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Then on November 2, 1917, the British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour committed Britain to work towards “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” in a letter to leading Zionist Lord Rothschild.
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On 29 November 1947, 33 countries of the UN General Assembly voted for partition, 13 voted against and 10 abstained. This led to the creation of Israel.
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The day after the state of Israel was declared (May 15, 1948) five Arab armies from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq immediately invaded Israel but were repulsed, and the Israeli army crushed pockets of resistance. Armistices established Israel's borders on the frontier of most of the earlier British Mandate Palestine.
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On May 28, 1964, the Palestinians created a genuinely independent organization when Yasser Arafat took over the chairmanship of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1969. His Fatah organization was gaining notoriety with its armed operations against Israel.
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On June 5, 1967:
Egypt blockaded Israeli shipping lanes in the Red Sea, expelled UN peacekeeping troops from the border of the Sinai and built up its own troops in the area. -
Members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September on September 5, 1972.
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On October 6, 1973, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attacked Israel.
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The returning Palestinian Liberation Army deployed in areas vacated by Israeli troops and Arafat became head of the new Palestinian National Authority (PA) in the autonomous areas. He was elected president of the Authority in January 1996.
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Yasser Arafat, the champion of Palestinian statehood, died on Thursday 11th November, 2004 at age 75 in a military hospital in France.
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Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections on January 25, 2006. The US, Israel and several European countries cut off aid to the Palestinians as the Islamist movement rejects Israel's right to exist
