1915 - 1917

McMahonHussein

"In 1916 Husayn, the Sharif of Mecca of the Hashimite family, came out in revolt against the Ottoman sultan, and an Arab
force, recruited partly from beduin of western Arabia and partly from prisoners or deserters from the Ottoman army, fought
alongside the allied forces in the occupation of Palestine and Syria. This movement had followed correspondence between the
British and Hysayn, acting in contact with Arab nationalist groups, in which the British had encouraged Arab hopes of
independence (the McMahon-Husayn correspondence, 1915-1916)."

Arab Revolt
Sykes-Picot
Agreement
Balfour
Declaration
1917 - 1920

"An Anglo-French agreement of 1916, while accepting the principle of Arab independence laid down in the correspondence
with the Sharif Husayn, divided the area into zones of permanent influence (the Sykes-Picot Agreement, May 1916); and a
British document of 1917, the Balfour Declaration, stated that the government viewed with favor the establishment of a Jewish
national home in Palestine, provided this did not prejudice the civil and religious rights of the other inhabitants of the country."

"On 28 June 1917, General Allenby was appointed commander of the British Army in the Middle East, and he mounted an
attack aimed at breaking the Turkish lines in Palestine and Syria and arriving at the rear of the Turks in Anatolia. On 31
October 1917, he captured Beersheba and moved northwards, whilst the Germans and Turks were attempting to create a line
of defence around Jerusalem. Allenby quickly pressed forward towards the north in two columns passing through the Judaean
desert. He engaged the joint Turkish-German army in a fierce battle which took place to the west of Jerusalem on 8 and 9
December 1917 and, having defeated them, he approached Jerusalem, dismounted from his horse and entered the Holy City
on foot, to be welcomed by its inhabitants. In September 1918 the other parts of Palestine were occupied.
A new era then began in Palestine. Taken out of Ottoman hands, it entered into the British Mandate period, which continued
for the next thirty years."
BRITISH MANDATE
1920 - 1948
Back to Top

DATES
1920
British Mandate

EVENT
"The League of Nations divided the territory [formerly under Ottoman rule] into new entities, called mandates. The
mandates would be administered like trusts by the British and French, under supervision of the League, until such time as
the inhabitants were believed by League members to be ready for independence and self-government...
The mandate territories were Syria and Lebanon, awarded to France; Iraq, awarded to Britain; and a new entity called
Palestine, which was also placed under British control. Palestine, as defined for the first time in modern history...included
the land on both sides of the Jordan River and encompassed the present-day countries of Israel and Jordan."

1922

"Out of the broad region known as Palestine, Britain carved two political entities in 1921. One entity consisted of the rea of
Palestine east of the Jordan River; it was named the 'Emirate of Transjordan,' and later simply 'Jordan'... In the western
half of Palestine, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, Palestinian Arabs and Zionist Jews wrestled for
control under the British umbrella."
[Note: The League of Nations ratified the Mandate on July 24, 1922]

1947

"On February 14, 1947, the British cabinet decided, in effect, to wash its hands of Palestine and dump the problem in the
lap of the United Nations."

1947

"On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13 with 10 abstentions to partition western
Palestine into two states -- one for the Jews, which would consist of the Negev Desert, the coastal plain between Tel Aviv
and Haifa, and parts of the northern Galilee, and the other for the Palestinian Arabs, which would consist primarily of the
West Bank of the Jordan, the Gaza District, Jaffa, and the Arav sectors of the Galilee. Jerusalem, cherished by both
Muslims and Jews as a holy city, was to become an international enclave under U.N. trusteeship.

UN Partition

The Zionist, then led by David Ben-Gurion, accepted this partition plan, even though they had always dreamed of
controlling all of western Palestine and Jerusalem. The Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab states rejected the
partition proposal. They felt that Palestine was all theirs, which the Jews were a foreign implant foisted upon them, and
that they had the strength to drive them out."
ISRAEL, JORDAN & EGYPT
1948 - 1967
Back to Top

DATES
1948 - 1949
Declaration of
Independence

EVENT
"On 14 May the Jewish community declared its independence as the state of Israel, and this was immediately recognized
by the United States and Russia; and Egyptian, Jordanian, Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese forces moved into the mainly Arab
parts of the country. In a situation where there were no fixed frontiers or clear divisions of population, fighting took place
between the new Israeli army and those of the Arab states, and in four campaigns interrupted by cease-fires Israel was

(Israel)

able to occupy the greater part of the country."

Arab-Israel War of "In the course of that war, the Zionists not only managed to hold all the areas assigned to them by the United Nations [in
1948
1947] but to seize part of the land designated for the Palestinian state as well. The other areas designated for the
Palestinians by the United Nations were taken by Jordan and Egypt; Jordan annexed the West Bank, while Egypt
assumed control of the Gaza District."
1949
Armistice
Agreements

"The armistice agreements were not peace treaties and did not provide for many of the features that normally govern the
relations between neighbouring states at peace with each other, such as diplomatic and trade ties. During the following
years Arab leaders made abundantly clear their uniform view that the armistice accords were merely elaborate cease-fire
agreements, implicitly temporary and qualitatively different from and well short of full peace treaties."

Palestinian
Refugees

"At the end of hostilities early in 1949, the United Nations estimated that there were 726,000 Arab refugees from Israelicontrolled territories, about 70 percent of the Arab population of Palestine. The exact number is difficult to determine
because it is impossible to know the true number of Arab illegals living in Palestine when the war broke out and the
number of Bedouin who had become refugees. A figure of about 600,000 to 760,000 is probably more accurate."

1949 - 1956

"The essential reality of Israeli-Arab relations during 1949-1956 was...unremitting, if generally low-key, conflict. Leaders
and news media on both sides regularly voiced propaganda and traded threats, and the Arab world closed ranks in
waging massive political warfare against Israel, regarding it as a pariah state and attempting to persuade the rest of the
world to follow suit. The Arabs refused to recognize Israel's existence or right to exist -- leaders and writers avoided using
the word 'Israel'; maps left its area blank or called it Palestine...
A comprehensive Arab economic boycott was imposed, including the closure by Egypt of the Suez Canal [July 26, 1956]
and the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and to specific goods (such as oil) bound for Israel, carried on third-country
vessels, and a ban on deals with companies doing business with Israel.
The most grinding and visible expressions of animosity were border clashes. Most of the tension along the frontiers
resulted from Arab infiltration. The daily trespassing and shooting incidents, the occasional murder of Israelis, and the
retaliations generated fresh hostility which gradually built up to a crescendo in the second Arab-Israeli war of 1956."

1956
Suez War

"In October [29-30, 1956] Israeli forces invaded Egypt and moved towards the Suez Canal. In accordance with their
previous agreement, Britain and France sent an ultimatum to both Israel and Egypt to withdraw from the Canal Zone, and
[Egyptian President] 'Abd al-Nasir's refusal gave a pretext for British and French forces to attack and occupy part of the
zone... Under American and Soviet pressure, and faced with worldwide hostility and the danger of financial collapse, the
three forces [Britain, France and Israel] withdrew."

1956 - 1957

"The U.N. Emergency Force (UNEF), which was to supervise the truce, began arriving on 4 December [1956]. Britain and
France completed their withdrawal by 23 December, handing over their positions to UNEF. Though Israel agreed to
withdraw on 8 November it did not actually do so until 8 March 1957 -- and then only after the United States committed
itself to standing by Israel's right of passage through the Gulf of Aqaba, ensuring that Gaza was not used again for
launching guerrilla attacks against it. On Israel's insistence UNEF troops were posted exclusively in Gaza and the Gulf of
Aqaba region to safeguard Israeli shipping. Egypt was allowed to return to Gaza to administer it."

1957 - 1967

"The political outcome of the war was a clear and substantial radicalization of the conflict. Nasser and other Arab leaders
began to speak openly of the need for a 'third round' [after 1948 & 1956], in which Israel would be destroyed. In a letter
to Hussein [King of Jordan] on March 13, 1961, Nasser wrote: 'On...Israel, we believe that the evil introduced into the
heart of the Arab world must be uprooted.'"

1967

"[Egyptian President] Nasser asked the United Nations to withdraw the forces which had been stationed on the frontier
with Israel since the Suez war of 1956, and when this was done he closed the straits of Aqaba to Israeli shipping... As
tension mounted, Jordan and Syria made military agreements with Egypt."
ISRAEL
1967 - 1982
Back to Top

DATES
1967 War
Six-Day War

EVENT
"In June 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, after Nasser had declared his
intention to annihilate the Jewish state and forged military alliances with Syria and Jordan for that purpose, building up
troop concentrations along his border with Israel and blockading shipping to the Israeli port of Eilat. The six-day war that
followed Israel's surprise attack ended with the Israeli army occupying Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Syria's Golan Heights, and
Jordan's West Bank."
"The most significant international pronouncement on the Arab-Israeli dispute after the Six-Day War wasU.N. Security
Council Resolution 242. The preamble to the resolution emphasized the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by
force and the need to work for a just and lasting peace."

1967

"An Arab summit conference was held in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, between 28 August and 2 September [1967]. It
was the first meeting of the Arab leaders since their defeat in the June War. Israel's leaders watched with keen anticipation
Khartoum Summit to see what conclusions the Arab leaders would draw from their military defeat. The conference ended with the adoption of
(Sudan)
the famous three noes of Khartoum: no recognition, no negotiation, and no peace with Israel."
1969 - 1970
War of Attrition

1970
Black September

1970 - 1971

"In March 1969, Nasser announced that the cease-fire of June 1967 was null and void, and the 'War of Attrition' was
officially launched. Nasser believed that he could inflict such a heavy toll [given the wide disparity in the populations of
Israel and Egypt, Israel could not afford as many casualties as the Egyptians] that the Israelis would retreat back into the
Sinai, and/or that they would become more amenable to a political solution on Egypt's terms...In August 1970, a cease fire
along the canal came into effect."
"In Jordan the Palestinian guerrilla organizations created a state within a state that posed a challenge to the rule of King
Hussein. The king ordered his army to disarm and break the power of these organizations. In the ensuing civil
war thousands of Palestinians were killed, and many more left the country. At the height of the crisis, Syrian forces
invaded Jordan in what looked like a bid to help the Palestinians overthrow the monarchy...Jordan's army went into action
against the Syrian invaders. The crisis ended with a Palestinian defeat, a Syrian retreat, and King Hussein sitting firmly on
his throne in Amman."
"Following the showdown with Jordan's King Hussein in 1970 and 1971, and their expulsion from Jordan, the PLO
(Palestine Liberation Organization) leaders and many PLO fighters, eventually numbering 15,000, moved to Lebanon."

1973

On October 6, 1973 the Egyptian Army "launched a sudden attack upon the Israeli forces on the east bank of the Suez
Canal; at the same moment, and by agreement, the Syrian army attacks the Israelis from the Golan Heights. In the first
Yom Kipur War
rush of fighting, the Egyptian army succeeded in crossing the canal and establishing a bridgehead, and the Syrians
occupied part of the Golan Heights; weapons supplied by the Russians enabled them to neutralize the Israeli air force,
UN Resolution 338 which had won the victory of 1967. In the next few days, however, the military tide turned. Israeli forces crossed the canal
and established their own bridgehead on the west bank [of the Suez Canal] and drove the Syrians back towards
Damascus."
"A Soviet-American cease-fire proposal was approved by the United Nations on October 22, but violations by both sides
resulted in the continuation of hostilities and in the surrounding and trapping of the Egyptian Third Army in the western
Sinai. After Soviet threats to intercede, and an American military alert -- just short of a nuclear alert -- a second cease-fire
was accepted by both parties on October 24, with Israel the obvious military victor."
1974
Jan.

"Henry Kissinger [U.S. Secretary of State] persuaded Egypt and Israel to sign a disengagement accord, whereby Israel
withdrew from the western bank of the Suez Canal, to about twenty miles from the east bank of the canal. Egypt agreed to
a major reduction of troops east of Suez, the establishment of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone, defensive missile
emplacements only west of Suez, and the allowing of non-military Israeli shipping through the canal (though not in Israeli
vessels)."

1974
May

"Henry Kissinger achieved a disengagement accord between Israel and Syria regarding the Golan Heights. Israel agreed
to withdraw from some occupied territory in the Heights in return for the establishment of a U.N. buffer zone and defensive
Arab missile placements. President Hafez al-Assad of Syria also agreed in a private memorandum to prevent any
Palestinian terrorist groups from launching attacks from Syria. In return, the United States resumed diplomatic relations
with Syria."

1974

"The Arab League, meeting at Rabat in 1974, recognized the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] as the 'sole,
legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,' undermining the role of King Hussein and his ability to speak for the
Palestinians as envisaged by U.N. resolutions. King Hussein agreed to honour the PLO's claim to negotiate for the
Palestinians (and was rewarded with an annual $300-million grant for four years from the Arab League). He further stated
that it was 'totally inconceivable' that Jordan and a Palestinian entity could form a federation -- a suggestion he had floated
earlier. Perhaps the real significance of the Rabat summit was that this decision meant that Hussein was forced to
acknowledge Palestinian rights to what he had lost physically to the Israelis in 1967. It was a diplomatic triumph for the
PLO that repaid the defeat of Black September in 1970. The Rabat decision also weakened the American position.
Kissinger agreed with the Israelis that it was preferable to negotiate with Hussein rather than with the PLO."

1978

"In the early 1970s, tension along the Israel-Lebanon border increased, especially after the relocation of Palestinian
armed elements from Jordan to Lebanon. Palestinian commando operations against Israel and Israeli reprisals against
Palestinian bases in Lebanon intensified. On 11 March 1978, a commando attack in Israel resulted in many dead and
wounded among the Israeli population; the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) claimed responsibility for that raid. In
response, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on the night of 14/15 March [1978], and in a few days occupied the entire
southern part of the country except for the city of Tyre and its surrounding area.
On 15 March 1978, the Lebanese Government submitted a strong protest to the [U.N.] Security Council against the Israeli
invasion, stating that it had no connection with the Palestinian commando operation. On 19 March [1978], the Council
adopted resolutions 425 (1978) and 426 (1978), in which it called upon Israel immediately to cease its military action and
withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory. It also decided on the immediate establishment of the United Nations
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The first UNIFIL troops arrived in the area on 23 March 1978."