1839: The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury published an article under the title "The State and the rebirth of the Jews". In it he urged the Jews to return to Palestine in order, according to him, to seize the lands of Galilee and Judea.
1853:In July 1853, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury wrote to Prime Minister Aberdeen that Greater Syria was “a country without a nation” in need of “a nation without a country… Is there such a thing? To be sure there is, the ancient and rightful lords of the soil, the Jews!” This is commonly cited as an early use of the phrase, "a land without a people for a people without a land". Shaftesbury was echoing another British proponent of the restoration of the Jews to Israel, Alexander Keith, D.D., a Christian clergyman and Christian Restorationist. Rev. Alexander Keith, D.D., appeared in 1843, when he wrote that the Jews are "a people without a country; even as their own land, as subsequently to be shown, is in a great measure a country without a people". The Arab inhabitants of Palestine did not in their view constitute a coherent national group, "a people", and, therefore, Christian Restorationists argued that the "land of Israel" should be given to the Jewish people.
1896: Der Judenstaat (The State of the Jews) appeared, Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) became the leading spokesman for Zionism.
1897: The first zionist congress:The World Zionist Congress. From 1897-1901, the Zionist Congress met every year, then every second year from 1903-1913 and 1921-1939. Until 1946 the Congress was held every two years in various European cities, save for interruptions during the two World Wars. Their goal was to build an infrastructure to further the cause of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Since the Second World War, meetings have been held approximately every four years. Also, since the creation of the State of Israel, the congress has met every four or five years in Jerusalem. The 35th World Zionist Congress was held in June, 2006.
1917: Balfour Declaration
The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated 2 November 1917) was a formal statement of policy by the British government stating that :
Foreign Office,
November 2nd, 1917.
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely
Arthur James Balfour
The declaration was made in a letter from Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The letter reflected the position of the British Cabinet, as agreed upon in a meeting on 31 October 1917. It further stated that the declaration is a sign of "sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations."
1920: Haganah (Hebrew: "The Defense", HaHagana) was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.
1920: 4-7 April nabi-musa riots around Jerusalem
1922: The British White Paper (3 June 1922) also known as The Churchill White Paper
“It is contemplated that the status of all citizens of Palestine in the eyes of the law shall be Palestinian, and it has never been intended that they, or any section of them, should possess any other juridical status. So far as the Jewish population of Palestine are concerned it appears that some among them are apprehensive that His Majesty's Government may depart from the policy embodied in the Declaration of 1917.” “The Secretary of State is of opinion that it does not contain or imply anything which need cause either alarm to the Arab population of Palestine or disappointment to the Jews.”
1929: Zionists attempted to implement Jewish-only access to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Western (Wailing) Wall, Al Haram al Sharif (the Dome of the Rock) and the Al Aqsa Mosque are located, riots broke out in which Palestinians attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed. One hundred and thirty-three Jews and 116 Palestinians died. While the catalyst of the riots was access to the Temple Mount, the underlying reason was the popular Palestinian resentment of Zionist colonisation.
Also known as the 1929 Palestine riots (also known as the Western Wall Uprising or the Buraq Uprising)
1931: Irgun (Hebrew: ארגון; shorthand for Ha'Irgun HaTzva'i HaLe'umi BeEretz Yisra'el, "National Military Organization in the Land of Israel") was a militant Zionist group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was established as a militant offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah (Hebrew: "The Defense",). For reasons of secrecy, people often referred to the Irgun, during that time, as Haganah Bet (Hebrew: literally "Defense 'B' " or "Second Defense"), or alternatively as Haganah Ha'leumit or Ha'ma'amad . The Irgun members were absorbed into the Israel Defense Forces at the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. In present-day Israel, the Irgun is commonly referred to as Etzel , an acronym of the Hebrew initials.
1936: The Peel Commission of 1936-1937, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry set out to propose changes to the British Mandate of Palestine following the outbreak of the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. It was headed by the Earl Peel.9
1939: The White Paper
The White Paper of 1939, also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over it, was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which the idea of partitioning the Mandate for Palestine, as recommended in the Peel Commission Report of 1937, was abandoned in favour of creating an independent Palestine governed by Palestinian Arabs and Jews in proportion to their numbers in the population by 1949 (section I). A limit of 75,000 Jewish immigrants was set for the five-year period 1940-1944, consisting of a regular yearly quota of 10,000, and a supplementary quota of 25,000, spread out over the same period, to cover refugee emergencies. After this cut-off date, further immigration would depend on the permission of the Arab majority (section II). Restrictions were also placed on the rights of Jews to buy land from Arabs (section III).
1944: 6th November the assassination of Lord Moyne in Cairo by Eliahu Bet-Zouri and Eliahu Hakim.
1947: 29th Nov. UN Resolution 181 (II). U.N. Partition Plan.
1947: Jerusalem was designated an international city under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. It was not part of either the proposed Jewish or Arab states.
1948: 9th April: Deir Yassin massacre: Early in the morning of Friday, April 9, 1948, commandos of the Irgun, headed by Menachem Begin, and the Stern Gang attacked Deir Yassin, a village with about 750 Palestinian residents. It was several weeks before the end of the British Mandate. The village lay outside of the area that the United Nations recommended be included in a future Jewish State. Deir Yassin had a peaceful reputation and was even said by a Jewish newspaper to have driven out some Arab militants
1948: Al-Tantura massacre
1948: 14 May: David Ben-Gurion’s declaration of establishing the State of Israel
1948: 17 September, Lehi assassinated the UN Mediator, Count Folks Bernadotte
1948: 11 December, UN Resolution 194 : right of return.
1949: Dheisheh refugee camp established: this is one of the fifty-nine Palestinian refugee camps dispersed throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. It was established after the expulsion and flight of more than 750,000 Palestinians displaced by the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Those that fled to Dheisheh were originally from the forty-five villages west of Jerusalem and Hebron. Their descendents now comprise the 11,000 inhabitants living in the camp, which is less than one square kilometer of land
1967: Six-Day war
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser expelled the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) from the Sinai Peninsula in May 1967. The peacekeeping force had been stationed there since 1957, following a British-French-Israeli invasion which was launched during the Suez Crisis. Egypt amassed 1,000 tanks and nearly 100,000 soldiers on the Israeli border and closed the Straits of Tiran to all ships flying Israeli flags or carrying strategic materials, receiving strong support from other Arab countries. The Israeli cabinet decided to launch a general offensive on May 23, immediately upon receiving the news that the straits would be closed. Some 70,000 reservists were called up to augment the regular IDF forces. On June 5, 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack. This claim was, however, disputed by Arab countries that asserted Israel's strike was an act of aggression. Jordan, which had signed a mutual defense treaty with Egypt on May 30, then attacked western Jerusalem and Netanya. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.
In Arabic, the war is called (Arabic:, Ḥarb al‑Ayyam as‑Sitta or more commonly Arabic:1967, Ḥarb 1967. In Hebrew: מלחמת ששת הימים, Milhemet Sheshet Ha‑Yamim). It is also known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Third Arab-Israeli War, Six Days' War, an‑Naksah (The Setback), or the June War.
1967: UN Security Council Resolution 242
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242
NOVEMBER 22, 1967
The Security Council,
Expressing its continuing concern with the grave situation in the Middle East,
Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security,
Emphasizing further that all Member States in their acceptance of the Charter of the United Nations have undertaken a commitment to act in accordance with Article 2 of the Charter,
Affirms that the fulfillment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles:
Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;
Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force;
Affirms further the necessity
For guaranteeing freedom of navigation through international waterways in the area;
For achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem;
For guaranteeing the territorial inviolability and political independence of every State in the area, through measures including the establishment of demilitarized zones;
Requests the Secretary General to designate a Special Representative to proceed to the Middle East to establish and maintain contacts with the States concerned in order to promote agreement and assist efforts to achieve a peaceful and accepted settlement in accordance with the provisions and principles in this resolution;
Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the progress of the efforts of the Special Representative as soon as possible.
1973: The 1973 Arab-Israeli War (the Fourth Arab-Israeli War), also known as The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War. October 6 to 26 1973. Egypt and Syria attack Israel.
1973: 11th Nov. Egypt and Israel sign ceasefire agreement.
1973: UN Security Council Resolution 338
1978: Camp David Accord 17th September 1978. Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, met with Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, at Camp David from September 5 to September 17, 1978, and agreed on a framework for peace in the Middle East.
1980: the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law which declared that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel", however, without specifying boundaries. This declaration was declared "null and void" by United Nations Security Council Resolution 478.
The European Union considers the current (2009) legal status of Jerusalem to be corpus separatum
1982: June: Israel invades Lebanon.
1982: Sabra/Chatila massacre 16 September 1982:
An independent commission, the International Commission to enquire into reported violations of International Law by Israel during its invasion of the Lebanon, was formed. Chaired by Sean MacBride, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1974. The commission toured the area of fighting and examined witnesses in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Syria, UK, and Norway. The government of Israel refused to cooperate. The commission's report, Israel in Lebanon, concluded that:
1. The government of Israel has committed acts of aggression contrary to international law.
2. The Israeli armed forces have made use of weapons or methods of warfare forbidden in international law, including the laws of war.
3. Israel has subjected prisoners to treatment forbidden by international law, including inhuman and degrading treatment. In addition, there has been a violation of international law arising out of a denial of prison-of-war status to Palestinian prisoners or detainees.
4. There has been deliberate or indiscriminate or reckless bombardment of a civilian character, of hospitals, schools, and other nonmilitary targets.
5. There has been systematic bombardment and other destruction of towns, cities, villages, and refugee camps.
6. The acts of the Israeli armed forces have caused the dispersal, deportation and ill-treatment of populations, in violation of international law.
7. The government of Israel has no valid reasons under international law for its invasion of the Lebanon, for the manner in which it conducted hostilities or for its actions as an occupying force.
8. The Israeli authorities or forces were involved directly or indirectly in the massacres and other killings that have been reported to have been carried out by Lebanese militiamen in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in the Beirut area between 16 and 18 September.
On December 16, 1982, the United Nations General Assembly condemned the massacre and declared it to be an act of genocide.
The Kahan commission report found that Ariel Sharon "bears personal responsibility" and recommended his dismissal from the post of Defense Minister, stating that:
“It is our view that responsibility is to be imputed to the minister of defense for having disregarded the prospect of acts of vengeance and bloodshed by the Phalangists against the population of the refugee camps and for having failed to take this danger into account when he decided to have the Phalangists enter the camps. In addition, responsibility is to be imputed to the minister of defense for not ordering appropriate measures for preventing or reducing the chances of a massacre as a condition for the Phalangists' entry into the camps.”
1983: September: the International Conference on the Question of Palestine
1987: December, a mass uprising against the Israeli occupation began in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (the first intifada).
1988: 15th Nov. Jordan gives up the West Bank; State of Palestine Declaration of Independence
1991: Peace Conference in Madrid 30 October 1991.
1993: Oslo accord
1993: Washington 13 September 1993: Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements
2000: January 20th Yasser Arafat meets with President W Clinton in Washington
2000: July 2000. Camp David Summit: President W Clinton, PM Barak, Chairman Y Arafat
Failure of this summit due to Israel’s refusal to agree to “right of return”of Palestinians, a condition from which Arafat would not back down.
2000: The controversial visit by Ariel Sharon of the Likud to Al-Haram Al-Sharif (Temple Mount) in 2000 was followed by the outbreak of the second intifada.
2002: April: Battle of Jenin
2002: May: Church of the Nativity siege
2002: UN Security Council resolution 1397 affirming a vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side within secure and recognized borders.
“Affirming a vision of a region where two States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders,”
2003: 16 March: Rachel Corrie murder
2003:19 November 2003: the Middle East Quartet (US, EU, Russia, and the UN) released a detailed Road Map to a two-State solution, endorsed by Security Council resolution 1515.
Resolution 1515 (2003)
Adopted by the Security Council at its 4862nd meeting, on 19 November 2003
The Security Council,
Recalling all its previous relevant resolutions, in particular resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002) and the Madrid principles,
Expressing its grave concern at the continuation of the tragic and violent events in the Middle East,
Reiterating the demand for an immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terrorism, provocation, incitement and destruction,
Reaffirming its vision of a region where two States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders,
Emphasizing the need to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including the Israeli-Syrian and Israeli-Lebanese tracks,
Welcoming and encouraging the diplomatic efforts of the international Quartet and others,
1. Endorses the Quartet Performance-based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (S/2003/529);
2. Calls on the parties to fulfil their obligations under the Roadmap in cooperation with the Quartet and to achieve the vision of two States living side by side in peace and security;
3. Decides to remain seized of the matter.
2004: Separation wall declared illegal by the International Court of Justice.
2004: 11th Nov. Yasser Arafat dies after being in a coma since Nov.3rd.
2005: January 9th Abbas wins Palestinian elections
2005: January: “Treasures of Palestine” exhibition at Gallery of the SA Museum
2006: January 25th Hamas wins Palestinian legislative election
Ismail Haniya (Ismail 'Abd al-Salah Ahmad Haniya) leading figure in Hamas. Born 1962, Shati camp, to a family from Ashqulon. Studied Arabic literature at Islamic University of Gaza, graduating in 1987. Was imprisoned by Israel for most of period 1988-1992, before being deported to Marj al-Zuhhur in South Lebanon. Allowed to return in Dec. 1993, serving as dean of Islamic University of Gaza. Later, appointed assistant to Ahmad Yassin on his release from prison in 1997. Believed to have been appointed to the three-person collective leadership of Hamas in Palestine in Apr. 2004, led the campaign in the Jan. 2006 elections.
2008: 18th April: Jimmy Carter meets with Hamas.
2008: December 27th to January 18th 2009 Operation Cast Lead :
Over 1300 Palestinians killed in a 22 day onslaught by sea, air and land. The majority of those killed were children or refugees.
Glossary:
Christian Restorationist: Christian Restorationism (also called Christian Zionism): the Restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land was a nineteenth-century movement. In 1844, George Bush a professor of Hebrew at New York University and ancestor of the Presidents Bush, published a book entitled The Valley of Vision; or, The Dry Bones of Israel Revived. In it he denounced “the thralldom and oppression which has so long ground them (the Jews) to the dust,” and called for “elevating” the Jews “to a rank of honorable repute among the nations of the earth” by re-creating the Jewish State in the land of Israel. This, according to Bush, would benefit not only the Jews, but all of mankind, forming a “link of communication” between humanity and God. “It will blaze in notoriety...". “It will flash a splendid demonstration upon all kindreds and tongues of the truth.”
Lehi(group), a Jewish/Zionist militant group that operated in the British Mandate of Palestine (also known as the "Stern Gang"). Lehi (Hebrew acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel," ), also known as the Stern Gang, was an armed underground Zionist faction in Mandatory Palestine, whose goal was to forcibly evict the British authorities from Palestine, allowing unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state. Initially called the National Military Organization in Israel, the name of the group was later changed to Lehi. Lehi was described as a terrorist organization by the British authorities.
East Jerusalem: East Jerusalem refers to the parts of Jerusalem captured by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and subsequently by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. It includes Jerusalem's Old City and some of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, such as the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Golan Heights: is a strategic plateau and mountainous region at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and remains a highly contested land between Syria and Israel. Two-thirds of the area is currently governed by Israel. The United Nations, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the Arab League, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch consider the Golan Heights to be territory occupied by Israel and not part of Israel proper. Israel has controlled most of the Golan since the Six Day War in 1967. In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law, which extended Israeli law and administration throughout the Israeli controlled territory, a move which was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in its motion 497.
STATISTICS
|
Intifada |
Palestinian |
Israeli |
|
Children Killed |
480 |
104 |
67% of Palestinian children live below the poverty line.
38% of Palestinian children are anemic.
23% of Palestinian students and 36% of teachers are unable to get to school on any given day.
(from UNICEF, printed in Ha'aretz, Dec 1, 2003)