Israel's Historical Timeline 10,000 BC - 2006 AD
10,000 BC: first permanent settlements in Israel
7,000 BC: walls of Jericho built
1486 BC: Canaanite army defeated at Megiddo by Egyptian pharoah Thutmose, consolidating
Egyptian rule over Canaan
1300 BC: Moses leads the Jews out of Egypt
circa 1200 BC: Philistines arrive by ship and give the name "Palestine"
to the area; Jews start to arrive in Land of Israel
990 BC: Jerusalem captured by King David and Israel unified as one nation
950 BC: First Temple built by King Solomon
928 BC: After a fight over taxation, Israel splits into two nations: "Judah"
in the south and "Israel" in the north
597 BC: Babylonians send army to put down a rebellion and take prominent Jews
into exile
586 BC: Babylonians arrive to put down another rebellion, destroy the First
Temple, and remove more Jews into exile
539 BC: Babylonians defeated by Persians
538 BC: Cyrus the Great of Persia allows the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild
temple in return for loyalty oath to Persia
515 BC: Second Temple built
332 BC: Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquers Persia and takes over their
empire, including Palestine; Hellenization of Israel begins
170-164 BC: Maccabee revolt against forced Hellenization; Jewish independence
63 BC: Roman legions, under General Pompey, conquer Jerusalem
37 BC: Herod the Great installed by Romans as vassal king
4 BC: Jesus born
circa AD 30: Jesus crucified by Romans
AD 66-70: Jewish revolt, war with Romans, destruction of Jerusalem and Second
Temple
AD 73: Masada falls
AD 130-2: Hadrian outlaws circumcision and plans to rebuild Jerusalem as a
pagan city
AD 132-135. Bar Kochba rebellion. Jews crushed by Romans, sold into slavery,
and driven into exile (the Diaspora). Jerusalem is rebuilt as Aelia Capitolina.
AD 200-215: Mishnah edited in Israel by Rabbi Ha Nasi
AD 313: Roman emperor Constantine converts to Christianity, grants freedom
of worship to Christians throughout Empire
AD 395: Rome splits into western and eastern (Byzantium) empires
AD 638: Omar defeats the Byzantine army at the Yarmuk River (in Syria); Muslims
rule Palestine
AD 1009: Caliph El-Hakim destroys Holy Sepulchre
AD 1071: Seljuk Turks forbid Christians to enter Jerusalem
AD 1095: Pope Urban II launches Crusades
AD 1099: Crusaders take Jerusalem after a five-week siege; more than 20,000
Jews and Muslims inside are murdered or sold into slavery
AD 1144: Jews in Norwich, England accused of torturing and killing a Christian
boy to use his blood in a ritual. This was the first of the "blood libels"
that led to mob violence against Jews throughout Europe.
AD 1187: Saladin retakes Jerusalem
AD 1188-92: Third Crusade under Richard I the Lionheart fails to retake Jerusalem
but wins access for pilgrims.
AD 1400: Israel under Mameluke rule from Egypt; Jews begin emigrating to Palestine
to escape persecution in Europe
AD 1492: Jews expelled from Spain
AD 1516: Mamelukes defeated by Ottoman empire
AD 1537: Suleyman the Magnificent orders new walls and gates built around Jerusalem
AD 1839: Sir Moses Montefiore, a British jew, calls for creation of a Jewish
state
AD 1896: Theodor Herzl publishes Der Judenstat, which leads to formation of
the World Zionist Congress
1903: Herzl presents a plan to create a Jewish homeland in Uganda to the Sixth
Zionist Congress
1917: British General Allenby captures Jerusalem from the Turks. Balfour declaration
issued: "His Majesty's government favourable views the creation of a national
Jewish home in Palestine."
1923: British split off 70% of Palestine and hand it over to Emir Abdullah
as "Jordan"
1929: Arab pogroms against Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed
1934: Stalin creates Jewish Autonomous Region in the eastern Siberian region
of Birobidzhan, a frigid alternative to Zionism
1937: British propose ending their Mandate and partioning the remainder of
Palestine (the 30% left after the splitting off of Jordan) into separate Jewish
and Arab states. The partition is accepted by the Jews but rejected by the Arabas.
1939: In an attempt to win Arab support for the impending war with Germany,
British issue "White Paper" cutting off Jewish immigration to Palestine.
1944: under pressure from the British, the United States accepts 982 Jewish
refugees from liberated Italy and inters them in a concentration camp in Oswego,
New York for eventual deportation back to Europe; these are the only Jews allowed
into the U.S. during World War II (more);
1945: U.S. President Roosevelt promises King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia that
he will not support a Jewish state in Palestine (more)
November 29, 1947: United Nations votes for the partition of the remainder
of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem a neutral
international city. The United States embargoes arms sales to the Jews while
the British sell arms freely to the Arabs; with support from Stalin, the Jews
are ultimately able to purchase $12 million of rifles from Czechoslovakia.
May 14, 1948: State of Israel declared. British withdraw. New state attacked
simultaneously by Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt. Palestinian Arabs
were encouraged by the invading armies to vacate their homes to facilitate a
quick war and complete victory.
July 1949: The fighting is over but the Israelis refuse to let the Palestinian
Arabs who fled to return to their homes. Meanwhile, Jews living in Arab countries
jump or are pushed into emigrating to Israel. There are more than 500,000 refugees
on each side of the conflict. The Arabs leave the Palestinians in makeshift
tent camps. The Israelis begin to build cheap ugly concrete apartment blocks
for all the Jews from Arab countries.
1956: Egyptian Colonel Nasser seizes Suez Canal from Anglo-French stockholders.
The Canal and Straits of Tiran are closed to Israeli or Israel-bound ships.
This prompts an invasion of the Sinai by French, British, and Israeli forces.
The armies are forced to retreat under pressure from the Soviet Union and United
States. This underscores a humiliating loss of influence and power for the English.
1967: Six Day War. Israel and the Arab countries have been in an The official
state of war since 1948. However, the first five months of 1967 brought an intensification
of hostilities with the Egyptians moving troops into the Sinai and closing the
shippping lanes, the Syrians shelling farms in the north, and terrorist attacks
coming through all the borders. On June 5, 1967 Israel launched a preemptive
strike on all fronts. After six days, the Israelis had conquered the Sinai,
the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.
September 1970: Palestinians hijack four commercial airplanes, fly them to
Jordan, and blow them up. This was the last straw for King Hussein, whose minority
Hashemite rule had been threatened by the Palestinian Arab military force for
some time. Hussein launches massive military campaign to expel all the armed
Palestinians from Jordan. More than 5,000 Palestinians are killed and this leads
to the formation of the Black September terrorist group. Most of the best-armed
Palestinians wind up in Lebanon, destabilizing the government there.
1973: Yom Kippur War. The Arabs struck back, easily rolling over Israel's Maginot-style
line in the Sinai. After three weeks or so, with heavy American support, the
Israelis managed to cross the Suez into Egypt proper and were within 20 miles
of Damascus before the US put a halt to the war.
November 1977: Anwar Sadat visits Menachem Begin in Jerusalem for peace negotiations.
September 1978: Camp David Accords.
March 1979: Israel and Egypt sign a peace treaty, ending more than 30 years
of war.
June 7, 1981: Israel bombing raid destroys Iraqi nuclear reactor; the United
Nations responds by "Urging all Member States to provide necessary technical
assistance to Iraq to restore its peaceful nuclear programme" (Resolution
40/6)
October 6, 1981: Anwar Sadat assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists.
1982: Israel invades Lebanon and destroys PLO infrastructure there.
July 1994: Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty, ending 46 years of war.
November 4, 1995: Pro-compromise Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin killed at a peace rally by a Jewish right-wing assassin.
March, 2000 Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations fail when Hafez
Assad rejects an Israeli offer relayed by US President Clinton in Geneva.
Sept. 28, 2000 Palestinians initiated riots after Israeli opposition
leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, which is also the location of
the Haram as Sharif holy to Muslims.
2000 Israel leaves Lebanon with the understanding that the international community will not allow any attacks from any forces in Lebanon.
Feb 6, 2001 Right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon elected Prime
Minister in Israel replacing Ehud Barak and promising "peace and security."
March-April 2002 Israel conducts operation Defensive Wall in the
West Bank, following a large number of Palestinian suicide attacks on civilian
targets. Saudi peace initiative adopted at Beirut summit.
Jan 28, 2003 Elections in Israel give wide margin (40 seats) to right wing Likud party, returning PM Ariel Sharon for another term.
2004 Resolution (1559) passed by U. N. stating that Hezbollah should be disarmed.
Jan 10, 2005 Ariel Sharon forms unity government with Labor and United Torah
Judaism parties in Israel.
April 2005 Ariel Sharon visits US President George Bush at his
Texas ranch. Syrian Army leaves Lebanon, officially ending Syrian occupation.
May 26, 2005 Mahmud Abbas visits US President George Bush at the
White House, an important symbolic gesture signaling US backing for Abbas and
Palestinian aspirations. Israel releases 400 Palestinian prisoners including
some with blood on their hands. Britain confirms "low level" negotiations
with Hamas.
June, 2005 Violence flares in Gaza. US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice visits Palestinian and Israeli leaders to ensure coordination of Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas meet in Jerusalem June 21. Sharon announces that Palestinians have promised
to coordinate regarding Gaza withdrawal. PM Abbas postpones Palestinian legislative
elections in order to change the election law, amidst growing concern that Hamas
will trounce Abbas's Fatah party in the elections. Lebanese elections give a
decisive majority to the opposition to Syria, led by Saad Hariri, son of slain
leader Rafiq Hariri.
Aug. 15, 2005 Disengagement - Israeli evacuation of Gaza settlements and four West Bank settlements began on August 15.
July 12 2006: Hezbollah militants cross into Israel, kill eight Israeli soldiers and kidnap two others in a bid to negotiate a prisoner exchange, a demand rebuffed by Israel. Another five Israeli soldiers are killed after the ambush. Israel responds with a naval blockade and by bombing hundreds of targets in Lebanon, including Beirut's airport and Hezbollah's headquarters in southern Beirut. Hezbollah responds with rocket attacks targeting northern Israeli cities. Fighting leaves dozens of Lebanese civilians dead and coincides with a two-week-old Israeli military campaign in Gaza in response to the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.
Aug. 1st. 2006 Israli forces attack Baalbek.
Aug. 2006 Israli forces attack South Beirut.
Aug. 2006 U. N. passes cease fire resolution.
Aug. 14th. 2006 Cease fire goes into effect and Israel orders its troops to halt offensive.
This is ongoing as this author believes that Israel will be attacked in the future by the same Hezbollah forces.
Israeli-Lebanon Timeline 1967-2006
Israeli-Palestinian Timeline 1917 - 2006
Hezbollah and its history of international terrorism and violence: