Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by God, making it the Promised Land. On that day, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates. The land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites; the Hittites, Perizzites, Refaim; the Emorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." - Genesis 15:18-21 Abraham "On that day, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates. The land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites; the Chitties, Perizzites, Refaim; the Emorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Yevusites." (Genesis 15:18-21) Isaac "To you and your descendants I give this land." (Genesis 26:3) Jacob "The ground upon which you are lying I give to you and your descendants." (Genesis 28:13) Moses "I made a pact with them to give them the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 6:4) United Kingdom 1030 BCE-922 BCE United/Divided Kingdom In 922 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel was divided. Judah, the southern Kingdom, had Jerusalem as its capital and was led by Rehoboam. It was populated by the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon (and some of tribe of Levi). Simeon and Judah later merged, and Simeon lost its separate identity. [8] [9] Jeroboam led the revolt of the northern tribes, and established the Kingdom of Israel, consisting of nine tribes: Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Menasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Gad (and some of Levi), with Samaria as its capital. [10] [11] 800 BC In 722 BCE, the Assyrians, under Shalmaneser, and then under Sargon, conquered Israel (the northern Kingdom), destroyed its capital Samaria, and sent many of the Israelites into exile and captivity. 587 BCE. Babylon, under king Nebuchadnezzar II, seized Jerusalem. The First Temple was destroyed; the date was the 9th of Av, or Tisha B'Av. [14] 586 BCE. Conquest of Judah (Southern Kingdom) by Babylon. 722 & 586 BCE. The First Dispersion, or Diaspora. Jews were either taken as slaves in what is commonly referred to as the Babylonian captivity of Judah, or they fled to Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, or Persia. [15]

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550-333 BCE. The Persian Empire ruled over much of Western Asia, including Israel.
330s BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the region, beginning an important period of Hellenestic influence in Palestine. 323 BCE, empire was partitioned, and the competing Ptolemaic and Seleucid the Maccabean revolt of the 2nd century BCE (66–73), Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple, leaving only the Western Wall 135, following the fall of a Jewish revolt led by Bar Kokhba in 132–135, the Roman emperor Hadrian expelled most Jews from Judea, leaving large Jewish populations in Samaria and the Galilee. He also changed the name of the Roman province of Judea (Israel) to Syria Palaestina named after the Philistines as an insult to the now conquered Jews. approximately 390, Palaestina was further organised into three units: Palaestina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia (First, Second, and Third Palestine). Palaestina Prima consisted of Judea, Samaria, the coast, and Peraea with the governor residing in Caesarea. Palaestina Secunda consisted of the Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley, the regions east of Galilee, and the western part of the former Decapolis with the seat of government at Scythopolis. Palaestina Tertia included the Negev, southern Jordan — once part of Arabia — and most of Sinai with Petra the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also known as Palaestina Salutaris. This reorganization reduced Arabia to the northern Jordan east of Peraea. Roman administration of Palestine ended temporarily during the Persian occupation of 614–28, then permanently after the Arabs conquered the region beginning in 635. Turkish invasions of the 1070s, followed by the first Crusade,
1516 the Ottoman Turks occupied Palestine
1878 the first Zionist Settlement appeared Petah Tikva
1789-1799 French Revolution
18th & 19th Centuries Haskalah of Jews
late 1870s Montefiores and the Rothschilds to sponsor agricultural settlements for Russian Jews in Palestine
1880s Russian Programs
1880s Hibbat Zion
1882 Judah Leib Pinsker publishes Auto-Emancipation in January 1, 1882

1882 First Aliyah
Rishon LeZion was founded on 31 July 1882 by a group of 10 members of the Zionist group Hovevei Zion from Kharkov, in modern Ukraine. Led by Zalman David Levontin, they purchased 835 acres (3.4 km²) of land south-east of present-day Tel Aviv for this purpose land was owned by Tzvi Leventine and was purchased by the "Pioneers of Jewish Settlement Committee" that was formed in Jaffa,
1880s, Ben Yehudah and his supporters began promoting the use and teaching of a modernised form of biblical Hebrew, which had not been a living language for nearly 2,000 years
1883, Nathan Birnbaum, nineteen years old, founded Kadimah, the first Jewish Students Association in Vienna.

1890 Zionism coined as a term for Jewish nationalism by Austrian Jewish publisher Nathan Birnbaum in his journal Self Emancipation
1891 William Eugene Blackstone (October 6, 1841-November 7, 1935) was an American evangelist and Christian Zionist influenced by Dwight Lyman Moody, and author of the Zionist Blackstone Memorial of 1891.
1890s Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal which divided France during the 1890s and early 1900s. It involved the wrongful conviction of Jewish military officer Alfred Dreyfus for treason.
1896 Theodor Herzl, published his pamphlet Der Judenstaat ("The Jewish State") (having turned from anti to pro-zionist)

1897 Herzl organised the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, which founded the World Zionist Organisation (WZO) and elected Herzl as its first President
During the congress, the following agreement was reached: Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz-Israel secured under public law. The Congress contemplates the following means to the attainment of this end: The promotion by appropriate means of the settlement in Eretz-Israel of Jewish farmers, artisans, and manufacturers. The organization and uniting of the whole of Jewry by means of appropriate institutions, both local and international, in accordance with the laws of each country. The strengthening and fostering of Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness. Preparatory steps toward obtaining the consent of governments, where necessary, in order to reach the goals of Zionism

1905 the Jewish Territorialist Organization led by Israel Zangwill split off from the main Zionist movement. The territorialists attempted to establish a Jewish homeland wherever possible,(decline after 1917 and were dissolved in 1925)
1909 first Jewish collective settlement, or kibbutz, Deganiah, on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in 1909 (the same year that the city of Tel Aviv was established). Deganiah, and many other kibbutzim that were soon to follow, attempted to realise these thinkers' vision by creating a communal villages, where newly arrived European Jews would be taught agriculture and other manual skills. (socialist non religious?)
1912 12,000 members of Zionist organizations in 1912, out of a Jewish population of 3 million

Aug. 1914-Nov. 11 1918 WW1 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 9, 1916 was a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France defining their respective spheres of post-World War I influence and control in the Middle East. 1917, British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, made his famous Declaration in favour of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". 1918 defeat and dismantlement of the Ottoman Empire January 18, 1919-January 21, 1920 Paris Peace Conference 1919Treaty of Versailles (1919) was the peace treaty which officially ended World War I between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany

1922 establishment of the British Mandate over Palestine by the League of Nations
1920s and 1930s under such leaders as Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (the Chief Rabbi of Palestine) and his son Zevi Judah,began to develop the concept of Religious Zionism
(most Orthodox groups held that the Messiah must appear before Israel could return to Jewish control, and Reform Judaism (prior to the Holocaust) explicitly rejected Zionism.)

1920s did see a steady growth in the Jewish population and the construction of state-like Jewish institutions, but also saw the emergence of Palestinian Arab nationalism and growing resistance to Jewish immigration.


1931-48 Labor-dominated Haganah and the Revisionist Irgun. The latter group did not hesitate to take military action against the Arab population. With the advent of World War II, both groups decided that defeating Hitler took priority over the fight against the British. However, attacks against British targets were recommenced in 1940 by a splinter group of the Irgun, later known as Lehi, and in 1944 by the Irgun itself.


1933 The rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933 produced a powerful new impetus for Zionism (Some Zionists allegedly supported the rise of the Nazi party, recognising that it would increase the possibility of a Jewish state).
1937, Ben-Gurion and almost all of his party leadership supported a British proposal to create a small Jewish state from which the Arabs had been removed by force
1936 serious Arab rioting broke out, and in response the British authorities held the unsuccessful St. James Conference and issued the MacDonald White Paper of 1939, severely restricting further Jewish immigration.

1939-9/2/1945 WWII 1940, there were 171,000 members of Zionist organizations, and by 1942, 80% of American Jews surveyed agreed that a homeland in Palestine was required late 1944 and early 1945, Jewish members of the Polish resistance met up with Warsaw ghetto fighters in Lubin to form Berihah as a way of escaping the anti-semitism of Europe, where they were convinced that another Holocaust would occur. It was originally led by Abba Kovner, but soon joined up with a similar effort led by the Jewish Brigade and eventually the Haganah. Almost immediately, the explicitly Zionist Berihah became the main conduit for Jews coming to Palestine, especially from the displaced person camps, and it initially had to turn people away due to too much demand.

1947 UN Partition Plan debate on May 14, 1947, the Soviet ambassador Gromyko announced: "As we know, the aspirations of a considerable part of the Jewish people are linked with the problem of Palestine and of its future administration. This fact scarcely requires proof... During the last war, the Jewish people underwent exceptional sorrow and suffering... The United Nations cannot and must not regard this situation with indifference, since this would be incompatible with the high principles proclaimed in its Charter... The fact that no Western European State has been able to ensure the defence of the elementary rights of the Jewish people and to safeguard it against the violence of the fascist executioners explains the aspirations of the Jews to establish their own State. It would be unjust not to take this into consideration and to deny the right of the Jewish people to realize this aspiration."[6]

1947 Partition 29 November the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state (with Jerusalem becoming an international enclave).
14 May 1948 the leaders of the Jewish community in Palestine made a declaration of independence 1950 the Knesset passed the Law of Return which granted all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel
1956 Suez War
May, 1967 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closes the straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and dismisses UN peacekeeping force. Negotiations with US to reopen the Straits of Tiran fail.
June 5-10,1967 6-day war Israel destroys the Egyptian air force on the ground, conquers and occupies Sinai and Gaza, then conquers the West Bank from Jordan, and Golan Heights from Syria.
Aug-Sept 1967 Khartoum Conference - Arab summit says no to peace or negotiations with Israel.
Nov 1967 UN resolution 242 called for Israeli withdrawal, establishment of peace.

1968 to 1970 War of Attrition: initiated by Egypt as a way to recapture the Sinai from Israel, which had controlled it since the Six-Day War. The war ended with a cease-fire signed between the countries in 1970 with frontiers at the same place as when the war started.
Oct. 6, 1973 Yom Kippur War (October War) In a surprise attack on the Jewish day of atonement, Egypt retook the Suez canal and a narrow zone on the other side. Syria reconquered the Golan Heights. Following massive US and Soviet resupplying of the sides, Israel succeeded in pushing back the Syrians and threatening Damascus. Ariel Sharon crossed the Suez Canal and cut off the Egyptian Third Army.
Oct. 22, 1973 UN Security Council Resolution 338 called for cease fire and negotiations for peace. Following the cease fire, Israel withdrew from part of Sinai in stages, beginning with relief of the Egyptian third army, and likewise withdrew from a small part of the Golan heights.
1975 UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 equates Zionism with racism. Harold H. Saunders tells house subcommittee that the Palestinian problem is in many ways the heart of the conflict, and that the US must seek partners who will recognize the relevant UN resolutions and engage them in dialog for peace.
Mar. 15, 1978 Israel invaded Lebanon (operation Litani) after the PLO hijacked a bus on the main Tel-Aviv to Haifa highway. UN resolution 425 of March 19, 1978 called for withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel did not fulfill the terms of Resolution 425 until May 2000.
September 17, 1978,The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy Carter. Sadat also said he wanted them to be called the Carter Accords.
Mar 26, 1979 Peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel.
April 29, 1982 Israel completes return of Sinai to Egypt under the peace agreement, including Yamit settlement.
June 6, 1982, Invasion of Lebanon or Operation Peace of the Galilee (îáöò ùìåí äâìéì Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil in Hebrew), began June 6, 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon. The Government of Israel justified the invasion as a response to the Abu Nidal organization's assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov and to artillery attacks launched by the Palestine Liberation Organization against populated areas in northern Israel June 6, 1982 Massive Israeli invasion of Lebanon to fight PLO. . UN Security Council Resolution 509 demands that Israel withdraw all its military forces forthwith, but Israel advances rapidly to Beirut, surrounding the capital by 13 Jun. Israeli cabinet is split on the sudden expansion of the war, beyond the 40 KM limit originally declared by Sharon.
Sept. 16-17, 1982 Lebanese Christian Phalange units under Elie Hobeika, allowed by Israeli forces to enter the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla, massacre between 400 and 800 Palestinian civilians. Israel Gen. Yaron and others overheard incriminating conversations between Phalange officers but no action was taken by Israel to stop the massacre.
May 14, 1989 Israeli Peace Plan of May 14, 1989, calls for a negotiating process with the Palestinians very similar to the one actually implemented by the Oslo accords.
2 August 1990–28 February 1991 Persian Gulf War
1991 Resolution 4686 revokes Resolution 3379, adopted on November 10, 1975(in 1975 equated Zionism with racism)

1993 The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP), were finalized in Oslo, Norway on August 20, 1993, and subsequently officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993, with Mahmoud Abbas signing for the Palestine Liberation Organization and Shimon Peres signing for the State of Israel. It was witnessed by Warren Christopher for the United States and Andrei Kozyrev for Russia, in the presence of US President Bill Clinton and Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with the PLO's Chairman Yasser Arafat
between 1987 and approximately 1993First Intifada refers
July 2000 Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David of July 2000 took place between United States President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. It was an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a "final status settlement" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict





**September 2000: Al-Aqsa Intifada the wave of violence that began in September 2000 between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis; it is also called the Second Intifada (see also First Intifada). "Intifada" is an Arabic word for "uprising" (literally translated as "shaking off"). Many Palestinians consider the intifada to be a war of national liberation against foreign occupation, whereas many Israelis consider it to be a terrorist campaign.
June 24, 2002, The "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by a "quartet" of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The principles of the plan were first outlined by U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on June 24, 2002, in which he called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with the Israeli state in peace.
2005: Israel's unilateral disengagement plan (Hebrew: תוכנית ההתנתקות or תכנית ההתנתקות (that is the name of the plan according to the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law), the transliteration of these two names is Tokhnit HaHitnatkut, or תוכנית ההינתקות Tokhnit HaHinatkut), also known as the "disengagement plan," "Gaza Pull-Out plan," and "Hitnatkut") was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government and enacted in August 2005, to remove all permanent Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the Northern West Bank.
March 3, 2006The Russia-Hamas talks of 2006 began on March 3, 2006, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to discuss the future of the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Hamas became the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority Legislative Council, having won a majority of seats in the Palestinian elections. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Israel, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan.
On February 10, 2006, the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, stated that Russia does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and officially invited them to Moscow, a move that confounded many politicians and analysts worldwide, including comparisons with Russian involvement in Chechnya whose militants such as Shamil Basayev Putin considers "terrorists".[