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In 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.
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Then on November 2, 1917, the British Foreign Minister establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,”
Britain occupied the region at the end of the World War I in 1918 and was assigned as the mandatory power by the League of Nations on 25 April 1920. -
Britain, which had ruled Palestine since 1920, handed over responsibility for solving the Zionist-Arab problem to the UN in 1947.
On 29 November 1947, 33 countries of the UN General Assembly voted for partition, 13 voted against and 10 abstained. -
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.
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In 1956 Israel, France and Britain went to war against Egypt
Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and closed it to Israel and Western Europe
Concern about Egypt's growing military purchases from the Russians -
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.
Fatah fighters inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli troops at Karameh in Jordan in 1968. -
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.
After initial Arab military successes, the Israelis managed to push back the attack although severely outnumbered. -
But while the PLO pursued the armed struggle to "liberate all of Palestine," Arafat made a dramatic first appearance at the United Nations in 1974 mooting a peaceful solution.
He condemned the Zionist project, but concluded: -
In 1979, after intensive negotiations conducted by the U.S., Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David accords. A peace treaty was concluded and Israel returned the Sinai desert to the Egyptians. President Sadat of Egypt became the first Arab leader to visit the Jewish state and in a sign of the new relations between the two countries, he addressed the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
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Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by Islamist elements in the Egyptian army, who opposed peace with Israel, during national celebrations to mark the anniversary of the October war.
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The election of the left-wing Labour government in June 1992, led by Yitzhak Rabin,
The Palestinians consented to recognize Israel in return for the beginning of phased dismantling of Israel's occupation. -
A mass uprising - or intifada against the Israeli occupation began in Gaza and quickly spread to the West Bank
Protest took the form of civil disobedience, general strikes, boycotts on Israeli products, graffiti, and barricades . attention.
More than 1,000 died in 1993 -
In July 1994 Prime Minister Mr. Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace agreement ending 46 years of war and strained relations.
The agreement, which was signed at the White House in the presence of U.S. President Bill Clinton, laid the groundwork for a full peace treaty -
Oslo II was greeted with little enthusiasm by Palestinians, while Israel's religious right was furious at the "surrender of Jewish land".
The dovish Shimon Peres, architect of the faltering peace process, became prime minister . -
Many critics of the peace process were silenced on 1 July as jubilant crowds lined the streets of Gaza to cheer Yasser Arafat on his triumphal return to Palestinian territory .
He was elected president of the Authority in January 1996. -
After the withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, attention turned back to Yasser Arafat, who was under pressure from Barak and US President Bill Clinton to abandon gradual negotiations and launch an all-out push for a final settlement at the presidential retreat at Camp David.
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In the 1970s, under Yasser Arafat's leadership, PLO factions and other militant Palestinian groups launched a series of attacks on Israeli and other targets.
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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.
Israel denies his wishes to be buried in Jerusalem. Instead he was buried at his headquarters in Ramallah with soil brought from Jerusalem. -
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
