 29, 2002
Israeli forces begin Operation Defensive Shield, Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
[edit] March 30, 2002
A suicide bomber explodes in a Tel Aviv café at around 9:30 PM local time, wounding 32 people. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell (USA) call on Yasir Arafat to condemn the wave of suicide bombings in Arabic, to his own people. Israeli spokespeople make similar demands. Arafat goes on television and swears in Arabic that he will "die a martyr, a martyr, a martyr". Members of Arafat's personal Al-Aqsa brigade state that they will refuse any form of cease-fire, and that they will continue suicide bombings of civilians in Israel.
[edit] March 31, 2002
Matza restaurant massacre. A Palestinian Hamas bomber blows himself up in an Arab-owned restaurant in Haifa, killing 15 (including 2 whole families) and injuring over 40 people.
Israeli troops exchange gunfire with guards of Yasir Arafat in Ramallah. In the past 18 months, according to the Associated Press, 1262 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and on 401 on the Israeli side; in March, 259 Palestinians and 130 Israelis were killed. The stats do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
[edit] April 2, 2002
Israeli troops occupy Bethlehem. Dozens of armed Palestinian gunmen, many of whom Israel has identified as terrorists, occupy the Church of the Nativity and hold the church and its clergy.
[edit] April 12, 2002
The Battle of Jenin, as part of Operation Defensive Shield, Israeli forces enter a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin where about a quarter of suicide bombings since 2000 had been launched from. The battle cost the lives of 23 Israeli soldiers and 52 Palestinians, of which 30 were militants and 22 were civilians. This particular event sparked a great deal of controversy.
[edit] May 9, 2002
Muhammad al-Madani, governor of Bethlehem, leaves the Church of the Nativity.
Israel calls up additional reserve forces and moves tanks into position for an expected incursion into the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the most recent suicide bombing.
[edit] May 18, 2002
Israeli Shin Bet officials announce they have arrested six Israelis for conspiring to bomb Palestinian schools in April, including Noam Federman, a leader of the Kach movement of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, and Menashe Levinger, son of Rabbi Moshe Levinger. Membership to the Kach group is illegal in Israel and punishable by law.
[edit] June 2002
Israel begins construction of the West Bank Fence. Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis subsequently drop by 90%.[10]
[edit] June 18, 2002
Patt junction massacre. A Hamas Palestinian Islamic law student explodes himself with a belt filled with metal balls for shrapnel. 19 Israelis killed, and over 74 wounded.
[edit] June 24, 2002
US President George W. Bush proposes a Palestinian state under new leadership.
[edit] July 23, 2002
An Israeli warplane fires a missile at an apartment in Gaza City, killing the top of their most wanted list, Salah Shehadeh, top commander of Hamas' military wing, the Izzadine el-Qassam. The apartment building is flattened and 14 civilians are killed (nine children).[5]
[edit] July 31, 2002
A Hamas member leaves a bag containing a bomb in the cafeteria of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing 9 Jewish students (four Israeli, five foreign), and injuring 85 others (different nationalities, some Arab). Palestinians rally in Gaza waving Hamas flags to celebrate the attack. On August 17, Israeli Security Forces expose a terrorist cell of Hamas operatives in East Jerusalem that had been responsible for the attack. The members had been planning another attack until arrested by Israel.[6][7][8]
[edit] November 21, 2002
Jerusalem bus 20 massacre. Hamas Palestinian suicide bomber explodes himself on a crowded bus, killing 11 people, and wounding over 50.
[edit] April 30, 2003
The Quartet on the Middle East announces the Road map for peace.
[edit] August 19, 2003
Jerusalem bus 2 massacre. A Hamas Palestinian disguised as a Haredi Jew detonates himself with a bomb spiked with ball-bearings on a bus crowded with children. 23 Israelis killed, over 130 wounded, all civilians.
[edit] October 4, 2003
Maxim restaurant suicide bombing. A 28-year-old Palestinian female suicide bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, explodes herself inside the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs were killed, and 51 others were wounded. The restaurant is co-owned by Jewish and Christian Arab Israelis, and was a symbol of co-existence.
[edit] February 25, 2005
Young Israelis arrive for a surprise birthday party at the Stage Club in Tel Aviv. A teenage suicide bomber detonates himself at the entrance to the club. 5 Israelis killed, and about 50 wounded. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.[11]
[edit] July 9, 2004
The International Court of Justice rules in a non-binding advisory opinion that the West Bank wall is illegal under international law,[12] the United Nations has also condemned the construction of the wall as "an unlawful act of annexation". The United States and Australia defend the security fence saying the wall is a counter-terrorism protective measure and that the onus is on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism. The U.S., Canada, Israel and some 30 other democratic states objected to the ICJ consideration of the UN General Assembly request, finding the request loaded and prejudicial, and expressing concern of the ICJ's credibility.[13][14][15]
[edit] July 12, 2005
[edit] 2000-2006
The death toll both military and civilians of the entire conflict in 2000-2006 is estimated to be 4,046 Palestinians and 1,017 Israelis.[16] Note that these numbers do not differentiate between combatants and civilians. At least 223 Palestinians were also killed by fellow Palestinians.
[edit] Recent developments
[edit] June 24, 2002
US President George W. Bush calls for an independent Palestinian state living in peace with Israel.
In a major speech, Bush states that Palestinian leaders must take steps to produce democratic reforms, and fiscal accountability, in order to improve the negotiations with Israel. He also states that as Palestinians show control over terrorism, Israel must end operations in the West Bank, and in areas which it entered under Operation Defensive Shield. [17]
[edit] August 14, 2002
Marwan Barghouti, captured April 15, was indicted by a civilian Israeli court for murdering civilians and membership in a terrorist organisation.
[edit] March 16, 2003
Rachel Corrie, an American member of the International Solidarity Movement is crushed by an IDF bulldozer, becoming the first ISM member to die in the conflict. Members of the group who witnessed her death allege murder, while Israel calls it a "regrettable accident".
[edit] March 19, 2003
Mahmoud Abbas appointed Prime Minister.
[edit] March 24, 2003
Hilltop 26, an illegal Israeli settlement near the city of Hebron, is peacefully dismantled by the IDF.
[edit] April 30, 2003
The details of the Road map for peace are released.
[edit] May 27, 2003
Ariel Sharon states that the "occupation" of Palestinian territories "can't continue endlessly."
[edit] June 2, 2003
A two-day summit is held in Egypt. Arab leaders announce their support for the road map and promised to work on cutting off funding to terrorist groups.
[edit] June 29, 2003
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah agree to a three-month cease-fire.
[edit] August 19, 2003
Islamic Jihad and Hamas claim joint responsibility for a suicide bombing that kills twenty Israelis. Mahmoud Abbas pledges a crackdown on militants.
[edit] September 6, 2003
Mahmoud Abbas resigns from the post of Prime Minister.
[edit] October 16, 2004
Israel officially ended a 17-day military operation, named Operation Days of Penitence, in the northern Gaza Strip. The operation was launched in response to a Qassam rocket that killed two children in Sderot. About 108-133 Palestinians were killed during the operation, of whom one third were civilians.
[edit] November 11, 2004
Yasser Arafat dies at the age of 75 in a hospital near Paris, after undergoing urgent medical treatment (since October 29, 2004).
[edit] February 25, 2005
On Friday evening, young Israelis arrive for a birthday party at the Stage Club in Tel Aviv. A teenage suicide bomber detonates himself at the entrance to the club. 5 Israelis killed, and about 50 wounded. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.[18]
[edit] August 7, 2005
An individual IDF deserter and member of the banned Kach group in Israel, Eden Natan-Zada, opens fire on a crowded bus in the Arab town of Shfaram, killing 4 Palestinians and wounding twenty-two. When he runs out of bullets, the bus is stormed by Arab bystanders and Zaada is beaten to death. PM Ariel Sharon and several Israeli leaders condemn the attack and offer condolences to the families.
[edit] August 17, 2005
A Asher Weissgan shoots and kills 4 Palestinians in the West Bank as a protest against the disengagement plan.[19]
[edit] September 12, 2005
Completion of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. Israel removes all Jewish settlements, many Bedouin communities, and military equipment from the Gaza Strip. Although there is no permanent Israeli presence or jurisdiction in Gaza anymore, Israel retains control of certain elements (such as airspace, borders and ports), leading to an ongoing dispute as to whether or not Gaza is "occupied" or not. Since the disengagement, Palestinian militant groups have used the territory as a staging ground from which to launch rocket attacks and build underground tunnels into Israel.
[edit] October 14, 2005
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora announces Lebanon will be the last Arab country to have any peace with Israel.
[edit] January 25, 2006
Hamas wins by landslide the majority of seats after the Palestinian legislative election, 2006. Israel, the United States, European Union, and several European and Western countries cut off their aid to the Palestinians; as they view the Islamist political party who rejects Israel's right to exist as a terrorist organization.
[edit] June 9, 2006
Following the Gaza beach blast, in which seven members of one family and one other Palestinian were killed on a Gaza beach, the armed wing of Hamas calls off its 16-month-old truce. Israel claims it was shelling 250m away from the family's location; Palestinians claimed that the explosion was Israeli responsibility.[20] [21] Reports have concluded Israel had not been responsible for the blast.[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] An Israeli internal investigation report claims the blast was most likely caused by an unexploded Israeli munition buried in the sand and not by shelling.
[edit] June 13, 2006
Israel kills 11 Palestinians in a missile strike on a van carrying Palestinian militants and rockets driving through a densely civilian populated area in Gaza.[28] Nine among those killed are civilian bystanders.
[edit] July 5, 2006
First Qassam rocket of increased strength is fired into the school yard in the Southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. This has been the first instance of an increased distance Qassam rockets can reach and the first time a significantly large city has been attacked. No one was injured in this attack.[29]
[edit] July 26, 2006
Israel launches a counter-offensive to deprive cover to militants firing rockets into Israel from Gaza. 23 Palestinians killed, at least 16 are identified militants, 76 wounded.
[edit] June 25, 2006
After crossing the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Palestinian militants attack an Israeli army post. The militants kidnapped Gilad Shalit, killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. Israel launches Operation Summer Rains.
[edit] July 12, 2006
Hezbollah infiltrates Israel in a cross-border raid, kidnaps two soldiers and kills three others. Israel attempts to rescue the kidnapped, and five more soldiers are killed. Israel's military responds, and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict begins.
[edit] August 14, 2006
2006 Fox journalists kidnapping. Palestinian militants kidnap Fox journalists Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, demanding the U.S. to release all Muslims in prison. The two are eventually released on August 27, after stating they have converted to Islam.
[edit] September 2006
Violence and rivalry erupts between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Mahmoud Abbas tries to prevent civil war.[30][31] President Mahmoud Abbas and his moderate party advocate a Palestinian state alongside Israel, while Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and his Islamist party reject Israel's right to exist.[32]
[edit] September 26, 2006
A UN study declares the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "intolerable", with 75% of the population dependent on food aid,[33] and an estimated 80% of the population living below the poverty line.[34] The Palestinian economy had largely relied on Western aid and revenues, which has been frozen since Hamas's victory. The situation can also be attributed to Israeli closures, for which Israel and the EU cite security concerns, specifically smuggling, possible weapons transfers and uninhibited return of exiled extremist leaders and terrorists; as well as an extremely high birth rate.[35][36][37][38]
[edit] October 11-14, 2006
In the midst of an increase of rocket attacks against Israel, the Israeli Air Force fires into the Gaza Strip over a three-day period. 21 Palestinians are killed (17 Hamas militants, 1 al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades militant, and 3 civilians). The two dozen wounded include gunmen and passersby.[39][40][41] Israel says the offensive is designed to track down the kidnapped soldier and to stop militants firing rockets into Israel. Spokesman Abu Ubaida for Hamas's military wing issued a statement vowing "we will bombard and strike everywhere" in response to the attacks. Make-shift rockets are immediately shot into Israel.
[edit] October 17, 2006
In separate gunbattles in Nablus, Israeli troops kill 2 al-Aqsa Martyrs's Brigades militants, 2 rock-throwers, and 1 Islamic Jihad militant. Israeli forces discover 13 tunnels apparently used to smuggle weapons into Gaza in the last 3 months. [42]
[edit] October 20, 2006
Brokered by Egyptian mediators, Fatah reaches a deal to end fighting between the Hamas and Fatah factions, both groups agreeing to refrain from acts that raise tensions and committing themselves to dialogue to resolve differences. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas brushes off comments by President Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah, who indicated he could dismiss the Hamas-led cabinet. Abbas unsuccessfully urges Hamas to accept international calls to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.
Palestinian gunmen (presumably of the Fatah faction) open fire at the convoy of Prime Minister Haniyeh as it passed through a refugee camp in central Gaza.[43]
[edit] October 27, 2006
3 Palestinians in the West Bank are killed by Israeli troops. The relatives were not present but say at least one of the two men in Al Faraa may have been throwing rocks at army jeeps. Israeli soldiers say the two had approached them with a handgun and an axe. The gunman was killed, while the man with the axe was wounded in the leg and taken to an Israeli hospital. In Yamoun, a man was shot and killed on the roof of his home. Relatives say he had gone on the roof to watch the army raid and two other brothers were also wounded. The Israeli army says troops hit at least two armed Palestinians. Islamic Jihad later admitted the man killed on his rooftop was a member of the militant group who died in a gunbattle with Israelis.[44]
[edit] November 8, 2006
Beit Hanoun November 2006 incident. Amidst ongoing rocket fire, Israel shells Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinian civlians (seven children, four women) during the Gaza operations. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologises, saying the incident had been an accidental "technical failure" by the Israeli military.
[edit] January 19, 2007
Israel transfers $100 million in tax revenues to cover humanitarian needs to the office of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, as part of a plan to bolster him and keep money out of the hands of the Hamas government.[45]
[edit] May 4, 2007
The United States sets a timetable for easing Palestinian travel and bolstering Israeli security. Israel including steps like removing specific checkpoints in the West Bank and deploying better-trained Palestinian forces to try to halt the firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza and the smuggling of weapons, explosives and people into Gaza from Egypt. Israel is wary over certain proposals so long as Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets at Israel.[9] The Hamas-led Palestinian government rejected the initiative, in part because it favored Mahmoud Abbas.[10]
[edit] May 14, 2008
Tony Blair announces new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, based heavily on the ideas of the Peace Valley plan. [46]
[edit] See also
- Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2003
- Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2002
- Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2001
- Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2000
- Terrorism against Israel
- Zionist political violence
- Palestinian political violence
- List of massacres committed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
- List of massacres committed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada
- List of Hamas suicide attacks
- List of Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide attacks
- List of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades suicide attacks
[edit] Notes
- ^ Archive Editions
- ^ Palestine Post, 26 July 1938. http://jic.tau.ac.il/Archive/skins/PalestineP/navigator.asp?AW=1169534055109
- ^ The Palestinian Refugees
- ^ Arab Refugees from Israel
- ^ Palestinian Refugees, invited to leave in 1948
- ^ Timeline for Israel
- ^ Arab-Israeli conflict - Basic facts
- ^ Sabra and Shatila massacres - Britannica Concise Encyclopedia - The online encyclopedia you can trust!
- ^ http://scs.student.virginia.edu/~irouva/conferences/vics/guides/ArabLeague.pdf#search=%22timeline%20of%20first%20intifada%20end%20site%3A%3A.edu%22
- ^ Townhall.com::Israel's fence, with all its implications, is an absolute necessity::By Jack Kemp
- ^ Suicide bombing at Tel Aviv Stage Club
- ^ ICJ advisory opinion summary/ Separation barrier - Summary - Press release (9 July 2004)
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/icjruling.pdf
- ^ House Denounces UN Misuse Of International Court On Security Fence
- ^ "Intifada statistics", B'Tselem, 2006-7-29.
- ^ George Bush Speech on Israel-Palestinian Settlement June 2002
- ^ Suicide bombing at Tel Aviv Stage Club
- ^ After Gaza, fear rises of West Bank violence - The Boston Globe
- ^ Hamas breaks truce with rockets, BBC Online, 10 June, 2006
- ^ CHRONOLOGY-Key events in the Gaza Strip, Reuters, 4 July, 2006
- ^ Gaza Beach Libel
- ^ IDF not responsible for Gaza blast | Jerusalem Post
- ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3261513,00.html
- ^ Der Krieg der Bilder, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 16 June, 2006
- ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3264158,00.html
- ^ Human Rights Watch switches stories
- ^ Israeli missile kills 11 Palestinians in Gaza - Turkish Daily News Jun 14, 2006
- ^ PA Rocket Slams Into the Heart of Ashkelon - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Arutz Sheva
- ^ In Gaza, the Rule by the Gun Draws Many Competitors
- ^ Amid civil war fears, Hamas and Fatah stockpile arms
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN says Gaza crisis 'intolerable'
- ^ BBC NEWS | Middle East | Palestinian despair as donors meet
- ^ Defense Update News Commentary: 01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
- ^ Microsoft Word - RC CRT 2005-Entire S Version-4 27.doc
- ^ Defending Israel's Positions in Rafah
- ^ S/PV.4972 of 19 May 2004
- ^ israelinsider: security: Six Palestinians killed in fighting with Israel - Hamas claims will take revenge
- ^ Death toll reaches eight in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
- ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061014/ts_nm/mideast_dc]
- ^ [3][dead link]
- ^ "Gunmen fire on Palestinian PM's convoy in Gaza", CBC News, 2006-10-20.
- ^ "Israeli troops kill 3 Palestinians", AP via Gulfnews, 2006-10-27.
- ^ "Israel releases withheld tax funds to Abbas's office", International Herald Tribune, January 19, 2007.
- ^ Israel may ease grip in Tony Blair deal to revive West Bank, The Times May 14, 2008
- Perliger, Arie and Weinberg, Leonard (2003). Jewish Self-Defence and Terrorist Groups Prior to the Establishment of the State of Israel: Roots and Traditions. Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, Volume 4,
