Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

1878

Petah Tikva, the first Zionist moshava, established in Israel.

1882

Start of First Aliyah - the arrival of Jews from Eastern Europe and from Yemen. Jewish population of Palestine estimated to be 24,000. This Aliyah lasted until 1903 and totaled 25,000 immigrants.

1886

David Ben-Gurion born in Plonsk, part of the Russian Empire now in Poland.

1891

September 11 - Jewish Colonization Association established.

1893

Ottoman government allows sale of land to Jews legally resident in Palestine but not the establishment of colonies.

1897

At the First Zionist Congress, held from August 29 to 31 in Basel, Switzerland, the World Zionist Organization was founded.

1901

Foreign Jews allowed to buy land in northern Palestine.

1903

Start of Second Aliyah - mostly Jews from the Russian Empire. It is estimated around 40,000 arrived in Palestine between 1904 and 1914 bringing the number of Jews living in Palestine to 6% of the total population.

1908

First edition of Al-Karmil, an anti-Zionist newspaper, published in Haifa.

1909

April - Tel Aviv was found.

1911

Muslim intellectuals and politicians from throughout the Levant formed al-Fatat ("the Young Arab Society"), a small Arab nationalist club in Paris. They also requested that Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army not be required to serve in non-Arab regions except in time of war. However, as the Ottoman authorities cracked down on the organization's activities and members, al-Fatat went underground and demanded the complete independence and unity of the Arab provinces.

January/February - The new Young Turk authorities allow Zionist groups to purchase land in Palestine.

January - First edition of the Arabic language newspaper Filastin published in Jaffa.

1912

The British government introduces restrictions on the number of Jewish immigrants allowed into the United Kingdom.

1914

Further restrictions on Jewish immigration into the United Kingdom introduced.

1915

July 14 - First letter between the British Government and the Governor of Mecca. The exchange became known as the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence promises an Arab state in the Middle East in return for revolt against the Turks. Neither side could agree whether the region of Palestine was explicitly mentioned.

1916

January 30 - Final letter of the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence sent to the Governor of Mecca.

May 16 - The Sykes-Picot Agreement was signed between Britain, France and Russia, in which it was agreed in the event of a successful conclusion of the war the former Ottoman lands of Palestine, Jordan and Iraq would become mandates for Britain, France would take control of Lebanon and Syria, whilst Russian would take large areas of Eastern Turkey and Istanbul.

June 10 - Beginning of the Arab Revolt against the Young Turk regime in Constantinople.

1917

November 2 - Balfour Declaration 1917: British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour sends a letter to Lord Rothschild, President of the Zionist Federation, declaring his government would "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".

December 9 - Following an offensive lasting three weeks, an officer in the British Army accepts the surrender of Jerusalem from the town's mayor, Hussein al-Husayni.

1918

April 14 - Zionist Commission arrives in Palestine.

May 8 - First Muslim-Christian Association established in Jaffa.

September - General Allenby completes the British conquest of Palestine.

1919

Start of the Third Aliyah which lasts until 1923 and numbered 35,000 immigrants increasing the Jewish population to 12% of the total, owning 3% of the land. In 1919 1,806 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

The American sponsored King-Crane Commission delivers its report to the Paris Peace Conference.

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni founded the Jerusalem branch of the Syrian-based 'Arab Club' (El-Nadi al-arabi), which then vied with the Nashashibi-sponsored 'Literary Club' (Al-Muntada al-Adabi) for influence over public opinion, and he soon became its President.

January 18 - Faisal-Weizmann Agreement between Emir Faisal (son of the King of Hejaz, Sharif of Mecca Sayyid Hussein bin Ali), and Chaim Weizmann (later President of the World Zionist Organization).

January 27 - First Palestine Arab Congress held in Jerusalem.

January 30 - The Supreme Council of the Peace Conference decided that the Ottoman Empire's Arab provinces would not be returned to Turkey.

February 3 - The Zionist Organisation submits its plan for implementation of the Balfour Declaration and urges the selection of Great Britain as Mandatory for Palestine.

February 27 - The leaders of the Zionist Organisation appear before the Supreme Council to explain their plan for implementation of the Balfour Declaration.

March 28 - American Zionist Felix Frankfurter submits a more detailed implementation plan on behalf of the Zionist Organisation.

1920

In 1920 8,223 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

February 27 - Over one thousand protesters take part in an Arab nationalist demonstration in Jerusalem carrying banners bearing the slogans "Stop Zionist Immigration" and "Our Country For Us". Arab nationalists sought to resist the Zionist immigration – Aliyah, which comes mostly from Eastern Europe.

March 1 - Jewish settlements in the Upper Galilee were attacked by Arab forces during the Franco-Syrian War. Joseph Trumpeldor was among 8 who died defending Tel Hai.

March 7 - Faisal proclaimed king of Greater Syria.

March 8 - A second large Arab nationalist demonstration takes place in Jerusalem.

April 4–7 - The 1920 Palestine riots – violent 4-day riot against the Jews in Jerusalem's Old City. Muhammad Amin Al-Husayni was charged with inciting the Arab crowds with an inflammatory speech and sentenced by military court held in camera (private) to ten years imprisonment in absentia, since he had already violated his bail by fleeing to Transjordan to avoid arrest. Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the possession of weapons.

April 19 - Elections held for the first Jewish Assembly of Representatives.

April - The mayor of Jerusalem, Musa al-Husayni, is removed from office by the British Military Governor, Ronald Storrs.

May 31 - Second Palestine Arab Congress.

June 12 - The April riots prompt the establishment of Haganah – a Jewish defense force.

July 1 - Herbert Samuel sworn in as first High Commissioner. He announces the establishment of an Advisory Council consisting of 20 members: 10 British officials, 4 Muslims, 3 Christians and 3 Jews.

July 1 - Palin Commission reports on the rioting that occurred in April.

August 26 - The First Immigration Ordinance sets the quota for Jewish immigration at 16,500 for the first year.

December 4 - Third Palestine Arab Congress.

1921

In 1921 8,294 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

David Ben-Gurion appointed secretary of the Jewish labour organisation Histadrut.

March - Haganah, the Jewish underground military organisation, established.

March 21 - Secretary of State for the Colonies, Winston Churchill, visits Jerusalem. Instals Abdullah Hussein as ruler of Transjordan.

May 1–7 - Jaffa riots resulted in the deaths of 47 Jews and 48 Arabs, with 146 Jews and 73 Arabs being wounded. Most Arab casualties resulted from clashes with British forces attempting to restore order. Thousands of Jewish residents of Jaffa fled for Tel Aviv and were temporarily housed in tent camps on the beach.

May 8 - British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel pardons Jews and Arabs involved in the 1920 disturbances, including Mohammad Amin al-Husayni. who is appointed Mufti of Jerusalem,

May 8 - The High Commissioner appoints Amin al-Husayni as Mufti of Jerusalem.

May - Fourth Palestine Arab Congress agrees to send a delegation to London.

October - The Haycraft Commission of Inquiry publishes its report into the Jaffa Riots concluding that they were spontaneous rather than premeditated.

December - The Mandate authorities issue an order creating a Supreme Muslim Council to administer Muslim owned charitable properties, Awqaf, and appoint (or dismiss) judges and officials in the Sharia courts.

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni becomes the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Until late 1921, al-Husayni focused his efforts on Pan-Arabism and the ideology of the Greater Syria in particular, with Palestine understood as a southern province of an Arab state whose capital was to be established in Damascus. The struggle for Greater Syria collapsed after Britain ceded control over present day Syria and Lebanon to France in July 1920. Al-Husayni then turned from Damascus-oriented Pan-Arabism to a specifically Palestinian ideology centered on Jerusalem, which sought to block Jewish immigration to Palestine. The frustration of pan-Arab aspirations lent an Islamic colour to the struggle for independence, and increasing resort to the idea of restoring the land to Dar al-Islam.

1922

In 1922 8,685 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

February - A delegation of Palestinian Arab leaders, lead by Musa al-Husayni, informs Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office that they cannot accept the Mandate or the Balfour Declaration and demand their national independence.

June 3 - The Churchill White Paper, 1922 clarifies the British position regarding Palestine.

June 30 - The United States Senate and House of Representatives adopt a joint resolution favouring "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."

July 24 - The League of Nations approves the draft British Mandate for Palestine. British express interest in Zionism, and describe their main intent of developing a Jewish National Home.

August 10 - The British authorities announce the setting up of a Legislative Council consisting of 11 British official and 12 elected members: 8 Muslims, 2 Christians and 2 Jews.

August 22 - Fifth Palestine Arab Congress.

September 16 - The Council of the League of Nations accepts the British Transjordan memorandum defining the limits of Trans-Jordan and excluding that territory from the provisions in the Mandate concerning the Jewish national home.

October - First British census of the population of Palestine. It calculates tha Jews make up 11% of total population.

1923

In 1923 8,175 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

Vladimir Jabotinsky resigns from the Zionist Executive.

Elections for the proposed Legislative Council fail due to the extent of the Palestinian Arab boycott. An attempt is made to expand the Advisory Council but this also fails when only three Palestinian Arabs could be found who were willing to join.

June 16 - Sixth Palestine Arab Congress.

September 29 - British Mandate for Palestine and French Mandate for Syria come into operation.

October 4 - Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Duke of Devonshire, proposes the setting up of an Arab Agency to have equivalent status to the Jewish Agency.

December 11 - Arab Agency unanimously rejected by Palestinian Arab leaders.

1924

The fourth Aliyah. Lasting until 1928 amounted to 67,000 immigrants, 50% from Poland, and raised the proportion of Jews in Palestine to 16%, owning 4% of the land. In 1924 13,892 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine. Also in 1924 the United States Government began introducing immigration quotas ending mass immigration from Eastern Europe.

Collective Responsibility Ordenance issued giving powers of collective punishment in rural areas. Introduced to combat feuding between communities. The powers included application of fines and demolition of houses.

1925

In 1925 34,386 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

Vladimir Jabotinsky founds the Revisionist Party in Paris committed to the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine and Transjordan by military means.

The collapse of the Polish currency leads to hardship amongst immigrants.

March - General strike protesting the visit of Lord Balfour.

August 25 - Herbert Onslow Plumer becomes High Commissioner.

November - General strike in support of the Syria revolt.

December 6 - Elections held for the second Jewish Assembly of Representatives.

1926

In 1926 13,855 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

British garrison in Palestine reduced to one RAF squadron and 2 companies of armoured cars.

March - General strike called in protest of the visit of the French High Commissioner of Syria, Henry de Jouvenel.

1927

In 1927 3,034 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine. In the same year over 5,000 Jews emmigrated.

Jewish immigration falls to 2,713 while 5,071 leave the country.

1928

In 1928 2,178 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood formed in Egypt.Promoted Islam as the basis of society. Became politicized after 1938, rejecting Westernization, modernization, secularization.

June 20 - Seventh Palestine Arab Congress.

December 6 - Sir John Chancellor becomes High Commissioner.

1929

In 1929 5,249 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

The fifth Aliyah. Over the next ten years 250,000 Zionist immigrants arrive in Palestine. They bring the number of Jews resident to 30% of the total population whilst Jewish land ownership rises to 5.7% of the area of the country.

The Zionist Commission renames itself as the Palestine Zionist Executive.

The 1929 Palestine riots erupt due to a dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall. 133 Jews killed and 339 wounded (mostly by Arabs); 116 Arabs killed and 232 wounded (mostly by British-commanded police and soldiers).

1929 Safed pogrom: This followed centuries of pre-Zionism pogroms by Muslims against Jews in Safed, such as the 1517 Safed pogrom, 1834 Safed pogrom, and 1838 Druze attack on Safed.

1929 Hebron massacre: 67 Jews are massacred by Arabs. Many incidents of rape, torture, and mutilation are reported.

Following the riots the British authorities agree to officially recognise the Executive Committee of the Palestine Arab Congress as representatives of Palestinian Arab opinion and to invite them to give evidence to the Commission of Inquiry.

1930

In 1930 4,944 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

A fourth Palestinian Arab Delegation travels to London.

The British enlarge their garrison in Palestine: They have two infantry battalions, 2 RAF squadrons and 4 squadrons of armoured cars. The Palestine Police Force is re-organised by Sir Herbert Dowbiggin and isolated Jewish settlements are given arms caches to be used if under attack.

The Black Hand Islamist group led by Shaykh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam begins a campaign against Jewish civilians and the British in Palestine.

May 12 - The Palestinian Arab delegation announce that the British Government has rejected their demands for the end to Jewish immigration, an end to land sales to Jews and the establishing of a democratic government in Palestine.

August 6 - The Jewish Agency officially recognised by the British Government.

October 20 - In reaction to the disturbances of 1929, the Passfield White Paper and the Hope Simpson Royal Commission recommend limiting Jewish immigration.

December - The International Wailing Wall Commission confirms Muslim property rights over the area.

1931

In 1931 4,075 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.

Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organisation) founded by the Revisionists with Vladimir Jabotinsky as commander-in-chief.

January 5 - Elections held for the third Jewish Assembly of Representatives.

February 14 - Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald sends a letter to Chaim Weizmann qualifying some of the proposals in the Passfield White Paper. The letter becomes known as the "Black Letter" amongst Palestinian Arabs.

April 11 - Three members of kibbutz Yagur were killed by members of a local Arab gang.

August - Demonstrations in Nablus against the storing of weapons in isolated Jewish settlements are broken up by police baton charges.

November 18 - Second British census of the population of Palestine calculates that Jews make up 16.9% of the total population.

November 20 - Sir Arthur Wauchope becomes High Commissioner.

December 16 - The Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin Husseini, chairs a Moslem Congress in Jerusalem which is attended by 145 delegates from all parts of the Moslem world.

1932

The Congress Executive of Nationalist Youth established.

1933

With the coming to power of the Nazis in Germany Jewish immigration rises to 30,327 in 1933, compared to 9,553 in the previous year.

June 16 - Haim Arlosoroff, head of the political department of the Jewish Agency is assassinated in Tel Aviv. His murderers are widely believed to have been members of the Revisionist party.

October 27 - Following the discovery in Jaffa harbour of a large shipment of weapons destined for an address in Tel Aviv the Arab Executive calls a general strike. A demonstration in Jaffa led by the president of the Executive, Musa al-Husayni, turned into a riot in which a crowd of several thousand attacked the small force of policemen who responded with baton charges and gunfire. 26 demonstrators and one policeman were killed. Amongst the 187 injured was 80-year-old Musa al-Husayni, who never recovered and died the following year. There followed six weeks of rioting in all the major towns in which 24 civilians are killed. The disorders were suppressed by the police, not the army. They are different from earlier disturbances in that the targets were British Government institutions rather than Jews.

November 25 - All the major Palestinian Arab political parties, with the exception of Istiqlal, address a memo to the High Commisssioner calling for democratic government, prohibition of the sale of Arab land to Jews, and the cessation of Jewish immigration.

1934

January - The Municipal Corporations Ordinance published by the Mandate authorities setting out a program for municipal elections.

February - Special commission of enquiry, chaired by Sir William Murison, publishes its report into the 1933 disturbances.

December 2 - The Defence Party founded.

1935

David Ben-Gurion becomes chairman of the Jewish Agency.

March 27 - Palestine Arab Party established.

June 23 - Reform Party established.

October 5 - National Bloc established.

October - The Revisionists quit the World Zionist Organisation and establish the New Zionist Organisation.

November 20 - The leader of the Black Hand, Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam is killed by the British.

December 21 - Palestinian Arab leadership accept proposals made by the High Commissioner for a Legislative Assembly. The proposales are rejected by Jewish leaders.

1936

February 28 - The House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes against the High Commissioner's proposed Legislative Council.

March 25 - The House of Lords also reject the proposals.

April 15 - Following the murder of 3 Jews in a robbery near Tulkarm 2 Arabs are murdered near Petah Tiqva.

April 17 - During the funeral in Tel Aviv of one of the Jewish victims serious rioting breaks out in which 3 Jews are murdered. The Mandate authorities bring in Emergency Regulations by proclamation and curfews are imposed across Palestine.

April 20 - An Arab National Committee is formed in Nablus, subsequently other committees are formed in all the Arab towns and villages.

April 21 - Five main Palestinian Arab political parties call for a general strike.

April 25 - Arab Higher Committee established. It consists of members from all the Arab political parties, including Istiqlal and is led by Haj Amin al-Husseini. The committee calls for the strike to continue indefinitely.

May 6 - A meeting of the National Committees in Jerusalem announces a tax strike.

May 11 - British army reinforcements arrive from Egypt and Malta.

May/June - Jaffa port is closed, there are sporadic attacks on the railways and Jewish settlements. Armed bands appear in the hill country.

June 17 to 29 - large areas of Jaffa demolished by British Army.

August - Attempts by Amir Abdullah and Nuri Pasha fail to calm the situation. There is an increase in the number of attacks on Jews, and on the oil pipeline and the railways. In mid-August Jewish acts of retaliation begin.

August 25 - Fawzi al-Qawuqji enters Palestine with 150 volunteer fighters.

September 7 - An additional division of British troops arrives. General Dill becomes supreme military commander.

September 22 - The British army launches an offensive against Arab rebels.

October 11 - Ibn Saud, Amir Abdullah and King Ghazi appeal to the Arab Higher Committee to call off the strike.

November - The Arab Higher Committee calls an end to the strike. Casualty figures taken from hospital records give the number of people killed during the six months of disturbances as: 195 Arabs, 80 Jews, 21 Army, 16 Police and Frontier Police, and 2 non-Arab Christians. In addition over 1,000 Arab rebels were killed.

1937

The mainstream Jewish paramilitary organization, the Haganah, maintains a policy of restraint, but the smaller Irgun (also called Etzel) group splits up and adopts a policy of retaliation and revenge.

July - The Peel Commission proposes a partition plan, rejected by the Arab leadership. The Jewish opinion was divided as Jewish immigration was limited to only 12,000, and the Twentieth Zionist Congress ultimately rejected the proposal as well.

October 1 - British authorities ban all Arab nationalist political organisations, including the Arab Higher Committee.

1938

April – August: The Woodhead Commission reverses the Peel Commission's findings, considers two alternative partition plans, known as Plan B (map) and Plan C (map), and reports in November that partition was impracticable.

October 2 - Tiberias massacre. Arab rioters kill 19 Jews, including 11 children, and set fire to synagogues and Jewish homes.

1939

February – March 17 - The St. James Conference ends without reaching an agreement.

May 17 - The White Paper of 1939 calls for the creation of a unified Palestinian state. Even though the White Paper states its commitment to the Balfour Declaration, it imposed very substantial limits to both Jewish immigration (restricting it to only 75,000 over the next 5 years), and Jewish ability to purchase land.

September 1 - The Second World War erupts. The Haganah begins the smuggling of Jews from Europe to Palestine to provide refuge from the Holocaust. Arab leaders are split: while some assist the Allies, others like Iraqi Rashid Ali and the Palestinian Amin al-Husayni assist the Axis. Many of the Middle Eastern Jewish communities are hit by pro-Axis Arab regimes, and the early stage of Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands begins. Most Jewish and Arab Palestinian militant groups attain the policy of cease fire with each other and the British.

1940

Lehi (also known as the Stern Gang) – the most radical Jewish organization splits from Irgun.

On June 19 twenty Arabs were killed by Jewish extremists who mounted explosives on a donkey at a marketplace in Haifa.

June 29, 13 Arabs were killed in multiple shootings during a one-hour period.

1941

October 11 - The Arab Palestinian leader Mohammad Amin al-Husayni arrives to Rome with an attempt to form close ties with the Axis powers. Al-Husayni meets Benito Mussolini

November 27 - Al-Husayni arrives to Germany for a meeting with Adolf Hitler. He would remain in Berlin until the end of the war, playing a major role in formation of Muslim Waffen SS units and active work preventing thousands of Jewish refugees to escape the Nazis and reach Palestine.

1942

Biltmore Conference, New York - for the first time, Zionists call for an independent state instead of a national home - cannot rely on Britain

February 12 - Avraham Stern leader of the extremist Lehi group shot dead by police whilst being arrested.

August 2 - British form the Palestine Regiment, consisted of 3 Jewish and 1 Arab battalions, which assist the British forces in North Africa against the Axis.

1944

February 12 - After a period of reconciliation with the British, the Irgun launches a bomb attack on British immigration offices in Palestine, no casualties reported. Soon after Lehi also renews its anti-British attacks.

August 1 - Elections held for the fourth Jewish Assembly of Representatives.

Summer - From Berlin, Palestinian Arab leader Amin al-Husayni plans an attack upon the Jews in Palestine. A joint German-Arab commando unit was dispatched into Palestine with chemical weapons to attack the Jews of Tel Aviv in became is known as operation ATLAS. The parachutists' team members with the poison were caught near Jericho by Jordanian and British Police forces.

Irgun resumes operations against Arabs and British, after realizing the World War is nearing its end; it still restrains itself of attacking British military, not to impact the war efforts of the allies.

November 6 - Lord Moyne assassinated by Lehi.

November - the Palestine regiment is reformed into the larger unit named the Jewish Brigade, which utilizes Jewish symbols. It participates in invasion of the Allies into Italy.

1945

May 8 - Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies. Arab League formed to strengthen political, cultural, social, and economic goals of members, and to mediate disputes. Later added military defense coordination.

1946

May 1 - The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry proposed admission of 100,000 Jewish refugees into the Mandate.

July 22 - King David Hotel blown up by Irgun.

1947

February 18 - Great Britain announces intention to hand the Mandate to the United Nations.

November 29 - With a two-thirds majority vote, the UN General Assembly adopts a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of a plan to partition the British Mandate of Palestine into "Independent Arab and Jewish States" and a "Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem" administered by the United Nations.

Civil war in Palestine

1947

November 30 - Following the vote on the Partition Plan, Palestinian Arabs react violently and fighting broke out in what became known as the "Civil war".

December 2–5 - 1947 Jerusalem riots. The Arab Higher Committee declared a strike and public protest of the vote. Arabs marching to Zion Square on December 2 were stopped by the British, and the Arabs instead turned towards the commercial center of the City where many buildings and shops were attacked. Violence continued for two more days, with Arabs and Jewish attacking each other. 70 Jews and 50 Arabs are killed.

December 30 - Haifa Oil Refinery massacre. Irgun militants hurl two bombs into a crowd of Arab workers from a passing vehicle, killing 6 workers and wounding 42, damaging the relative peace between the two groups in Haifa. Later that day the Arab crowd protested and broke into the refinery compound, killing 39 Jews and wounding 49. Skirmishes continued in Haifa and around the region.

1948

January 4 - Lehi set off a truck bomb outside Jaffa's Town Hall, killing 26.

January 6 - Semiramis Hotel bombing carried out by Haganah.

January 16 - 35 members of the Haganah killed attempting to carry supplies across country to Kfar Etzion.

Winter and Spring - "Battle of the Roads". The Arab League sponsored Arab Liberation Army, composed of Palestinian Arabs and Arabs from other Middle Eastern countries, attacked Jewish communities in Mandatory Palestine, and Jewish traffic on major roads.

February 2 - car bombs in Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem. 58 Jewish civilians were killed and 140 injured.

February 14 - 60 villagers killed by Palmach at Sa'sa'.

By late March 1948, the vital road that connected Tel Aviv to western Jerusalem, where about 16% of all Jews in the Mandatory Palestine lived, was cut off and under siege.

March 27 - 47 members of a Haganah convoy killed near the village of al-Kabri.

April 6 - Operation Nachshon. The Haganah decided to launch a major military counteroffensive to break the siege of Jerusalem. On April 6 the Haganah and its strike force, the Palmach, in an offensive to secure strategic points, took al-Qastal, an important roadside town 2 kilometers west of Deir Yassin.

April 9 - Deir Yassin Massacre. Around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people.IZL-Lehi forces attack Deir Yassin to relieve Arab siege of Jews in Jerusalem. In the aftermath 107 Arabs (mostly villagers) and 4 among the IZL-Lehi forces are killed.

April 13 - Hadassah medical convoy massacre. Claimed as retribution for the Deir Yassin massacre, Arab protesters attack a large convoy, mostly of unarmed Jewish doctors, and some military personnel set off carrying patients, equipment, and supplies, travel from Jerusalem to the besieged hospital which treated the majority of Jewish residents in Jerusalem. 79 Jews are killed. Road attacks continue and convoys were unable to reach the hospital for a week.

April 22 - Operation Yiftach launched, leading to the conquest of north eastern Galilee between the Lebanese and Syrian frontiers.

April 23 - Arab quarters of Haifa taken by the Haganah.

May 13 - Kfar Etzion massacre was an act committed by Arab forces, after the surrender of the Jewish village to Arab Legion. Out of 133 Jewish villagers and defenders, 129 were murdered in the massacre, 4 survived. Bodies were left unburied until January 1949. 320 prisoners from the Etzion settlements were taken to the "Jordan POW camp at Mafrak", including 85 women.

May 14 - Haganah take control of Jaffa. Its 1947 population of 70,000 reduced to 4,000.

May 14 - The Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved a proclamation declaring "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel".

May 14 - The British Mandate over Palestine expired.

After the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel

1948

May 15 - Following a letter from the Agent of the new Provisional Government to President Truman, the United States recognized the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel. Members of the Arab League - Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Transjordan, the Holy War Army and the Arab Liberation Army, marched their forces into what had the previous day ceased to be the British Mandate for Palestine. The League of Arab States sent a cablegram to the Secretary-General of the United Nations saying, On the occasion of the intervention of Arab States in Palestine to restore law and order and to prevent disturbances prevailing in Palestine from spreading into their territories and to check further bloodshed,.

May 23 - Thomas C. Wasson, US Consul General, assassinated in Jerusalem.

June - Violent confrontation between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) under the command of David Ben-Gurion, and the paramilitary Jewish group Irgun known as The Altalena Affair results in the dismantlement of the Irgun, Lehi, and all Israeli paramilitary organizations operating outside the IDF.

Infiltration by Palestinian fedayeen begin from Egypt across Israeli border resulting in many minor skirmishes, raids and counter-raids, resulting in hundreds of casualties on both sides, including many civilians. One thousand three hundred Israelis were killed or wounded in terrorist attacks. “Egypt’s President

September 19 - Folke Bernadotte, United Nations Peace Envoy, assassinated in Jerusalem.

September 22 - the All-Palestine Government is assembled in the Egyptian controlled Gaza Strip, and is recognized by all members of the Arab League, except Jordan.

October 28 - Israeli army kill at least 70 villagers at Al-Dawayima.

1949

February–July - Israel concludes Armistice Agreements with neighbouring countries. The territory of the Mandatory Palestine is divided between the State of Israel, the Transjordan and the All-Palestine Government in Gaza, under prefecture of Egypt. During and after the war about 711,000 Palestinian Arabs become displaced and refugees. 800,000-1,000,000 Jews living in Muslim countries are expelled during or after the war.

February 24 - Armistice signed with Egypt.

February - 148 infiltrators killed by the Israeli army during February in area around Majdal/Ashkelon.

March 23 - Armistice signed with Lebanon.

April 3 - Armistice signed with Transjordan.

June - Israeli army kill 93 infiltrators along Southern Jordan and Gaza Strip borders.

July 30 - Armistice signed with Syria.

July - 59 infiltrators killed by Israeli army. It is estimated that at least 1000 were killed during 1949.

Post 1948 war

In 1949-1953, there are 99 complaints made by Israel about the infiltration of armed groups or individuals and 30 complaints of armed Jordanian units crossing into Israeli territory. Several hundred Israeli civilians are killed by infiltrators, and some are raped and mutilated. Israel launches numerous reprisal raids in response. Between 1949 and 1956, 286 Israeli civilians were killed. During the same period, excluding the Suez War, 258 Israeli soldiers were killed. Between 2,700 and 5,000 Arab infiltrators were killed.

1951

The State of Israel is confronted by a wave of Palestinian infiltrations (fedayeen). In 1951, 118 Israelis, including 48 civilians, are killed by such infiltrators. According to Israeli army records an average of 36 infiltrators were killed each month during 1951. Israel begins Retribution Operations as punishment and prevention measures.

February 6/7 - Village of Sharafat, south-west of Jerusalem attacked by Israeli army. 9 villagers killed.

1952

68 Israelis, including 42 civilians, are killed by Palestinian infiltrators. The Israeli army killed a monthly average of 33 people crossing the armisitice lines, including 78 in March and 57 in April.

January 6/7 - Israeli army attack Bayt Jala killing 6, including 2 women and 2 girls.

1953

71 Israelis, including 44 civilians, are killed by Palestinian infiltrators.

April 22 - At least six Jordanian soldiers killed by Israeli sniper fire from West Jerusalem.

May 17–23 - Operation Viper on the track. Seven West Bank villages and a bedouin camp in Israel attacked by Israeli army.

August 11/12 - Operation Vengeance and reprisal. Four West Bank villages attacked by Israeli army, including al-Khader and Surif. Six people killed.

October 16 - Qibya massacre. Ariel Sharon in command of Unit 101 carries out a raid in the village of Qibya. Over 60 Arabs are killed, two-thirds of whom are women and children.

1954

57 Israelis are killed, including 33 civilians. Israeli Border Police record between May and December they killed 51 infiltrators.

March 16/17 - Ma'ale Akrabim massacre: Arab gang attacks an Israeli civilian bus, killing 11.

April 28/9 - Operation Lion. Village of Nahhalin attacked by Israeli army. Nine people killed. Four National Guardsmen, three Jordanian soldiers, the village mukhtar and a woman.

July 10/12 - Operation Eye for an eye. An Israeli company led by Ariel Sharon attacksa post on the Gaza border near Kissufim killing 9 or 10 Palestinian gendarmes.

July 23/24 - start of the Lavon Affair.

1955

74 Israelis are killed, including 24 civilians. The Israeli army record 36 "hostile" infiltrators being killed.

February 28/March 1 - Operation Black arrow. Sharon leads an Israeli attack on an Egyptian army base in the Gaza Strip killing 38 soldiers and two civilians.

August 31/September 1 - Israeli army attacks outskirts of Khan Yunis. 72 Egyptians and Palestinians killed.

October 27/28 - Sharon leads a force of 200 Israeli paratroopers on an attack on Kuntilla. 12 Egyptian soldiers killed.

November 2/3 - Operation Volcano. The Israeli army attacks Egyptian army position in al Sabha and Wadi Siram killing 81 Egyptian soldiers.

December 11/12 - Operation Olive leaves. A large Israeli force commanded by Sharon attacked Syrian positions east of Lake Tiberias. 48 Syrian soldiers killed as well as six civilians.

1956

117 Israelis killed, including 54 civilians but excluding soldiers killed during the attack on the Suez Canal.

April 5 - Moshe Dayan ordered the shelling of the centre of Gaza City with 120mm mortars. 57 civilians and four Egyptian soldiers killed.

October 9 - Qalqilya police station attacked by a battalion sized force from the Israeli army, including armour and artillery. Between 70 and 90 Jordanians killed.

October 29 - The Suez Crisis. Israel invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula with covert assent from France and Britain. The European nations had economic and trading interests in the Suez Canal, while Israel wanted to reopen the canal for Israeli shipping and end Egyptian-supported fedayeen incursions and attacks. Israel completely withdrew six months later when Egypt assured Israel unimpeded navigation and safety.

October 29 - In the Kafr Qasim massacre 48–49 Arab civilians were killed by the Israel Border Police as they returned to their village from work.

Egypt expelled its Jewish and European population.

1957

March - Israel withdraws its forces from the Sinai Peninsula, ending the Suez Crisis.

1959

The Cairo-born Yasser Arafat forms Fatah to conduct guerrilla warfare operations against Israel.

1963

In a new wave of Arab socialism, the Ba'ath party takes power in Iraq and Syria. Among the key targets of the Ba'ath is the support of the Palestinian cause.

1964

February 3 - The Palestine Liberation Organization is founded in Cairo by the Arab League with Ahmad Shuqeiri as its leader. Even though Ahmad Shuqeiri is the official leader, the organization is more or less controlled by the Egyptian government. The PLO states their goal as the destruction of the State of Israel through armed struggle, and replacing it with an "independent Palestinian state" between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Others around the world, including the first airplane hijackings.

1967-1973

1967

June - The Six-Day War. Israel launches a strike on Egyptian Air Force (June 5), following Egyptian naval blockade of the Straits of Tiran (May 22) and Egyptian military buildup in the Sinai Peninsula (May 16), interpreted as acts of war. Attack quickly turns into a regional war, in which Israel defeats the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and their supporters. It captures the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The number of war casualties is estimated between 15,000 to 25,000.

September 1, 1967 - The Khartoum Resolution issued at the Arab Summit with eight Arab countries adopts the "three nos": 1. No peace with Israel, 2. No recognition of Israel, 3. No negotiations with Israel.

1968

March 21 - Israel fights the Battle of Karameh against Fatah and Jordanian forces.

1968–1970 - Egypt wages the War of Attrition against Israel.

December 27/28 – Israeli army launch an attack on Beirut airport destroying 13 aircraft, valued at $43.8 million.

1969

February 2 - Yasser Arafat, head of the Fatah party, is appointed chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, replacing Ahmad Shukeiri, after Fatah becomes the dominant force in the PLO.

August 21 - Denis Michael Rohan, and Australian Christian who was working on an Israeli Kibbutz, set fire to the Al Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, causing extensive damage and destroying the 12th century minbar.

September 22–25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia convenes a conference in Rabat, Morroco, to discuss the arson attack on the Al Aqsa Mosque. The leaders of 25 Muslim states attend and the conference calls for Israel to give up territory conquered in 1967. The conference also sets up the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and pledges its support for the Palestinians.

1970

May 8 - Avivim school bus massacre. Palestinian militants coming from Lebanon attack a school bus, killing 12 (mostly children) and wounding another 19.

September, 1970 - After the Palestinian defeat in Black September in Jordan by Jordanian forces, the PLO was driven out to south Lebanon.

1971

January 2 - Murder of the Aroyo children. A Palestinian teenager throws a hand grenade into the moving car of the Aroyo family. The children, aged 4 and 7, are killed and the parents are injured.

1972

May 8 - A Sabena airplane from Vienna to Tel Aviv was hijacked by four members of Black September and held at Lod airport. The hijackers demanded the release of 100 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli paratroopers disguised as mechanics entered the aircraft, killed two of the hi-jackers and released 90 passengers.

May 30 - Lod Airport Massacre. On behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Japanese Red Army members enter the waiting area of Lod Airport in Tel Aviv and fire indiscriminately at airport staff and visitors. 24 people killed, and 78 injured.

July 9 - PFLP spokesman and author Ghassan Kanafani and his 17-year-old niece are killed by an Israeli car bomb in Beirut.

July 11 - A grenade thrown in Tel Aviv's bus terminal, injuring 11, claimed to be in retaliation for Kanafani's killing.

July 19 - Dr. Anis al-Sayigh, Director of the Beirut Center for Palestinian Affairs injured by an Israeli letter bomb.

July 25 - Bassam Abu Sharif, chief assistant to George Habash, badly injured by Israeli letter bomb delivered to PFLP offices in Beirut.

August 5 - Ali Hasan Salameh, a Black September commander, leads an attack on an American owned oil storage facility at Trieste, Italy.

September 6 - Munich Massacre of Israeli Olympic team by Palestinian militant group, Black September. The terrorists kill two of the athletes and take nine hostage demanding the release of 250 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. They call their operation "Ikrit and Biram" after two villages in northern Israel. In an airport shoot-out with the West German police the remaining nine athletes and five of their captors are killed. This leads Israel to launch reprisal assassinations known as Operation Wrath of God.

September 11 - Zadock Ophir, a Mossad clerk at the Israeli embassy in Brussels is shot and badly wounded by a Palestinian.

September 19 - Dr. Ami Shchori, agricultural attache at the Israeli embassy in London, is killed by an Arab letter bomb.

October 17 - Wa'el Zu'aiter, Fatah's representative in Rome, is shot dead by Israeli agents.

December 8 - Mahmud al-Hamshari, PLO representative in Paris, is badly wounded by an Israeli bomb. He dies a month later.

December 28 - Black September gunmen enter the Israeli embassy in Bangkok and take six Israeli hostage. They demand the release of 36 Palestinians. The hostages are released unharmed.

1973

January 24 - Hussein Abu al-Khair, Fatah representative in Cyprus, killed by an Israeli bomb in Nicosia.

January 26 - Baruch Cohen, Mossad director of operations against Palestinians in Europe, killed in Madrid by a Fatah gunman.

February 22 - Israeli Air Force jets shoot down a Libyan Airlines Boeing over Sinai, killing 104 passengers and crew.

March 6 - Black September gunmen attack the Saudi embassy in Khartoum demanding the release of Abu Dawud held in Jordan. They murder the American ambassador, Cleo Noel, the retiring American charge d'affairs, George Moore and a Belgian diplomat, Guy Eid.

March 12 - Simha Gilzer, a Mossad agent, shot dead in Nicosia by Palestinian gunmen.

April 4 - Dr. Basil al-Qubaisi, PFLP official, killed by Israeli agents in Paris.

April 9 - Israeli commando raid against PLO targets in Beirut, Lebanon (Operation Spring of Youth). Muhammad Yusif Najjar, Kamal Udwan and Kamal Nasser are killed in their homes. The resulting demonstrations bring down the Lebanese government.

April 27 - An Israel employee of El Al murdered in Rome by a Palestinian gunman.

June 27 - Muhammad Boudia, an Algerian member of Fatah, killed in Paris by an Israeli bomb.

July 2 - Col. Yosef Alon, Israeli defense attache, shot dead outside his home in Washington DC.

July 21 - Israeli gunmen shoot dead a Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer, Norway. Six Israelis are captured and put on trial.

October - The Yom Kippur War. Syria and Egypt surprise-attack Israeli forces in the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula on the holiest day of the Hebrew calendar and last day of Ramadan. Jordan, Iraq, and other Arab nations join in and/or support the Arab war effort. Many Israeli prisoners of war are tortured and killed by Egypt and Syria while in captivity.

October 19 - President Nixon gives a speech to Congress in which he requests permission to deliver large amounts of weapons to Israel. In response King Faisal announces that Saudi Arabia will stop all oil shipments to the United States. The Netherlands are also included in the oil embargo.

Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon

1974

April 11 - Kiryat Shmona massacre. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command crossed the border into Israel from Lebanon. They entered an apartment building and killed all eighteen residents, half of whom were children.

May 15 - Ma'alot massacre. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked a van killing two Israeli Arab women, entered an apartment and killed a family, took over a local school and held 115 students and teachers hostage. 25 Israelis were killed at the school, including 22 children, and 68 were wounded.

October 26–29 - The Arab League recognized the PLO as sole representative of the Palestinians.

November 13 - Yassir Arafat addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

1975

March 4 - Savoy Operation. Eight Palestinian terrorists in two teams landed by boat in Tel Aviv. Shooting and throwing grenades, they captured the Savoy Hotel and take the guests as hostages. Five hostages were freed and eight were killed. Three Israeli soldiers were also killed.

July 4 - A "refrigerator bomb" in Jerusalem kills 15 Israelis and wounds 77.

November 10 - The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted on November 10, 1975 by a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), "determine[d] that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination". The resolution was revoked by Resolution 46/86 on December 16, 1991.

November 13 - An explosive charge went off near Cafe Naveh on Jaffa Road, near the pedestrian mall. Seven Israeli civilians were killed and 45 injured.

1977

January 3 - Mahmud Salih, PLO representative in Paris and manager of an Arab bookshop, killed by Israeli agents.

1976

May 3 - Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem is bombed by Palestinian terrorists. 33 civilians are injured.

July 4 - Operation Entebbe. Air France Flight 139, originating in Tel Aviv, took off from Athens, Greece, heading for Paris. It was hijacked by four terrorists (two from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two from the radical German militant group Revolutionary Cells). Israel performed a rescue mission to free the 248 passengers and 12 crew members held hostage at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

1978

January 4 - Sa'id Hammami, PLO representative in London and a well known dove, killed by a an Abu Nidal gunman.

11 March 1978 (1978-03-11): Coastal Road Massacre. Fatah Palestinians killed an American photographer, hijacked a loaded bus and killed 38 more Israelis, including 13 children, and wounded 76.

March 14 - Operation Litani. Israel, in alliance with the mostly Christian South Lebanon Army, launches a limited-scope invasion of Lebanon and attempts to push Palestinian militant groups away from the Israel border. The 7-day offensive results in 100,000 to 285,000 refugees created and between 300 and 1200 Lebanese and Palestinian militants and civilians killed.

June 15 - Ali Yassin, PLO representative in Kuwait, killed by a member of the Abu Nidal group.

August 5 - Yizz al-Din Qalaq, PLO representative in Paris and well-known dove, killed by an Abu Nidal gunman.

September 17 - Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat sign the Camp David Accord, with Israel agreeing to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace and a framework for future negotiation over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

1979

January 22 - Ali Hassan Salameh, head of Yasir Arafat's security unit, Force 17, killed by an Israeli car bomb in Beirut.

March 14 - One Israeli is killed and 13 people are injured when an explosive charge blows up in a trash can in Zion Square.

March 26 - Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Egypt becomes the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel.

April 22 - Samir Kuntar from the Palestine Liberation Front kills 4 Israelis including a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old girl in the Israeli town of Nahariya.

1981

June 1 - Na'im Khudr, PLO representative in Brussels and well-known dove, killed by an Abu Nidal gunman.

July 17: Israel bombs PLO headquarters, which had been located in a civilian area of Beirut and caused more than 300 civilian deaths. This led the United States to broker a shaky cease-fire between Israel and the PLO.

August 29: The 1981 Vienna synagogue attack on the Stadttempel of Vienna, Austria carried out by Palestinian terrorists of the Abu Nidal organization.

October 9 - Majid Abu Sharar, prominent member of Fatah, killed by an Israeli bomb in Rome.

October 20: 1981 Antwerp bombing on October 20, 1981, when a truck bomb exploded outside a Portuguese Jewish synagogue in the centre of Antwerp, Belgium.

1982

My 15, 1982: Israel launches Operation Peace for Galilee into southern Lebanon. Israel claims the invasion was in order to remove PLO forces after several violations of a cease-fire, most notably an assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, by the Abu Nidal Organization. Israel is allied with the Lebanese Christian army against the PLO, Syria, and Muslim Lebanese. As a result of the war, the PLO leadership is driven from Lebanon and relocates to Tunis.

September 1982: Sabra and Shatila massacre. Lebanese Phalangists massacre between 700–3,500 Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, almost all civilians. While no Israeli soldiers were present in the fighting, Israeli Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, was found to be indirectly responsible by negligence for the massacre by the Kahan Commission, and was asked to resign his position. The commission's conclusions are controversial and remain a subject of debate.

Stagnation (1980s)

1983

April 10 - Dr. Isam Sartawi, close associate of Yasir Arafat and most prominent dove, killed by an Abu Nidal gunman in Lisbon.

August - The Israeli Army withdraws from most of Lebanon in August 1983, maintaining a self-proclaimed "Security Zone" in the south.

December 8 - Murder of Danny Katz: the body of a 14-year-old Israeli is found mutilated with evidence of strangulation, torture, and sexual assault. 5 Arabs are convicted of the murder.

1985

April 9 - Sana'a Mouhadlyof the Syrian Social Nationalist Party detonates herself in an explosive-laden vehicle in Lebanon, killing two Israeli soldiers and injuring two more, becoming the first reported female suicide bomber.

October 1 - After three Israeli civilians were killed on their yacht off the coast of Cyprus by Force 17 PLO, the Israeli Air Force carries out Operation Wooden Leg and strikes the PLO base in Tunis, killing 60 PLO members.

October 7 - The Palestine Liberation Front hijacks the Achille Lauro, redirecting the cruise ship to Syria and holding its passengers and crew hostage, demanding the release of 50 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. One man was murdered; Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish American, was celebrating his 36th wedding anniversary with his wife upon the Achille Lauro. At the age of 69 he was shot in the forehead and chest while sitting in his wheelchair.

December 27 - Intending to hijack El Al jets and blow them up over Tel Aviv, Fatah - Revolutionary Council gunmen open fire with rifles and grenades at the international airports in Rome and Vienna, killing 18 civilians and wounding 138. 6 of the 7 terrorists were either killed or captured.

First Intifada

1987

July 22 - Cartoonist Naji al-Ali shot in the head whilst walking a London street. He died of his injuries on 21 August 1987. It was later revealed that those believed to be responsible where being managed by Mossad agents.

November 25 - 6 Israeli soldiers are killed by infiltrators who flew over the Lebanese border on hang gliders

December 8 - Four Palestinian workers from Jabalya refugee camp are killed when an Israeli army tank transporter runs into their mini-bus at the Erez crossing.

December 8 - First Intifada begins. Violence, riots, general strikes, and civil disobedience campaigns by Palestinians spread across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces respond with tear gas, plastic bullets, and live ammunition.

After the outbreak of the First Intifada, Shaikh Ahmed Yassin creates Hamas from the Gaza wing of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Until this point the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza had enjoyed the support of the Israeli authorities and had refrained from violent attacks, however, Hamas quickly began attacks on Israeli military targets, and subsequently, Israeli civilians.

The Israeli army killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the 1st intifada whilst 164 Israelis were killed. Allegedly almost half (1,000) of the total Palestinian casualties were caused by internal fighting among Palestinian factions.5

1988

During 1988 289 Palestinian in the occupied territories were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 15 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 6 Israeli civilians and 4 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians.

April 16 - Abu Jihad, (Khalil al-Wazir), head of PLO's military operations, killed in his home in Tunis by a seaborne Israeli assassination squad.

August 1 - King Hussein of Jordan abandoned to the PLO its claim for the West Bank.

November 15 - An independent State of Palestine was proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46.

1989

During 1989 285 Palestinian in the occupied territories were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 17 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 19 Israeli civilians and 6 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians.

July 16 - First Palestinian suicide attack inside Israel's borders: Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 massacre.

1990

During 1990 125 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 9 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 4 Israeli civilians and 3 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians.

1991

During 1991 91 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 6 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 7 Israeli civilians and 1 member of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians.

January 14 - Abu Iyad, second in command of Fatah and opposed to Yasir Arafat's support of Saddam Hussein, killed in Tunis by Hamza Abu Zaid who had been recruited by the Abu Nidal organisation.

When the U.S.-led coalition fought to get Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, Hussein attempted to draw Israel into the war and fired 39 Scud missiles into Israel. To avoid disrupting the U.S.-led coalition, Israel did not retaliate.

Peace Process

1991

October 30 - Madrid Conference.

December 16 - United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86 revoked Resolution 3379 of November 10, 1975 (on Zionism and racism) with a vote of 111 to 25, with 13 abstentions.

1992

During 1992 134 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli army in the occupied territories. An additional 2 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 11 Israeli civilians and 14 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians.

May 24 - Murder of Helena Rapp: 15-year-old Israeli girl is stabbed to death on the way to school by a Palestinian terrorist.

June - Yitzhak Rabin of the Labour Party elected Prime Minister.

1993

During 1993 154 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli army in the occupied territories. An additional 13 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 27 Israeli civilians and 18 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians.

April - Mehola Junction bombing, the first suicide attack by Hamas. One Palestinian bystander was killed by the blast, and eight Israeli soldiers were slightly injured.

August 20 - Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sign the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government in Oslo. This event is also seen by many people as the definitive end to the First Intifada (although some argue it had effectively ended by 1991–1992). By 1993, the violence of the Intifada had claimed the lives of 1162 Palestinians and 160 Israelis. The IDF criticized these numbers from not distinguishing combatants and non-combatants.

1994

During 1994 106 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 38 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 11 Israeli civilians and 12 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

February 25 - Cave of the Patriarchs attack, Baruch Goldstein opens fire on Palestinian Muslims worshipping at the Ibrahimi Mosque, killing 29 and injuring 125. He is subsequently overpowered and beaten to death by survivors.

April 6 - Hamas carries out their second suicide bombing, in Afula, Israel, killing 8 people.

May 18 - Israeli forces withdraw from Jericho and Gaza City in compliance with the Oslo accords.

July - Arafat returns from exile to head Palestinian National Authority.

October 19–22 Israelis are killed by a Hamas suicide attack on a bus in Tel Aviv. This was the first major suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

October 26 - Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty is signed by Yizhak Rabin and King Hussein with the mediation of the US government.

November 30 - Afula axe attack: Arab kills a 19-year-old female Israeli soldier with an axe.

December 10 - Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1995

During 1995 42 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 2 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 7 Israeli civilians and 9 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

January 22 - Beit Lid massacre: a double suicide bombing by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaves 21 killed in one of the biggest attacks which further divides the Israeli public over the peace process.

April 9 - Kfar Darom bus attack: 8 Israelis are killed and 52 are injured in an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing.

July 24 - Ramat Gan bus bombing: 6 Israelis are killed and 33 are wounded in a Hamas suicide bombing.

August 21 - Ramat Eshkol bus bombing: 5 Israelis are killed in a Hamas suicide bombing and over 100 are injured.

September 28 - Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, also known as Oslo II, signed in Washington, DC.

November 4 - Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated in Tel Aviv by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir. Shimon Peres assumes the position of acting Prime Minister.

1996

During 1996 69 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 3 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 3 Israeli civilians and 19 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

January 5 - Shin Bet kill Yahya Ayyash commander of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades using a telephone bomb.

February 25 to March 4 - A series of suicide attacks in Jerusalem (Jerusalem bus 18 suicide bombings and in the French Hill), Tel Aviv and Ashkelon leave more than 60 Israeli dead. These events are said to have had a major impact on the Israeli elections in May.

April 11 to 27 - Operation of Grapes of Wrath and the 1996 shelling of Qana: Operation Grapes of Wrath (Hebrew: מבצע ענבי זעם) is the Israeli Defense Forces code-name (Hezbollah calls it April War) for a sixteen-day campaign against Lebanon in 1996. Israel conducted more than 1,100 air raids and extensive shelling (some 25,000 shells). 639 Hezbollah cross-border rocket attacks targeted northern Israel, particularly the town of Kiryat Shemona. The conflict escalated on April 18 when Israeli artillery killed 106 civilians in a technical error and Israeli warplanes killed 9 other civilians in the city of Nabatiyeh while sleeping in their two-story building. The conflict was de-escalated on 27 April by a ceasefire agreement banning attacks on civilians.

May - Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud is elected Prime Minister.

June 9 - Murder of Yaron and Efrat Ungar: Married Israeli couple shot dead by Palestinian gunmen while driving with their one-year-old son.

1997

During 1997 18 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 4 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 6 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

January 15 to 17 - Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron was signed. The agreement called for an IDF withdrawal from 80% of Hebron, and initiation of withdrawal from rural areas in the West Bank, as well as remaining parts of the West Bank apart from settlements and military locations. Israel and the PA agreed to begin negotiations on the permanent status agreement to be completed by May 4, 1999.

March 13 - Island of Peace massacre: A Jordanian soldier opens fire on a large group of Israeli schoolgirls, killing 7 of them and injuring 6.

March 21 - Cafe Apropo bombing: Palestinian suicide bomber kills 3 Israeli women and injures 48.

July 30 - 16 Israelis are killed in a double suicide attack in the major market of Jerusalem. This was the worst killing during Netanyahu's time which is regarded as a relatively quiet period, attributed by Netanyahu to his tit-for-tat policy and his objection to the Palestinian revolving door policy.

September 4 - A Hamas suicide bombing at a pedestrian mall in Jerusalem kills 5 Israelis, including 3 fourteen-year-old girls, and led to Chicago's Persian heritage crisis.

September 25 - Mossad agents make a failed attempt to kill Hamas member Khaled Mashal in Amman.

1998

During 1998 21 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional 6 were killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 8 Israeli civilians and 3 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

October 23 - Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat sign the Wye River Memorandum at a summit in Maryland hosted by Bill Clinton. The sides agreed on steps to facilitate implementation of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip of September 28, 1995 and other related agreements including the Hebron Protocol of January 17, 1997 so that the Israeli and Palestinian sides could more effectively carry out their reciprocal responsibilities, including those relating to further redeployments and security.

1999

During 1999 8 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli security forces, an additional one person was killed by Israeli civilians. In the same period 1 Israeli civilian and 2 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed by Palestinians. in the occupied territories.

May 17 - Ehud Barak of the Labour Party is elected Prime Minister under the One Israel banner.

2000

May 24 - The Israeli Army withdraws from southern Lebanon, in compliance with U.N. Resolution 425. Syria and Lebanon insist that the withdrawal is incomplete, claiming the Shebaa Farms as Lebanese and still under occupation. The UN certifies full Israeli withdrawal.

July - The Camp David Summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat aimed at reaching a "final status" agreement collapses after Yasser Arafat would not accept a proposal drafted by American and Israeli negotiators.

Second Intifada

2000

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2000

September 28 – 29: Right wing Israeli Opposition Leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount which is administered by a Waqf (Under Israeli law, each religious group is granted administration of their holy sites). The day after the visit, violent confrontations erupt between Muslims and Israeli Police. Arafat names the second intifada the Al-Aqsa Intifada after Sharon's visit, for the Al-Aqsa Mosque contained within the Temple Mount compound (holy also to Jews and Christians). This event is considered by some to be one of the possible catalysts of the second intifada. Palestinian leaders (including the Palestinian Minister of Communication, Imhad Falouji) later admit publicly that the Intifada had been planned since the end of the Camp David negotiations. A campaign of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks began September 29, 2000 and within five years had left over 1,068 Israelis dead and over 7,000 injured—69 percent of them civilians. Approximately 3,000 Palestinians were also killed in this conflict.

October 1 – 9: October 2000 events in Israel, solidarity demonstrations held by Palestinian citizens residing in Israel escalate into clashes with Israeli police and Israeli Jewish citizens. 13 Arab civilians (12 with Israeli citizenship) are shot and killed by Israeli police and one Jewish civilian is killed by a Palestinian. In a Hezbollah cross-border raid, 3 Israeli soldiers are killed and their bodies kidnapped and Northern Israel is shelled in an attempt to ignite the Israeli-Lebanese border too, but Israelis decide on limited response.

October 12: The lynching in Ramallah, two Israeli reservists accidentally enter Ramallah, to be arrested by Palestinian Security Forces, later to be publicly lynched and videotaped inside the Police station.

November 22: Two Israeli women were killed and 60 civilians were wounded in a car bomb attack in Hadera.

December 10: Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, resigns.

2001

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2001

January 21–27: Taba Summit. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed to reach the "final status" of negotiations. Ehud Barak temporarily withdraws from negotiations during the Israeli elections, subsequently Ariel Sharon refused to continue negotiating in the face of the newly erupted violence.

February 6: Ariel Sharon of Likud is elected Prime Minister and refuses to continue negotiations with Yasser Arafat at the Taba Summit.

March 26: Murder of Shalhevet Pass, a 10-month-old Israeli baby is shot dead by a Palestinian sniper. Israeli public is shocked when the investigation concludes that the sniper deliberately aimed for the baby.

June 1: Dolphinarium massacre. A Hamas suicide bomber exploded himself at the entrance of a club. 21 Israelis killed, over 100 injured, all youth. Five months prior to the bombing, there was a failed terrorist attempt at the same spot.

August 9: Sbarro restaurant massacre. A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt weighing 5 to 10 kilograms, containing explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb. In the blast 15 people (including 7 children and a pregnant woman) were killed, and 130 wounded. Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad initially claimed responsibility.

August 27: Abu Ali Mustafa, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is assassinated by an Israeli missile shot by an Apache helicopter through his office window in Ramallah.

October 17: Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi is assassinated in Jerusalem by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

December 1: 11 Israeli civilians, 9 of them teenagers, are killed and 188 are injured in a Hamas suicide bombing attack.

2002

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2002

March: 25: 9 Palestinians and 131 Israelis were killed within the a period of violence known as the Second Intifada.

March 13: The United States pushes through the passage of Resolution 1397 by the Security Council, demanding an "immediate cessation of all acts of violence" and "affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders".

March 14: Israeli forces continue the raid on Ramallah and other West Bank towns. A helicopter attack near Tulkarm kills Mutasen Hammad and two bystanders. A bomb in Gaza City destroys an Israeli tank which was escorting settlers, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 2. A car bomb in Tulkarm explodes, killing 4 Palestinians. Palestinians execute two accused collaborators in Bethlehem, planning to hang one of the corpses near the Church of the Nativity until Palestinian police stopped them.

March 27: Passover massacre, the Park Hotel in Netanya held a big Passover dinner for its 250 guests. A Palestinian suicide bomber enters the hotel's dining room and detonates an explosive device, killing 30 people and injuring around 140, all civilians. Hamas claims responsibility.

March 28: The Beirut Summit approves the Saudi peace proposal.

March 29: Israeli forces begin Operation Defensive Shield, Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.

March 30: A suicide bomber explodes in a Tel Aviv café at around 9:30 pm local time, wounding 32 people. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell (USA) call on Yasir Arafat to condemn the wave of suicide bombings in Arabic, to his own people. Israeli spokespeople make similar demands. Arafat goes on television and swears in Arabic that he will "die a martyr, a martyr, a martyr". Members of Arafat's personal Al-Aqsa brigade state that they will refuse any form of cease-fire, and that they will continue suicide bombings of civilians in Israel.

March 31: Matza restaurant massacre, a Palestinian Hamas bomber blows himself up in an Arab-owned restaurant in Haifa, killing 15 and injuring over 40 people.

April: Israeli troops exchange gunfire with guards of Yasir Arafat in Ramallah.

April 2: Israeli troops occupy Bethlehem. Dozens of armed Palestinian gunmen occupy the Church of the Nativity and hold the church and its clergy.

April 12: The Battle of Jenin, as part of Operation Defensive Shield, Israeli forces enter a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin, where about a quarter of suicide bombings since 2000 had been launched from. The battle results in the deaths of 23 Israeli soldiers and 52 Palestinians, of which 30-47 were militants and 5-22 were civilians (sources vary). This particular event sparked a great deal of controversy.

May 9: Muhammad al-Madani, governor of Bethlehem, leaves the Church of the Nativity.

May 18: Israeli Shin Bet officials announce they have arrested six Israelis for conspiring to bomb Palestinian schools in April, including Noam Federman, a leader of the illegal Kach movement of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, and Menashe Levinger, son of Rabbi Moshe Levinger.

June: Israel begins construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier. Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis subsequently drop by 90%.

June 18: Patt junction massacre, a Palestinian Suicide bomber, an Islamic law student and member of Hamas, detonates a belt filled with metal balls for shrapnel on a bus in Jerusalem. 19 Israelis are killed, and over 74 wounded.

June 24: US President George W. Bush calls for an independent Palestinian state living in peace with Israel. Bush states that Palestinian leaders must take steps to produce democratic reforms, and fiscal accountability, in order to improve the negotiations with Israel. He also states that as Palestinians show control over terrorism, Israel must end operations in the West Bank, and in areas which it entered under Operation Defensive Shield.

July 16: 2002 Immanuel bus attack. Palestinian militants ambush a bus and kill 9 Israeli civilians, including infants. The youngest victim of the Second Intifada is among them.

July 22: An Israeli warplane fires a missile at an apartment in Gaza City, killing the top of their most wanted list, Salah Shehadeh, top commander of Hamas' military wing, the Izzadine el-Qassam. The apartment building is flattened and 14 civilians are killed (including eight children).

July 31: Hebrew University massacre, 9 students, 4 Israelis and 5 Americans are killed by a suicide bomber at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and over 100 were also injured. The attack is celebrated in the Gaza Strip.

July 31: A Hamas member plants a bag containing a bomb in the cafeteria of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing 9 Jewish students (four Israeli, five foreign), and injuring 85 others (different nationalities, including a number of Arabs). Palestinians rally in Gaza waving Hamas flags to celebrate the attack. On August 17, Israeli Security Forces expose a terrorist cell of Hamas operatives in East Jerusalem that had been responsible for the attack. The members had been planning another attack until arrested by Israel.[10] [11] [12]

August 14: Marwan Barghouti, captured April 15, was indicted by a civilian Israeli court for murdering civilians and membership in a terrorist organisation.

October 21: Karkur junction suicide bombing, 14 Israelis, including 7 civilians, are killed in an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Wadi Ara.

November 21: Jerusalem bus 20 massacre, a Hamas suicide bomber detonates himself on a crowded bus in Jerusalem, killing 11 people, and wounding over 50.

2003

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2003

January 5: Tel Aviv central bus station massacre. 23 Israeli civilians are killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber.

March 5: Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing. 17 Israelis, including 16 civilians and 9 children, are killed by a Hamas suicide bomber.

March 16: Rachel Corrie, an American member of the International Solidarity Movement is crushed by an IDF bulldozer, becoming the first ISM member to die in the conflict. Members of the group who witnessed her death allege murder, while Israel calls it a "regrettable accident".

March 19: Mahmoud Abbas appointed Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority.

March 24: Hilltop 26, an illegal Israeli settlement near the city of Hebron, is peacefully dismantled by the IDF.

April 30: The Quartet on the Middle East announces the Road map for peace.

May 27: Ariel Sharon states that the "occupation" of Palestinian territories "can't continue endlessly."

June 2: A two-day summit is held in Egypt. Arab leaders announce their support for the road map and promised to work on cutting off funding to terrorist groups.

June 11: Davidka Square bus bombing. A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 17 Israeli civilians.

June 29: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah agree to a three-month cease-fire.

July 9: The International Court of Justice rules in a non-binding advisory opinion that the Israeli West Bank barrier is illegal under international law, the United Nations has also condemned the construction of the wall as "an unlawful act of annexation". The United States and Australia defend the security fence saying the wall is a counter-terrorism protective measure and that the onus is on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism. The U.S., Canada, Israel and some 30 other democratic states objected to the ICJ consideration of the UN General Assembly request, finding the request loaded and prejudicial, and expressing concern of the ICJ's credibility.

August 19: Jerusalem bus 2 massacre. A Hamas Palestinian disguised as a Haredi Jew detonates himself with a bomb spiked with ball-bearings on a bus crowded with children. 23 Israelis are killed and over 130 wounded, all civilians.

September 6: Mahmoud Abbas resigns from the post of Prime Minister.

October 4: Maxim restaurant suicide bombing. A 28-year-old Palestinian female suicide bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, explodes herself inside the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. 21 Israelis (Jewish and Arab) were killed, and 51 others were wounded. The restaurant is co-owned by Jewish and Christian Arab Israelis, and was a symbol of co-existence.

2004

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2004

January 29 - Gaza Street bus bombing. Ali Yusuf Jaara, a 24-year-old Palestinian policeman from Bethlehem, becomes a suicide bomber and kills 11 Israeli civilians in Jerusalem.

March 14 - 2004 Ashdod Port bombings. 10 Israeli civilians are killed in a suicide bombing. Hamas and Fatah claim responsibility.

March 22 - An Israeli Air Force rocket kills Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin and eleven others in Gaza City.

Apri 17 - An Israeli Air Force rocket kills Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and two others in Gaza City.

May 2 - Murder of Tali Hatuel and her four daughters. Eight-months pregnant woman and her four young daughters are ambushed and killed by Palestinian militants.

August 31 - Beersheba bus bombings. 16 Israeli civilians are killed in a suicide bombing. Hamas claims responsibility.

October 16 - Israel officially ended a 17-day military operation, named Operation Days of Penitence, in the northern Gaza Strip. The operation was launched in response to a Qassam rocket that killed two children in Sderot. About 108–133 Palestinians were killed during the operation, of whom one third were civilians.

November 11 - Yasser Arafat dies at the age of 75 in a hospital near Paris, after undergoing urgent medical treatment (since October 29, 2004).

2005

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2005

January 13: Karni border crossing attack. Palestinian terrorists kill 6 Israeli civilians with 200 pound Explosive device, hand grenades, and AK-47 rifles.

February 25: Stage Club bombing. Young Israelis arrive for a surprise birthday party at the Stage Club in Tel Aviv. A Palestinian teenage suicide bomber detonates himself at the entrance to the club. 5 Israelis killed, and about 50 wounded. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.

July 12: HaSharon Mall suicide bombing (July 12, 2005). 5 Israeli civilians are killed and over 90 are injured in a suicide bombing.

Post Intifada period

After Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas and other terrorists unleashed a barrage of daily rocket attacks into Israel. The city of Sderot, for example, one mile away from Gaza, was hit by over 360 Qassam rockets within a six-month period after Israel’s withdrawal. In June 2006, terrorists from Gaza tunneled into Israel, killing two soldiers and kidnapping one. Two weeks later, Hezbollah, supported by Iran and Syria, attacked Israel across the internationally recognized Israeli-Lebanese border, killing eight soldiers and kidnapping two, simultaneously launching a barrage of rockets against civilian towns in northern Israel. Israel responded with a military operation that lasted 34 days. After Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israeli communities and refused to renew a six-month truce, Israel responded with a military operation against Hamas to protect Israeli citizens. The 22-day operation ended on January 18, 2009. In May 2010, Turkish activists with the Free Gaza flotilla tried to break Israel’s naval blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza. In August 2010, Lebanese soldiers shot and killed an Israeli soldier during routine IDF maintenance on the border. Three Lebanese soldiers and one Lebanese journalist were killed in the exchange of gunfire.

2005

August 7: An individual IDF deserter and member of the banned Kach group in Israel, Eden Natan-Zada, opens fire on a crowded bus in the Arab town of Shfaram, killing 4 Palestinians and wounding twenty-two. When he runs out of bullets, the bus is stormed by Arab bystanders and Zaada is beaten to death. PM Ariel Sharon and several Israeli leaders condemn the attack and offer condolences to the families.

August 17: Asher Weissgan shoots and kills 4 Palestinians in the West Bank as a protest against the disengagement plan.

September 12: Completion of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. Israel removes all Jewish settlements, many Bedouin communities, and military equipment from the Gaza Strip. Although there is no permanent Israeli presence or jurisdiction in Gaza anymore, Israel retains control of certain elements (such as airspace, borders and ports), leading to an ongoing dispute as to whether or not Gaza is "occupied" or not. Since the disengagement, Palestinian militant groups have used the territory as a staging ground from which to launch rocket attacks and build underground tunnels into Israel.

October 14: Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora announces Lebanon will be the last Arab country to have any peace with Israel.

2006

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2006

January 25: Hamas wins by landslide the majority of seats after the Palestinian legislative election, 2006. Israel, the United States, European Union, and several European and Western countries cut off their aid to the Palestinians; as they view the Islamist political party who rejects Israel's right to exist as a terrorist organization.

June 9: Following the Gaza beach blast, in which seven members of one family and one other Palestinian were killed on a Gaza beach, the armed wing of Hamas calls off its 16-month-old truce. Israel claims it was shelling 250m away from the family's location; Palestinians claimed that the explosion was Israeli responsibility. Reports have concluded Israel had not been responsible for the blast. An Israeli internal investigation report claims the blast was most likely caused by an unexploded munition buried in the sand and not by shelling.

June 13: Israel kills 11 Palestinians in a missile strike on a van carrying Palestinian militants and rockets driving through a densely civilian populated area in Gaza. Nine among those killed are civilian bystanders.

June 25: After crossing the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Palestinian militants attack an Israeli army post. The militants kidnapped Gilad Shalit, killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. Israel launches Operation Summer Rains.

July 5: First Qassam rocket of increased range is fired into the school yard in the Southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. This has been the first instance of an increased distance Qassam rockets can reach and the first time a significantly large city has been attacked. No one was injured in this attack.

July 12: 2006 Lebanon War: Hezbollah infiltrates Israel in a cross-border raid, kidnaps two soldiers and kills three others. Israel attempts to rescue the kidnapped, and five more soldiers are killed. Israel's military responds, and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict begins. The conflict results in the deaths of 1,191 Lebanese people and 165 Israelis. Of the Israelis killed, 121 were soldiers and 44 were civilians. It is unclear how many of the Lebanese fatalities were combatants, though Israeli officials reported that an estimated 800 were Hezbollah militants. Approximately one million Lebanese and 300,000–500,000 Israelis were displaced.

July 26: Israel launches a counter-offensive to deprive cover to militants firing rockets into Israel from Gaza. 23 Palestinians killed, at least 16 are identified militants, 76 wounded.

August 14: 2006 Fox journalists kidnapping. Palestinian militants kidnap Fox journalists Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, demanding the U.S. to release all Muslims in prison. The two are eventually released on August 27, after stating they have converted to Islam. They both later said that they were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint.

September: Violence and rivalry erupts between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Mahmoud Abbas tries to prevent civil war. President Mahmoud Abbas and his moderate party advocate a Palestinian state alongside Israel, while Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and his Islamist party reject Israel's right to exist.

September 26: A UN study declares the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "intolerable", with 75% of the population dependent on food aid, and an estimated 80% of the population living below the poverty line. The Palestinian economy had largely relied on Western aid and revenues, which has been frozen since Hamas's victory. The situation can also be attributed to Israeli closures, for which Israel and the EU cite security concerns, specifically smuggling, possible weapons transfers and uninhibited return of exiled extremist leaders and terrorists; as well as an extremely high birth rate.

October 11–14: In the midst of an increase of rocket attacks against Israel, the Israeli Air Force fires into the Gaza Strip over a three-day period. 21 Palestinians are killed (17 Hamas militants, 1 al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades militant, and 3 civilians). The two dozen wounded include gunmen and passersby. Israel says the offensive is designed to track down the kidnapped soldier and to stop militants firing rockets into Israel. Spokesman Abu Ubaida for Hamas's military wing issued a statement vowing "we will bombard and strike everywhere" in response to the attacks. Makeshift rockets are immediately shot into Israel.

October 20: Brokered by Egyptian mediators, Fatah reaches a deal to end fighting between the Hamas and Fatah factions, both groups agreeing to refrain from acts that raise tensions and committing themselves to dialogue to resolve differences. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas brushes off comments by President Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah, who indicated he could dismiss the Hamas-led cabinet. Abbas unsuccessfully urges Hamas to accept international calls to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.

Palestinian gunmen (presumably of the Fatah faction) open fire at the convoy of Prime Minister Haniyeh as it passed through a refugee camp in central Gaza.

November 8: Beit Hanoun November 2006 incident. Amidst ongoing rocket fire, Israel shells Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinian civlians (seven children, four women) during the Gaza operations. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologises, saying the incident had been an accidental "technical failure" by the Israeli military.

2007

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2007

January 19: Israel transfers $100 million in tax revenues to cover humanitarian needs to the office of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, as part of a plan to bolster him and keep money out of the hands of the Hamas government.

February: Negotiations in Mecca produced agreement on a Palestinian national unity government signed by Abbas on behalf of Fatah and Khaled Mashal on behalf of Hamas.

March: The Palestinian Legislative Council established a national unity government, with 83 representatives voting in favor and three against. Government ministers were sworn in by Abu Mazen, the chairman on the Palestinian Authority, at a ceremony held simultaneously in Gaza and Ramallah.

May 4: The United States sets a timetable for easing Palestinian travel and bolstering Israeli security. Israel including steps like removing specific checkpoints in the West Bank and deploying better-trained Palestinian forces to try to halt the firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza and the smuggling of weapons, explosives and people into Gaza from Egypt. Israel is wary over certain proposals so long as Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets at Israel. The Hamas-led Palestinian government rejected the initiative.

June 7: Battle of Gaza begins, resulting in Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah.

November 27: Annapolis Conference, a peace conference marked the first time a two-state solution was articulated as the mutually agreed-upon outline for addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conference ended with the issuing of a joint statement from all parties.

2008

Main article: Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2008

February 27: Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired a rocket barrage at the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

February 28: Operation Hot Winter is launched in response to rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The operation resulted in 112 Palestinians and three Israelis being killed.

May 14: Tony Blair announces new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, based heavily on the ideas of the Peace Valley plan.

November, 4: Israeli troops made a raid on Gaza, in which they killed six members of Hamas. Hamas responded with rocket attacks on southern Israel.

December: Israel launches Operation Cast Lead against the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip, a full scale invasion of the territory.

2009

Operation Cast Lead launched near the end of the previous year by Israel, continued until January 18. After 22 days of fighting, Israel and Hamas each declared separate unilateral ceasefires. Casualties of the Gaza War are disputed. According to Hamas, they include as many as 1,417 Palestinians including as many as 926 civilians. According to the IDF, 1,166 Palestinians were killed, and 295 were non-combatants.

April 2: Bat Ayin axe attack. A Palestinian terrorist attacks a group of Israeli children with an axe and a knife, killing one and injuring three.

December 24: Killing of Rabbi Meir Hai. Rabbi is killed in a drive-by shooting. Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claims responsibility.

2010

January: Two airstrikes against weapons tunnels used to smuggle rockets and militants attempting to fire mortars into Israeli are carried out by the Israeli Air Force, killing 3 militants and wounding another 7. The militants were members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.

February 10: Tapuah junction stabbing. A Palestinian Authority police officer stabs an Israeli soldier to death.

February 24: Murder of Neta Sorek. Israeli woman is stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists.

May: Gaza flotilla raid. Turkish activists with the Free Gaza flotilla try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza, but are intercepted by the IDF. When the IDF board the ship, the activists attack them with knives and metal rods. Three Israeli soldiers are taken hostage, beaten, and abused. Nine Turks are shot dead by IDF gunfire.

August 31: Hamas terrorists shoot dead four Israeli civilians near Kiryat Arba, including a pregnant woman.

September 2: 2010 direct talks: U.S. launches direct negotiations between Israel and The Palestinian Authority in Washington D.C. September 14: 2010 direct talks: A second round of Middle East peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority concludes in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

December 18: Murder of Kristine Luken. American woman is stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists. Another woman is severely injured.

2011

Main article: List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, 2011

March 11: Itamar massacre. Two Palestinians infiltrate the town of Itamar and murder five members of the Fogel family in their beds. Among the victims are three young children, including an infant.

March 23: 2011 Jerusalem bus stop bombing. Hamas bombs a bus station in Jerusalem and kills 1 civilian. 39 injured.

April 7: Hamas school bus attack. Hamas militants bomb an Israeli school bus and kill a teenager.

August 18: 2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks. Egyptian and Palestinian militants attack southern Israel and kill 8 Israelis, including 6 civilians. 40 injured. 5 Egyptian soldiers are also killed.

September: Palestine Authority moves a resolution in UN for recognition of Palestine statehood, calling it a 'Palestine Spring'.

November: Palestine wins membership of UNESCO while UN vote on statehood is put off amid no support from France and UK while US had threatened to veto it.

2012

January 1: Gaza fires two white-phosphorus-containing mortars into the area governed by the Eshkol Regional Council. The shells landed in an open field and caused no injuries or damage. A complaint about the white phosphorus was subsequently sent to the UN by Israel.

March 9–15: March 2012 Gaza-Israel clashes. Gaza militants launch over 300 rockets, Grad missiles, and mortar shells into southern Israel, wounding 23 Israeli civilians. Israel retaliates with air strikes on Gazan weapons storage facilities, rocket launching sites, weapon manufacturing facilities, training bases, posts, tunnels and terror operatives, killing 22 militants. 4 Palestinian civilians die during the clashes, though some of their deaths were found to be unrelated to Israeli actions.

March 30: it was revealed that the Civil Administration, a unit of the IDF, has over the years covertly earmarked 10% of the West Bank for further settlement.

September 21: September 2012 Egypt-Israel border attack. Militants open fire on Israeli soldiers and civilian workers. 1 soldier is killed.

November 14–21: Operation Pillar of Defense. The Israeli Air Force kills Ahmed Jabari, second-in-command of the military wing of Hamas. Israel strikes 1500 sites in Gaza, including rocket launchpads, weapon depots, government facilities and apartment blocks. Gaza officials said 133 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict of whom 79 were militants, 53 civilians and 1 was a policeman and estimated that 840 Palestinians were wounded. Hamas fires over 1,456 rockets at southern Israel, killing 6, including a pregnant woman, and injuring hundreds. Rockets are fired at Jerusalem for the first time and at Tel Aviv for the first time since the first Gulf War. A bus is bombed in Tel Aviv on November 21, wounding 28 civilians. Israel retaliates by bombing hundreds of military sites in the Gaza Strip.

November 29: United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19, upgrading Palestine to non-member observer state status in the United Nations, was adopted by the 67th session of the UN General Assembly, the date of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the 65th anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of resolution 181(II) on the Future Government of Palestine. Vote: For: 138; Abs.: 41 Against: 9.

November 30: In response to the UN approving the Palestinian UN bid for non-member observer state status, the Israeli government inner cabinet announced that it approves the building of housing units in the E1 area, connecting Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim.

2012: An annual survey by Shin Bet or Israel Security Agency (ISA) concluded that in 2012, the number of terrorist attacks in the West Bank rose from 320 in 2011 to 578 in 2012, but it was accompanied by a decrease in the number of fatalities. During that same year, 282 attacks were carried out in Jerusalem, compared to 191 in 2011. The increase in attacks is due in part to a 68% rise of attacks using molotov cocktails. However, the number of attacks involving firearms and explosives also grew by 42% — 37 compared to 26 in 2011.

2013

January 15: Four Palestinians killed by IDF within a week

January 23: Palestinian woman shot dead by IDF soldier, another wounded