Smith for Palestine

historical chronology of the palestinian-israeli conflict in the 20th and 21st centuries

Excerpted from Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid by former US President Jimmy Carter: 

• 1917: Great Britain, during WWI, issues the Balfour declaration, promising a Jewish national home in Palestine, with respect for the rights of non-Jewish Palestinians.
• 1922: After the Ottoman Empire is defeated in WWI, the League of Nations confirms British mandates over Iraq and Palestine, and a French mandate over Syria and Lebanon. Transjordan is separated from the Palestine Mandate and becomes an autonomous kingdom.
• 1936: Palestinian Arabs demand a halt to Jewish immigration and a ban on land sales to Jews. British troops attempt to assert control, but violence continues. The Peel Commission recommends partition of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.
• 1939: Britain announces severe restrictions on Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine. Violence erupts from Jewish militants.
• 1947: Britain lets the UN decide what to do about Palestine, which is partitioned into Jewish, Arab and international areas (Jerusalem and Bethlehem). 55% of the territory is allocated to the Jewish state. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are now independent states.
• 1948: The British mandate over Palestine terminates. Israelis declare their independence as a nation, Arab armies attack, and Israel prevails. U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 establishes a conciliation commission and asserts that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace should be allowed to do so, that compensation should be paid to others, and that free access to the holy places should be assured.
• 1949: Armistice agreements with the Arabs allow Israel to gain more land (77% of Palestine). Egypt occupies the Gaza Strip. Transjordan, renamed Jordan, controls what is left of the west bank of the Jordan River, including Old Jerusalem, and in 1950 annexes this territory.
• 1956: Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal, and Israel joins Britain and France in occupying the canal area. Under international pressure all foreign forces withdraw from Egyptian territories by the next year. U.N. forces are assigned to patrol strategic areas of the Sinai.
• 1964: The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is established, committed to wage a battle to liberate the homeland of the Palestinian people.
• 1967: Egypt blockades the Straits of Tiran, and Arab forces make menacing moves. Israel launches preemptive attacks on Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and then Jordan, and within 6 days occupies the Golan Heights, Gaza, the Sinai, and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
• 6 months later, U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 is passed, confirming the inadmissibility of the acquisition of land by force and calling for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories, the right of all states in the region to live in peace within secure and recognized borders, and a just solution to the refugee problem.
• 1973: Egypt and Syria attack Israeli forces in the Sinai and Golan Heights. This conflict becomes known as the Yom Kippur War. After 16 days of war, U.N. Resolution 338 is passed, confirming Resolution 242 and calling for international peace talks. Various disengagement agreements follow.
• 1974: The Arab summit at Rabat in Morocco unanimously proclaims the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Israel agrees to withdraw from Syrian territory, except for control of the Golan Heights.
• 1977: Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat visits Jerusalem and outlines Arab demands to the Israeli Knesset. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin makes a return visit to Ismailia, with no progress toward peace.
• 1978: The Camp David Accords are approved by Israel and Egypt, confirming Israel’s compliance with U.N. Resolution 242, withdrawal of political and military forces from the West Bank and Gaza, and full autonomy for Palestinians. The Accords outline a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
• 1979: A peace treaty is signed between Israel and Egypt, guaranteeing withdrawal of Israel from Sinai, normal diplomatic relations, and Israel’s access to the Suez Canal.
• 1981: Israel escalates establishment of settlements on Palestinian territory. Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated.
• 1982: In response to terrorist attacks across Lebanon’s border, Israeli troops move into Lebanon, seeking to destroy PLO forces there. The militant Lebanese organization known as Hezbollah is established. Subsequent actions by the Israelis in Lebanon draw international criticism.
• 1985: Israel partially removes its forces from Lebanon.
• 1987: A Palestinian intifada (uprising) erupts, and Israel responds to the violence with harsh reprisals. The militant Palestinian organization known as Hamas is established.
• 1988: Jordan cedes its rights in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to the PLO. PLO head Yasir Arafat acknowledges Israel’s right to exist and renounces violence. The U.S. and the PLO initiate dialogue.
• 1991: The Persian Gulf War ejects Iraqi forces that have invaded Kuwait. Many Palestinian exiles move to Jordan. A Middle East peace conference, focusing on Arab-Israeli relations, is convened in Madrid.
• 1993: Israel and the PLO conclude a peace agreement in Oslo with mutual recognition and a five-year plan to resolve all remaining differences. Militant Palestinians and right-wing Israelis begin attempts to undermine the agreement.
• 1994:  The Palestinian National Authority is established. Israel and Jordan sign a comprehensive peace agreement.
• 1995: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an Israeli right-wing religious fanatic. This setback to the peace process is exacerbated by violent attacks from Palestinian groups opposed to the Oslo agreement.
• 1996: Palestinians elect Yasir Arafat as president and elect the members of a legislative council. Israelis return the Likud Party to power, which stalls the Oslo process.
• 1998: The Wye River Memorandum is issued after talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, under US auspices. An airport is opened in Gaza, with flights to Arab nations.    
• 2000: Israeli forces are withdrawn from Lebanon except for a disputed area, Shebaa Farms. Peace negotiations at Camp David break down. Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount and a second intifada is launched, more violent than the first.
• 2001: Ariel Sharon is elected prime minister of Israel, committed to rejection of the Oslo peace agreement and an emphasis on national security. The Gaza airport runway is bulldozed.
• 2002: An Arab League summit meeting endorses a Saudi peace plan based on U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338. Suicide bombings provoke strong Israeli response. Sharon blames Arafat for the violence and confines him in his Ramallah office. Israel begins building a separation barrier within the West Bank.
• 2004: Yasir Arafat dies.
• 2005: Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is elected president of the Palestinian National Authority. Israel unilaterally evacuates settlements from the Gaza Strip and four from the West Bank.
• Jan. 2006: Ariel Sharon suffers a massive stroke. Palestinians elect a new government, with Hamas winning a small plurality of votes but a majority of parliamentary seats. Israel and the U.S. isolate Palestine, cutting off funds.
• March- August 2006: Ehud Olmert becomes Israel’s prime minister, promising that the dividing wall will, in effect, be the new Israeli-West Bank border. Hamas and Hezbollah militants capture Israeli soldiers, and Israeli forces attack Gaza and Lebanon Hezbollah missiles strike northern Israel. The U.N. approves Resolution 1701, establishing a fragile cease-fire.

Key Events 2007 - 2010, compiled by Alessandra Amin:

• 2007: February: Palestinian Unity Agreement made in Mecca, establishing shared power between Hamas and Fatah parties. Hamas reiterates that it will never recognize the right of Israel to exist (al Ayyam 2007).
• 2007: June: Hamas forces attack Fatah in Gaza and drive them out in a coup.  President Abbas (Fatah) dissolves the unity government, but PM Haniyeh (Hamas) insists that the government is still in power. A summit in   Sharm el Sheikh attended by Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan pledges support for Abbas though Egypt urges reconciliation with Hamas (guardian.co.uk 2007).
• 2007: November: US convenes Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, MD. Israel and the Palestinian Authority agree to reach an
• agreement by the end of 2008, based on a 2 state solution.  Abbas calls for an end to Israeli occupation of all PA lands (Haaretz 2007).
• 2007: November: Israeli PM Olmert’s call for Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as a precondition to post-Annapolis peace talks is seen by some as reasonable and necessary, and by others as a racist concept that would bar the return of the Palestinian diaspora (BBC News 2007).
• 2008: September: Under pressure due to allegations of corruption, Israeli PM Olmert announces his resignation (CNN 2008).
• 2008: September Foreign minister Tzipi Livni is elected in a Kadima party leadership election following the resignation of Olmert. She is given 90 days to form a new government, with the understanding that failure to do so will result in general elections
• 2008:  December: A 6-month ceasefire between Hamas and Israel expires. In response to Qassam rocket fire from Hamas, Israel launches  “Operation Cast Lead” with air raids that kill over 225 Palestinians on the first day of the assault. After a week of air strikes, Israel launches a ground offensive, which it continues until a ceasefire on January 19th, despite UN condemnation. At the end of the assault, the Palestinian death toll reached around 1,300, with over 4,300 others wounded. 13 Israelis were killed (Al Jazeera 2009).
• 2008: January: Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, the president of the UN General Assembly, condemns the offensive and says the killing of Palestinians in Gaza amounts to “genocide”. Amnesty International, the human rights group, accuses Israel of war crimes, saying its use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip was indiscriminate and illegal. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, demands a “full investigation” into Israel’s bombing of a UN compound in Gaza City, calling the attack “outrageous” and “totally unacceptable” (Al Jazeera 2009).
• 2009: October: The UN votes in support of the Goldstone Report, which criticizes both Israeli and Palestinian participation in the Gaza conflict and states that “Israel failed to take feasible precautions required by international law to avoid or minimize loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.  The firing of white phosphorus shells over the UNRWA compound, the intentional strike at the Al Quds hospital using high explosive artillery shells and white phosphorous, the attack against Al Wafa hospital, were violations of international humanitarian law […] There were numerous instances of deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects (individuals, whole families, houses, mosques) in violation of the fundamental international humanitarian law principle of distinction, resulting in deaths and serious injuries. Israeli attacks were also launched with the intention of spreading terror among the civilian population. In several cases, Israeli armed forces did not allow humanitarian organisations access to the wounded and medical relief, as required by international law. “(goldstone-report.org)
• 2009: June: The Israeli parliament passes a preliminary reading of a bill that would “mandate the imprisonment of anyone who calls for the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” The bill is part of a two-draft law.“ The first is the Loyalty Oath Law that obliges all Palestinian Israelis to pledge allegiance to the Jewish identity of the state. The second is the Nakba Law, which bans commemoration of the 1948 dispossession of the Palestinians as a result of the creation of Israel”  (Al Jazeera 2009).
• 2009: July: More than 6,000 Palestinian children in Gaza attempt to set a new world record by flying the largest number of kites together in one location, described as an “expression of the demand for liberty from these children” (BBC News 2009
• 2010: March:  Israel unveils plans for 1,600 new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem despite continued US demands for a settlement freeze. US Vice President Joe Biden condemns the move as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now” (New York Times 2010).
• 2010: March: The Quartet on the Middle East demands that Israel halt all settlement activity and condemns Israel’s plans to build new housing in East Jerusalem (Al Jazeera 2010).
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