www.MiddleEast.org/palestinehistory.htm
Palestine
Adaptation of a Greek word meaning Land of Philistines. A
historic region on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
8000 BC
Permanent agricultural settlements appeared in Jericho.
1000 BC
Palestine divides into the regions of Judea and Samaria.
721 BC
Samaria destroyed by Assyria.
587 BC
Judea destroyed by Babylonia.
70 AD
Romans shatter Hebrew Statehood.
641
The Muslim conquest brings Palestine under the sway of the
Islamic Caliphate.
1099
Roman Crusaders overtake Jerusalem.
1291
Mamelukes of Egypt take back Jerusalem.
1516-1918
Palestine occupied by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
1895
The total population of Palestine was 500,000 of whom 47,000 were
Jews who owned 0.5% of the land.
1896
Following the appearance of anti-Semitism in Europe, Theodore
Herzl, the founder of Zionism tried to find a political solution
for the problem in his book, "The Jewish State". He
advocated the creation of a Jewish state in Argentina or
Palestine.
1897
First Zionist Congress (Basle, Switzerland) declared Palestine
the Jewish Homeland. Participants developed a structure of
government which could be transferred to Palestine at some future
time, including the World Zionist Organization to link all Jews
together, the Jewish National Fund to acquire land, a committee
to manage finances, a political committee to govern the land.
1904
Fourth Zionist Congress decided to establish a national home for
Jews in Argentina.
1906
The Zionist congress decided the Jewish homeland should be
Palestine.
1914
With the outbreak of World War I, Britain promised the
independence of Arab lands under Ottoman rule, including
Palestine, in return for Arab support against Turkey which had
entered the war on the side of Germany.
November 2, 1917
British government issues Balfour Declaration. Promising the
Jewish people an independent Jewish state in Palestine. At that
time the population of Palestine was 700,000 of which 574,000
were Muslims, 74,000 were Christian, and 56,000 were Jews.
December 1917
British troops invade Palestine capturing Jerusalem.
1919
The Palestinians convened their first National Conference and
expressed their oppostion to the Balfour Declartion.
1920
The San Remo Conference granted Britain a mandate over Palestine
and two years later Palestine was effectively under British
administration, and Sir Herbert Samuel, a declared Zionist, was
sent as Britain's first High Commissioner to Palestine.
1922
The Council of the League of Nations issued a Mandate for
Palestine. The MAndate was in favor of the establishment for the
Jewish people a homeland in Palestine.
1936
The Palestinians held a six-month General Strike to protest
against the confiscation of land and Jewish immigration.
1939
London Round Table Conference produces the White Paper of the
Year which promises Arabs to establish an independent Arab
Palestine in Palestine 10 years from the date, and eliminate the
Jewish migration to Palestine to 1,400 per year until 1944, after
which Jewish migration will cease.
1944-47
Jewish-British War. Jewish groups in Palestine try to expel
Britain. Mainstream Jewish fighters under David Ben Gurion are
called Hagana. They later become the Israeli army. Two separate
military groups (Irgun Zvai Leumi led by Menachem Begin and Lehi
or the Stern Gang led by Yitzhak Shamir) resort to assassination
and bombings. Many British soldiers and Arab civilians are
killed.
1947
Britain decides it cannot bring peace to Palestine and turns the
matter over to the United Nations. In Resolution 181 the UN votes
to partition Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian states with an
international enclave around Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Arab
leaders reject the plan and insist on a united Palestine with a
secular government. Fighting begins between Jews and
Palestinians. Many Palestinians become refugees.
1948
Approximate population of Palestine: 1,650,000 Palestinians and
750,000 Jews.
April-May 1948
Massacres of Palestinians by Zionist groups Haganah and Irgun
throughout Palestine.
1948-50
Britain withdraws from Palestine. The state of Israel is
established resulting in the 1948 War on May 14th
between Israel and the Arab countries. 846,000 Palestinians are
driven out of their homeland or flee the fighting that
accompanied the creation of a Jewish state. Only 160,000
Palestinians remain in Israel itself.
Article 49 (6) of the Geneva Convention IV states: the occupying power (Israel) shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, it also rejects and forbids the settlement of Jews in the West Bank area.
The Israeli government allows only a very few Palestinians to return after the war is over. By 1950, over one million Palestinians live in UN-supported refugee camps in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan.
1964
The establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO) in Jerusalem.
1965
The Palestine "Revolution" began on January 1st.
1967
Approximate population of Israel and Occupied Territories:
1,660,000 Palestinians and 2,384,000 Jews.
The 1967 War begins June 5th with Israel occupying the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem. UN issues Resolution 242 demanding Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Approximately 250,000 more Palestinian refugees flee, or are forced into Jordan. After the 1967 Six Day War, Yassar Arafat is announced the leader of the PLO.
1973
October or Ramadan or Yom Kippur War. Egypt and Syria attempt to
regain lost territories. They push Israel back in the Sinai
peninsula and initially in the Golan province. A massive airlift
of US arms to Israel tips the balance.
1974
United Nations issues Resolution 338 reaffirming the rights of
the Palestinians to self-determination and national independence.
Yasser Arafat speaks to the UN exclaiming, "I come to you with an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun; do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."
The Arab Nations issue the Rabat Resolution which proclaims the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
1977
Menechem Begin becomes Prime Minister of Israel. His Likud Party
traditionally advocates a "Greater Israel" including
the West Bank and Gaza and perhaps Jordan with unlimited
settlements of Jews in Arab-populated areas under Israeli
occupation. Anwar Sadat President of Egypt goes to Jerusalem to
open talks.
1978
Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords. Israel invades
Lebanon and seizes a "security zone" up to the Litani
River.
1982
Israel invaded Lebanon with the aim of destroying the PLO. Tens
of thousands were killed and made homeless in the wake of the
invasion which culminated in the massacres of Sabra and Shatilla.
1983
The United Nations called for the convening of a Peace Conference
with the participation of the PLO on an equal footing with the
other delegates as the legitimate representative of the
Palestinian people.
August 1985
Israel creates "Iron Fist Policy." Defense Minister
Yitzhak Rabin orders troops to break bones, demolish homes, hold
administrative detention, and deport Palestinians.
December 1987
Palestinian Intifada (Uprising) begins. Palestinians commit
themselves to goals which include; Palestinians have the same
rights as all other people including, the right to determine
their own future and to live in security and freedom.
1988
Abu Jihad (PLO's number 2 leader) is assassinated on April 14th
by an Israeli hit team. The PLO recognizes Israel, proclaims a
Palestinian state, renounces terrorism, and calls for
negotiations; as a result of the Israeli election. Yitzhak Shamir
returns as Prime Minister. Following the United States government
refusing President Arafat a visa to enter the US, the UN General
Assembly held a special session on the question of Palestine in
Geneva.
June 28, 1989
EEC Madrid Conference issued a new declaration calling for the
PLO to be involved in any peace negotiations.
May 20, 1990
Seven Palestinian workers from Gaza were massacred by the Israeli
gunman near Tel Aviv. Yasser Arafat addressed the UN Security
Council in Geneva after the massacre in which he called for the
deployment of a UN emergency force to provide international
protection for the Palestinian people to safeguard their lives,
properties and holy places. The US vetoed a motion which called
for the Security Council to send a fact finding mission to the
area. At the end of their hunger strike, Palestinian leaders in
the Occupied Territories decided to boycott the US.
June 26, 1990
The EEC in Dublin issued a new declartion on the Middle East
which condemned Israeli human rights violations and the
settlement of Soviet Jews in the Occupied Territories. It also
doubled its economic aid programme to the Occupied Teritories.
1991
October 30: Madrid Peace Conference is held.
December 3: The bi-lateral talks between Israel and the
Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians, and Lebanese started in
Washington.
1992
Yitzhak Rabin becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
1993
On September 13th Palestine and Israel sign
Declaration of Principles in Washington, DC.
May 4, 1994
Gaza strip and Jericho Agreement in Cario.
August 29, 1994
Transfer of the power Agreement.
September 28, 1995
Palestinian Israeli Interim Agreement signed in Washington.
November 4, 1995
Israeli extremist Yagil Amir assassinates Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin.
January 1996
Palestinians hold first Democratic Election. Yasser Arafat is
elected President of Palestine.
May 28, 1996
Israel elects Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister, who since has
refused to implement previous peace agreement.
September 1996
Israeli government opens tunnel in Jerusalem going against
previous peace agreement which states the Jerusalem must not be
altered in any way by either side until the final status of the
peace agreement has been reached.
January 1997
Agreement of the redeployment from Hebron.
March 1997
The construction of the new Israeli settlement of Jabal Abu
Ghneim (Har Homa) started. Cease of the peace talks because of
the continous of the settlements policy of the Netanyahu
Government.
July 7, 1998
The General Assembly adopts resolution 52/250,
entitled “Participation of Palestine in the work of the
United Nations,” voting overwhelmingly to upgrade Palestine’s
representation at the United Nations to a unique and
unprecedented level, somewhere in between the other observers on
the one hand and Member States on the other. The resolution
conferred upon Palestine additional rights and privileges of
participation that had traditionally been exclusive to Member
States.
September 1998
In September, the latest Israeli Central Bureau of
Statistics census indicates that Israel’s population has
reached approximately 5.9 million. Of that number, 4.7 million
are Jews, approximately 230,000 of whom live in settlements in
the occupied territories, and nearly 1.0 million are Israeli
Arabs. It also indicates that the population of settlers in the
West Bank and Gaza rose by 3%.
December 1998
U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Gaza and Bethlehem
on 14-16 December 1998, becoming the first American president
ever to visit any Palestinian territory and to deal directly with
Palestinian leaders and institutions on their land. During the
visit, the President makes many important statements, coming very
close to recognizing the Palestinian right to self-determination.
The president is accompanied by his family and by a large
official delegation which includes the Secretary of State and the
National Security Advisor. President Clinton addresses a meeting
in Gaza which is attended by the Chairman Arafat, the speaker of
the PNC, the speaker of the Palestinian Council, members of the
PNC, the Central Council and the Palestinian Legislative Council,
as well as by Palestinian heads of Ministries and other
personalities .
October 1998
Wye River Memorandum signed by Israel and Palestine. The
Memorandum dictates that Israel must withdraw from an additional
13% of and stop building settlements in the Occupied Territory.
Palestine must fight terrorism and change the PLO Charter to
acknowledge Israel as a state. Palestine complies…Israel
does not.
May 17th, 1999
Ehud Barak defeated Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli election.
Sep 29th, 2000
Palestinian Intifada (Uprising) of Al Aqsa begins.