Basic History
600,000-10,000 B.C. – Paleolithic and Mesolithic period. Earliest human remains in the area, found south of Lake Tiberias, dated to circa 600,000 B.C. 10,000-5,000 B.C. – Neolithic period. Establishment of settled agricultural communities. 5,000-3,000 B.C. – Chalcolithic period. Copper and stone tools and artifacts. Remains from this period found near Jericho, Beersheba, and the Dead Sea. 3,000-2,000 B.C. – Early Bronze Age. Arrival and settlement of Canaanites (3,000-2,500 B.C.). ca. 1,250 B.C. – Israelite conquest of Canaan. 965-928 B.C. – King Solomon. Construction of the temple in Jerusalem. 928 B.C. – Division of Israelite state into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah....
70 – Destruction of the Second Temple by Roman Emperor Titus. 132-135 – Bar Kokhba revolt suppressed. Jews barred from Jerusalem and Emperor Hadrian builds new pagan city of Aelia Capitolina on its ruins. 330-640 – Palestine under Byzantine rule: Jerusalem and Palestine increasingly Christianized. 638 – Arabs under the Caliph ‘Umar capture Palestine from Byzantines. 661-750 – Umayyad caliphs rule Palestine from Damascus. Dynasty descended from Umayya of Meccan tribe of Quraysh. Construction of Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem by Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik (685-705). Construction of al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem by Caliph al-Walid I (705-715). 750-1258 – ‘Abbasid...
1901 – Jewish National Fund (JNF) set up by fifth Zionist Congress in Basle to acquire land for WZO; land acquired by JNF to be inalienably Jewish, and exclusively Jewish labor to be employed on it. 1904-1914 – Second wave of about 40,000 Zionist immigrants increases Jewish population in Palestine to about 6% of total. Since the inception of Zionism it has been claiming that Palestinian was an empty country, click here to read our rebuttal to this argument. 1909 – Establishment of the first kibbutz, based exclusively on Jewish labor. Tel Aviv founded north of Jaffa. 1914 – World War I...
1919-1923 Third wave of over 35,000 Zionist immigrants increases Jewish population in Palestine to 12% of total. Registered Jewish landownership (1923) totals 3% of area of country. 1919, 27 January-10 February First Palestinian National Congress in Jerusalem sends memoranda to Paris Peace Conference rejecting Balfour Declaration and demanding independence. 28 August Paris Peace Conference sends Commission of Inquiry to Near East, led by U.S. commission members Henry C. King and Charles Crane. England and France decline to participate. Commission recommends “serious modification” of idea of “making Palestine distinctly a Jewish Commonwealth.” 1920, April Disturbances in Palestine; 5 Jews killed, 200...
1923, 29 September British Mandate for Palestine comes officially into force. 1924-1928 Fourth wave of 67,000 Zionist immigrants, over 50% from Poland, increases Jewish population of Palestine to 16% of total. Registered Jewish landownership (1928) totals 4.2% of area of country. Click here to view a map illustrating a breakdown of Palestinian-Zionist landownership per district as of 1945. 1925 – Revisionist Party, founded in Paris by Polish Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky, demands establishment of Jewish state in Palestine and Transjordan and stresses military aspects of Zionism. October – Sixth Palestinian National Congress convenes in Jaffa. 1928, June Seventh Palestinian National Congress convenes...
1933, 14 July British Secretary of State issues statement on resettlement of Palestinian farmers displaced from land acquired by Zionists. 1935, October Revisionists quit World Zionist Organization (WZO) to form New Zionist Organization with aim of “liberating” Palestine and Transjordan. November Shaykh ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Muslim cleric from Haifa, leader of first Palestinian guerrilla group fighting British policy in Palestine, killed in action against British security forces. 1936, 25 April Leaders of Palestinian political parties form Higher Arab Committee under Chairman Haj Amin al-Husseini. 8 May Conference of Palestinian National Committees in Jerusalem calls for no taxation without representation. Great...
1939, 7 February London Conference starts. 27 March London Conference ends without agreement. 22-23 May British House of Commons votes 268 to 179 in favor of White Paper issued by Colonial Secretary of State Malcolm MacDonald. White Paper calls for conditional independence for unitary Palestinian state after ten years; admission of 15,000 Jewish immigrants annually into Palestine for five years, with immigration after that subject to “Arab acquiescence” ; protection of Palestinian land rights against Zionist acquisition. British official estimates of Palestinians killed or executed by British military and police during Arab Rebellion is over 2,000 for 1936 and 1938...
After WWII, Britain turned Palestine over to the United Nations, which resolved to partition the country into two states (Resolution 181-Partition Plan of 1947). Roughly 57% of Palestine was to become a Jewish state, while the remaining 43% was to become a Palestinian state. The Palestinians rejected this plan because (1) they constituted about 65% of the population and (2) Jewish land ownership amounted to only 7% of the land of Palestine. The Zionists, who were fighting to turn Palestine into a Jewish state, accepted the partition while the League of Arab States declared the partition illegal. 26 January London...
In an effort of the Zionists to expand over the area allotted to them in the 1947 Partition Plan, war broke out. January Palestinian guerrilla leader ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini secretly returns to Palestine after ten-year exile to organize resistance to partition. 8 January First contingent of 330 ALA volunteers arrives in Palestine. 10 January ALA assault on Jewish settlement of Kefar Szold repulsed with help of British. 14 January Haganah concludes arms deal with Czechoslovakia for $12,280,000 worth of arms including 24,500 rifles, 5,000 light machine guns, 200 medium machine guns, 54 million rounds of ammunition, 25 Meserschmitts. By end...
The 1948 War eventually gave way to the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Israel had expanded to encompass nearly 78% of Palestine, far more than the 57% allotted to them in the 1947 Partition Plan. The remaining 22% was made up of the West Bank and Gaza. 24 February Israeli-Egyptian Armistice: Egypt keeps coastal strip Gaza Rafah and evacuates Faluja pocket; Asluj-al-‘Awja area demilitarized. End of February IDF units intimidate 2-3,000 villagers into leaving Faluja pocket in violation of Israeli-Egyptian Armistice Agreement. March IDF Negev and Golani brigades complete occupation of Negev as far as Umm Rashrash/Eilat. 23 March Israeli-Lebanese Armistice: Frontier...