A Timeline of the Mideast Conflict
Below is a timeline of select events discussed in NPR’s seven-part series on Middle East history.
Aug. 29, 1897
First Zionist Congress convenes at Basel, Switzerland. Led by Theodor Herzl, it creates the World Zionist Organization.
Jan. 3, 1916
Great Britain and France issue the Sykes-Picot Agreement, delineating the borders of the Middle East states, including Palestine, after World War I.
Nov. 2, 1917
Great Britain issues the Balfour Declaration in support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Sept. 18, 1918
British forces under Gen. Edmund Allenby enter Jerusalem.
July 24, 1922
The League of Nations grants Great Britain a mandate to rule Palestine.
Aug. 23-27, 1929
Anti-Jewish riots erupt in Palestine, leaving nearly 150 Jews and Arabs dead.
April 15, 1936
The Arab Revolt breaks out. Over the next three years, more than 1,000 Arabs and 400 Jews die in killings, bombings, and armed attacks, and in the efforts of British forces to stop the revolt.
July 7, 1937
The British-organized Peel Commission issues report recommending partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states as solution to the ongoing conflict.
May 17, 1939
In White Paper, Great Britain abandons support for Jewish state in Palestine, establishes ceiling for Jewish immigration to Palestine of 75,000 over next five years.
Sept. 1, 1939
World War II begins.
Feb. 1, 1944
The Irgun, a Jewish underground armed group under the command of future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, announces the resumption of operations against British forces in Palestine.
July 22, 1944
The Irgun bombs the King David Hotel, the British military and administrative headquarters in Jerusalem. Ninety are killed.
Nov. 29, 1947
The United Nations General Assembly votes in favor of the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories.
Nov. 30, 1947
Skirmishing breaks out in Palestine between Jewish and local Arab armed groups.
May 13, 1948
The British Mandate in Palestine ends.
May 14, 1948
Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion declares the independence of the state of Israel in that part of partitioned Palestine given to the Jews.
May 15, 1948
The armies of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan invade Palestine.
Jan. 7, 1949
A cease-fire is established ending first Arab-Israeli War.
July 23, 1952
Gamal Abdel Nasser leads revolution in Egypt.
March 8, 1963
The radical Baathist Party takes power in a coup in Syria.
May 29, 1964
The Palestine Liberation Organization is founded in Jerusalem.
May 15, 1967
Nasser deploys Egyptian troops in Sinai.
May 19, 1967
Nasser requests withdrawal of U.N. Emergency Force from Sinai.
May 22, 1967
Nasser closes Straits of Tiran at northern end of Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.
June 5-10, 1967
Israel attacks Egypt; defeats Arab armies in Six Day War; occupies West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula.
Nov. 22, 1967
U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 242, establishing the principle of exchange territories occupied in the Six Day War for peace with Israel.
Sept. 28, 1970
Egyptian President Nasser dies; succeeded by Anwar Sadat.
Oct. 6-26, 1973
The Yom Kippur War.
Oct. 22, 1973
U.N. Security Council Resolution 338 is adopted, calling for direct negotiations between Israel and the Arab states.
Feb. 25, 1974
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger begins shuttle diplomacy.
May 17, 1977
Menachem Begin, leader of Likud, is elected prime minister in Israel.
Nov. 19-21, 1977
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Jerusalem.
Sept. 5-17, 1978
Sadat and Begin negotiate at Camp David, mediated by President Jimmy Carter.
March 26, 1979
Begin and Sadat sign Egypt-Israel peace treaty at White House.
Oct. 6, 1981
Sadat is assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists in Cairo on the eighth anniversary of Yom Kippur War.
April 26, 1982
Israel completes withdrawal from Sinai.
June 6, 1982
Israel invades Lebanon.
Aug. 21, 1982
PLO abandons Beirut.
Sept. 16, 1982
Hundreds of Palestinians are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps outside Beirut.
Aug. 28, 1983
Menachem Begin resigns as prime minister of Israel; is succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir.
Dec. 9, 1987
Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, erupts in West Bank and Gaza.
Aug. 2, 1990
Iraq invades Kuwait.
Jan. 16-Feb. 28, 1991
United States leads broad coalition to drive Iraq from Kuwait in Persian Gulf War.
Oct. 30, 1991
Middle East peace conference convenes in Madrid.
June 23, 1992
Yitzhak Rabin, head of Labor Party, elected prime minister in Israel.
Sept. 13, 1993
Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign Oslo Agreement, with President Bill Clinton looking on, at White House.
July 25, 1994
Rabin and King Hussein at White House sign declaration ending state of war between Israel and Jordan.
Nov. 4, 1995
Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by right-wing Israeli zealot in Tel Aviv.
Jan. 21, 1996
First Palestinian elections; Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
May 29, 1996
Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud is elected prime minister in Israel.
May 14, 1998
Israel celebrates 50 years of independence.
Oct. 23, 1998
Netanyahu and Arafat sign Wye River memorandum.
May 17, 1999
Ehud Barak defeats Netanyahu in Israeli elections.
July 11-26, 2000
Barak and Arafat negotiate at Camp David; President Clinton mediates; fail to reach agreement on final status issues.
Sept. 28, 2000
Ariel Sharon visits Temple Mount in Jerusalem; second Intifada erupts.
Feb. 6, 2001
Ariel Sharon defeats Ehud Barak in Israeli elections.
March 29, 2002
Israel invades Palestinian territories, reoccupies Palestinian cities.