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The State of Israel (Hebrew: Medinat Yisrael) was established in 1948 after thousands of years of Jewish dispersal. The Zionist enterprise, with its goal of creating a Jewish national home in Eretz Yisrael, was set in motion by Theodor Herzl in 1897, at the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland.

Historical background

The yearning to return to Eretz Yisrael has been a pivot of Jewish life since the period of Babylonian captivity, when the Jews of the Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BCE. It became a universal Jewish theme after the Jewish-Roman wars, which saw the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 CE and the subsequent exile of the Jews. Both the Jews in the Diaspora, or Galut (exile) and those who remained in Land of Israel, continued to see it as their spiritual home and the Promised Land. While the numbers were smaller, there has never been a time over the last three millennia when there were no Jews in Eretz Yisrael. For generations, however, the theme of the ingathering of the exiles and the re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel was religious in tone due to the belief that the Jewish people would return to Zion with the coming of the Messiah, i.e., through divine intervention. Some Jewish leaders proposed or attempted to return, but they were a minority.

The Crusades were devastating for the Jewish presence in Israel. The Crusaders massacred Jews, both on their path across Europe and in the Holy Land. After the Arab reconquest in the thirteenth century, Sultan Baybars ravished the land to ensure it could not sustain a large population and would not be attractive to invaders. It remained poor under the Ottomans, who took over in the 16th century and ruled it until the 20th.

Between the 13th and 19th centuries, the number of those who made the aliyah (literally "ascent", Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel) rose mainly due to the resurgence of messianic fervor among the Jews of Spain, France, Italy, the Germanic states, Russia and North Africa. During this period, Jewish immigration was also spurred by a general decline in the status of Jews across Europe and an increase in religious persecution. The expulsion of Jews from England (1290) France (1391), Austria (1421) and Spain (the Alhambra decree 1492) were seen by many as a sign of approaching redemption and contributed to the messianic spirit of the time.

By the mid-19th century, the Land of Israel was a part of the Ottoman Empire and a province of Syria, populated mostly by Muslim and Christian Arabs, as well as Jews, Greeks, Druze, Bedouins and other minorities. By 1844, Jews constituted the largest population group (and by 1890 an absolute majority) in a few cities, most notably Jerusalem (although as a whole, the Jewish population made up far less than 10% of the total).

1897 - 1917: Zionism and the Jewish national home

During the 19th century the spread of Enlightenment ideals across Europe led to the emancipation of Jews across the continent. It also led to a counter-reaction of Europeans who sought to prevent Jews from being granted citizenship and who saw them as alien, non-European community. Opponents of Jewish civil rights called themselves antisemites and became increasingly well organized as the century wore on. In Tzarist Russia, the government actively encouraged pogroms in an effort to divert popular resentment at the government and to drive out the Jewish population.

The rise of antisemitism, pogroms and the birth of new nations across Europe led some Jews to consider the possibility of re-establishing themselves as an independent nation. Support for pogroms from left-wing groups (as "legitimate expressions of working class anger") and the desire to preserve their identity, led some socialist Jews to seek solutions within their own community.

Thus not only religious Jews were drawn to Israel but also secular nationalists and in addition to traditional religious Jewish communities, known as the Old Yishuv, the second half of the 19th century saw a new kind of Jewish immigrant, prevalently secular left-wing socialists who aimed to reclaim the land by working on it and who formed socialist collectives. This was accompanied by Revival of the Hebrew language.

Mikveh Israel was founded in 1870 by Alliance Israelite Universelle, followed by Petah Tikva (1878), Rishon LeZion (1882), and other agricultural communities founded by the members of Bilu and Hovevei Zion.

In 1897, the First Zionist Congress proclaimed the decision "to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz-Israel secured under public law."

During the First World War, in December 1916, Lloyd George, a committed Christian Zionist, was made British Prime Minister. Lloyd George immediately ordered an invasion of the Levant, including Israel.

Lloyd George's initiative led to his foreign minister, Lord Balfour making the Balfour Declaration of 1917. This asserted that the British Government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people"..."it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".

The British invasion force, led by General Allenby, included a force of Jewish volunteers (mostly Zionists), known as the Jewish Legion. After World War I, the League of Nations formally assigned the Palestine mandate to the United Kingdom, endorsing the terms of the Balfour Declaration and additionally requiring the British to set up the Jewish Agency that would administer Jewish affairs in Palestine. An additional treaty was signed with the USA (which did not join the League of Nations) in which the USA endorsed the terms of the mandate.

1917-1945: British Mandate for Palestine

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Following the Jaffa riots, the British mandatory authorities enacted a system of immigration quotas to insure that Jewish immigration did not disrupt Palestine's economy. An exception was made for Jews with over 1000 Pounds in cash (a large sum in those days), or professionals with over 500 Pounds, who would be allowed in despite the quotas. A decision was made to withdraw from Transjordan and allow an independent state to be created there.

Jewish immigration grew slowly in the 1920s, but the pace stepped up as Hitler rose to power and Germany became a hotbed of anti-Semitism. With fewer countries willing to admit the Jews, an increasing number headed for Palestine. Arab sources claim this sparked the 1936-1939 Arab uprising, a contention not borne out by the findings of the Peel Commission.

As anti-Semitism spread, the importance of oil led to greater Arab influence. In 1938, as a result of the British policy of appeasement, hundreds of thousands of Czech Jews were stripped of their citizenship. Concerned that Palestine would be inundated by Jews, thus angering the Arabs, the British Government issued the 1939 White Paper which introduced strict quotas on Jewish immigration over the next four years. British restrictions and Jewish desperation to leave Europe led to illegal Jewish migration, mostly in small ships sailing to Palestine.

1945-1948: Jewish uprising against British rule

After the end of World War II, The British Labour Party won the elections in Britain with a manifesto which included a promise to create a Jewish state in Palestine and rescind the 1939 White Paper. However the Labour Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin, decided to persist with existing policy.

Following the near-extermination of European Jews by the Nazis, the American Jewish community mobilized in massive numbers to support their European brethren, most of whom were desperate to leave the continent and many of whom wished to go to Palestine.

The hundreds of thousands of Jews still alive in Europe were in desperate need of assistance, having lost their possessions and had families and friends murdered. Most were desperate to leave Europe. The British government faced American pressure to allow Jews to enter Palestine, the Palestine mandate had also been endorsed by a special treaty with the USA which gave the USA some say over British actions in Palestine.

In response, the British decided to allow an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry to investigate possible solutions to the problem of re-locating Jewish refugees. The committee recommended that 100,000 Jews be immediately allowed entry to Palestine and the British government reneged on its promise to Truman, rejecting further Jewish immigration.

In 1946 widespread publicity surrounding the Kielce Pogrom in Poland resulted in a massive wave of Jews seeking to escape Europe (such pogroms were still taking place in Eastern Europe ). In Palestine, Jewish militias (the Haganah, Etzel and Lehi) decided to form a unified Jewish resistance movement against the British. Meanwhile illegal immigration activity grew leading to British counter measures against the Jewish community.

Following a British raid on the headquarters of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish Resistance responded by blowing up the British Military Headquarters in Palestine in the King David Hotel bombing, killing 91 (many of them civilians).

In the days following the attack, Tel-Aviv was placed under curfew and over 120,000 were interrogated by CID. The British government took the decision to imprison illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine on Cyprus, including children. The camps were to be funded by taxation of the Jewish community in Palestine.

A situation thus developed of a growing British-Jewish conflict in Palestine, fought against a background of Jews trying to leave Europe, large numbers of them seeking to head for Palestine, with growing support from the American Jewish community.

As a result of this conflict the United States Congress refused to ratify loans that were vital to preventing British bankruptcy and the British government took the decision to refer the Palestine to the United Nations. During the UN discussions on the future of Palestine, a ship called the Exodus 1947, left a harbour in France and the British government forcibly returned the Jews on board to British occupied Germany. In November 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine and create two states, one Arab and one Jewish with the city of Jerusalem to be under the direct administration of the United Nations.

Although the UN partition decision, required Britain to allow unrestricted Jewish use of a port within the Jewish section of Palestine, Britain refused to implement the decision. This meant that Jewish migration remained restricted and Jews continued to be imprisoned on Cyprus. It also meant that while Britain was selling arms to the surrounding Arab states, some of which were then delivered to the Palestinians, the Jews could not import arms. In Transjordan, the forty British officers who commanded the Arab Legion,resigned their commissions in the British Army and became Jordanian soldiers, including the Commander in Chief of the Jordanian Army, General Glubb.

1948: War of independence and statehood

1948 Arab-Israeli War
Part of the Arab-Israeli conflict
David Ben Gurion (First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. Tel Aviv, Israel, beneath a large portrait of Theodore Herzl, founder of modern political Zionism
Date November 1947–March 1949 Location Middle East Result Israeli victory, Tactical and strategic Arab failure, 1949 Armistice Agreements Territorial changes State of Israel established from captured territories, Jordanian occupation of West Bank, Egyptian occupation of the Gaza Strip
Belligerents
Israel Haganah File:Pantani.jpgIrgun File:Lehilogo.jpgLehi Palmach Foreign Volunteers	Egypt, Syria, Transjordan,  Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Holy War Army, Arab Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Yaakov Dori, Yigael Yadin	John Bagot Glubb, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, Hasan Salama, Fawzi Al-Qawuqji, Ahmed Ali al-Mwawi
Strength
Israel: 29,677 initially rising to 115,000 by March 1949	Egypt: 10,000 initially rising to 20,000 Iraq: 5,000 initially rising to 15–18,000 Syria: 2,500–5,000 Transjordan: 6,000–12,000  Lebanon: 1,000 initially rising to 2,000  Saudi Arabia: 800–1,200 Yemen: unknown Arab Liberation Army: 3,500-6,000
Casualties and losses
6,373 KIA (4,000 troops and about 2,400 civilians)	Unknown (between 10,000 and 15,000)

While the Jews of Palestine accepted the UN partition decision (the Jewish Agency accepted the resolution and there were public celebrations in Tel-Aviv), both the Arab leadership in Palestine and the Arab League rejected it. The resolution called for an internaitonal force to oversee implementation of the resolution, however Britain refused to allow entry to foreign forces. As the date of British departure approached, violence grew between the Arab and Jewish communities.

In April 1948, Britain initiated UN Security Council resolution 46 which banned entry of arms or fighters into Palestine. Palestinian Arab forces were being armed and supplied by volunteers from neighboring Arab states (all now independent) while the Palestinian-Jewish population could not import arms or fighters as the British controlled all ports of entry. In this stage, Arab forces were composed of around 10,000 men among which between 3,000 and 5,000 foreign volunteers while Haganah and Palmach aligned 30,000 to 36,000 men who were better equipped, trained and organized.

On May 14, 1948, the last British forces withdrew from Palestine, and the Jewish Agency, led by David Ben-Gurion, declared the creation of the State of Israel, in accordance with the 1947 UN Partition Plan. President Truman of the USA immediately recognized the new state and this was closely followed by recognition from Stalin of the USSR.

On the 13th of May, the Egyptian and Syrian forces advanced to the frontier and declared their intention to invade the following day. Arab League members Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq announced their rejection of the partition, saying that they insisted on the right of self-determination of the Arab Palestinians and that already over a quarter of a million Palestinians had fled due to Zionist aggression, and declared war. They were joined by contingents from Saudi-Arabia and Yemen.

On the northern front, the Syrian army was blocked in Deganya. The Jordanian 'Arab Legion', commanded by British officers, refrained from invading Israeli territory and focussed on occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Iraqis crossed the Jordan River and settled in the West Bank. They were not very successful. On the Southern front, Haganah forces managed to block the invading Egyptian armies in the Ashdod area, and Irgun forces halted the Egyptians at Ramat Rachel.

On 29 May 1948 the British initiated United Nations Security Council Resolution 50, creating an arms embargo on the region. However Soviet controlled Czechoslovakia agreed to defy the embargo. The Arabs experienced problems buying arms, ammunition and spare parts since the colonial powers which supplied their arms (the British and French) stuck to the embargo.

In early June, the UN declared a month-long ceasefire, in the interim Jewish immigrants, many of them World War II vetereans or hardened Soviet and Nazi camp survivors began pouring into Israel. Israel created the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and enlarged the number of men it had under arms.

When fighting resumed, the Israelis took the attacking initiative and had the upper hand. In March 1949, after several long months of fighting, a permanent ceasefire was brought into effect, determining Israel's interim borders, which became known as the Green Line.Following the ceasefire declaration, Britain released the Jewish prisoners it was holding on Cyprus and recognized the state of Israel.

The war for Israel's Independence was the costliest in its history. Out of a Jewish population of 650,000, some 6,000 men and women were killed in the fighting, including 4,000 soldiers in the IDF. The exact number of Arab losses is unknown but the estimates ranged from 10,000 to 15,000 people. Some 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes, while 160,000 became Arab citizens of Israel.

Finkelstein, Pappé and Morris describe the events at this time as "ethnic cleansing." According to Pappé:

When it created its nation-state, the Zionist movement did not wage a war that 'tragically but inevitably' led to the expulsion of 'parts of' the indigenous population, but the other way round: the main goal was the ethnic cleansing of all of Palestine, which the movement coveted for its new state.

On May 11, 1949, when the war ended, Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations.

The new state established a 120-seat parliament, known as the Knesset, which intially met in Tel Aviv before moving to Jerusalem after the cease fire. In January of 1949, Israel held its first elections. The first President of Israel (a ceremonial role) was the influential former Zionist leader (and architect of the Balfour Declaration) Chaim Weizmann. David Ben-Gurion was elected as Israel's first Prime Minister.

Only once has a party held a majority of seats in the Knesset, and Israeli governments have always been coalitions. From 1948 until 1977 all governments were led by the predecessors of the Labour Party (Mapai and the Alignment).

Very early on an agreement was reached between Ben-Gurion and the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community regarding a Orthodox-Secular status quo.

1948-1955: Ben Gurion and mass immigration

State of Israel
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History Jewish history (timeline) Zionism Aliyah Theodor Herzl Balfour Declaration British Mandate UN Partition Plan for Palestine Independence Declaration Austerity
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In the early years, Labour Zionists led by David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics and the economy was run on primarily socialist lines.

Over the next few years, virtually the entire Jewish populations of Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt were driven out. Jews were not permitted to live in or enter Saudi-Arabia. All the Jews of Algeria left in the early sixties as did most of the Jews of Tunisia and Morocco. The estimated total number of Jews to have been "ethnically cleansed" from the Arab world was over a million. The property they left behind (much of it in city centres) is a matter of dispute.

In addition various senior SS officers were granted asylum in Egypt and Syria.

From 1948 to 1951, mass immigration brought some 700,000 Jews to Israel, doubling the population and leaving an indelible imprint on Israeli society. Most immigrants to Israel in the early years were either Holocaust survivors or Jews fleeing Arab lands; the largest groups in the first 3 years (over 100,000 each) were from Iraq, Romania and Poland, although immigrants arrived from all over Europe and the Middle East.

From 1948 to 1958, the population rose from 800,000 to two million. During this period, food, clothes and furniture were rationed in what became known as the Austerity Period (Tkufat haTsena). Immigrants were mostly refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot.

By 1952, over 200,000 immigrants were living in temporary tents or pre-fabricated shacks built by the government. Most of the financial aid Israel received were private donations from Jews outside the country (mainly in the USA).

The need to solve the economic crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a reparations agreement with West Germany. During the Knesset debate some 5,000 demonstrators gathered and riot police had to cordon the building. During the debate, the Herut leader Menachem Begin and Ben-Gurion called each other fascists and Begin branded Ben-Gurion a "hooligan." .

Dalia Ofer estimates that by 1952 about 400,000 Israelis were Jews who had been severely displaced by the Holocaust, and the Israeli government's demand for German reparations was in lieu of the expenses involved in resettling them.Israel received several billion marks and in return Israel agreed to open diplomatic relations with Germany.

Main article: Foreign relations of Israel

Israel's solution to the diplomatic isolation resulting from Arab boycotts was to establish good relations with the United States and the emerging states in Africa and Asia. On January 9, 1950, the Israeli government extended recognition to the People's Republic of China, but diplomatic relations were not established until 1992.

A second election was held in 1951, giving much the same result.

At the end of 1953, Ben Gurion retired toKibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev.

1954 - 1955: Sharett and the Lavon Affair

In January 1954 Moshe Sharett became Prime-Minister of Israel, however his government was brought down by the Lavon Affair, a crude plan to disrupt US-Egyptian relations, involving Egyptian Jews planting bombs at American sites in Egypt. The plan failed when the eleven agents were arrested. Some maintain that Israel did not do enough to protect its agents, prompted by allegations of torture and mistreatment by the Egyptian authorities. Defence Minister Lavon was blamed despite his denial of responsibility.

In the aftermath of the affair the government resigned and Ben-Gurion returned to the post of Prime-Minister winning the 1955 election.

1955 - 1963: Sinai Campaign and the Eichmann Trial

In 1955 Czechoslovakia began suppplying arms to Egypt and France became Israels principle arms supplier.

The Egyptian government began recruiting former Nazis for a missile program using chemical warheads. Israel responded by assassinating the scientists.

The Sinai Campaign came about as conflict between Egypt and Israel increased in 1956. Hundreds of Israeli were killed in Fedayeen attacks from (Egyptian occupied) Gaza into Israeli territory. Initially these attacks were mostly private initiatives but under Nasser the Government sponsored the attacks and Israel responded with reprisal attacks against Gaza.

In 1956 Egypt blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, and closed the Suez canal to Israeli shipping. The canal was then nationalized, to the dismay of its British and French shareholders. In response, France and the United Kingdom entered into a secret agreement with Israel to take back the canal by force. In accordance with this agreement (which was not officially admitted until very much later), Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula in October 1956. Israeli forces reached the canal in short order and then French and British forces stepped in on the pretext of restoring order. It is believed the French also agreed to build a nuclear plant for the Israelis and that by 1968 this was able to produce nuclear weapons.

The Israeli, French and United Kingdom forces were victorious, but withdrew in March 1957 due to pressure from the United States and USSR. The United Nations established the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) to keep peace in the area. In return for withdrawal Israel was guaranteed freedom of access to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. In practice the Suez Canal remained closed to Israeli shipping.

Ben-Gurion was once again victorious in the 1959 elections.

In May 1960 the Mossad located Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief administrators of the Nazi Holocaust, in Argentina and kidnapped him to Israel. In 1961 he was put on trial and after several months found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged in 1962 and is the only person ever sentenced to death by an Israeli court. Testimonies by Holocaust survivors at the trial and the extensive publicity which surrounded it has led the trial to be considered a turning point in public awareness of the Holocaust.

In 1961 a Herut non-confidence motion over the Lavon affair led to Ben-Gurion's resignation. Ben-Gurion declared that he would only accept office if Lavon was fired from the position of the head of Histadrut, Israel's labor union organization (due to his role in the Lavon Affair). His demands were accepted and he won the 1961 election.

In 1963 he quit again over the Lavon scandal. His attempts to make his political party Mapai support him over the issue during 1964-1965 turned sour, and Ben-Gurion left the party to form Rafi. Levi Eshkol became leader of Mapai and the new Prime-Minister.

1963 - 1969: Arab provocation and Six-Day War

Main article: Six-Day War

In 1964, Egypt, Jordan and Syria developed a unified military command. Israel completed work on a national water carrier, a huge engineering project designed to transfer Israel's allocation of the Jordan river's waters towards the south of the country in realization of Ben-Gurion's dream of mass Jewish settlement of the Negev desert. The Arabs responded by trying to divert the headwaters of the Jordan and this led to growing conflict between Israel and Syria.

In the 1965 elections Levi Eshkol was victorious.

Until 1966, Israel's principal arms supplier was France, however in 1966, following the withdrawal from Algeria, De Gaulle announced France would cease supplying Israel with arms (and refused to refund money paid for 50 warplanes ).

In 1966 security restrictions placed on Arab citizens of Israel were lifted and efforts began to integrate them into the countries life.

In 1967, the united Arab military command amassed troops along the Israeli borders, while Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran and Nasser insisted that the UNEF leave Egypt. Syrian and Egyptian forces mobilized toward Israel's border, threatening escalation to a full war as Nasser lashed out at Israel on Egyptian radio broadcasts . Israel was forced to call up its civilian reserves, bringing much of the Israeli economy to a halt.

The Israelis set up a national unity coalition including for the first time Menachem Begin's party, Herut in a coalition. During a radio broadcast by Prime-Minister Levi Eshkol, he stammered, causing widespread concern in Israel. To calm public fears Moshe Dayan was appointed defense minister. On the morning before Dayan was sworn in June 5, 1967, the Israeli air force launched preemptive attacks destroying the Egyptian air force and later the same day destroying the air forces of Jordan and Syria. Israel then defeated (almost successively) Egypt, Jordan and Syria. By June 11 the Arab forces were routed and all parties had accepted the cease-fire called for by UN Security Council Resolutions 235 and 236.

Israel gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the formerly Jordanian-controlled West Bank of the Jordan River, including East Jerusalem. On November 22, 1967, the Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the "land for peace" formula, which called for the establishment of a just and lasting peace based on Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 in return for the end of all states of belligerency, respect for the sovereignty of all states in the area, and the right to live in peace within secure, recognized boundaries.

For the first time since the end of the British Mandate, Jews could visit the Old City of Jerusalem and pray at the Western Wall, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, to which they had been denied access by the Jordanians.

After 1967 the USA began supplying Israel with aircraft.

In early 1969, fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal. In retaliation for repeated Egyptian shelling of Israeli positions along the Suez Canal, Israeli planes made deep strikes into Egypt in the 1969-1970 "War of Attrition". The United States helped end these hostilities in August 1970, but subsequent U.S. efforts to negotiate an interim agreement to open the Suez Canal and achieve disengagement of forces were unsuccessful.

In as much as the 1949 Armistice lines were no longer direct borders, and Israel now had the responsibility of administration of Golan, Gaza, West Bank, and Sinai, the opportunity to unite divided Jerusalem was taken, and formal annexation completed. In the late seventies, Israel also formally annexed the Golan. Gaza and the West Bank, overwhelmingly Palestinian, remained as administrative territories, pending a final settlement. Sinai, remained in a military occupation, although its sparse population required little administration.

In late 1969, Levi Eshkol died in office, of a heart attack and was succeeded by Golda Meir.

1969 - 1975: Golda Meir and Yom Kippur War

Main article: Yom Kippur War

In the 1969 election, Golda Meir became Prime Minister with the largest percentage of the vote ever won by an Israeli party.

In September 1970 King Hussein of Jordan drove the PLO out of his country. The center of PLO activity now shifted to Lebanon.

During 1971, violent demonstrations by the Israeli Black Panthers, made the Israeli public aware of resentment among Mizrahi Jews at ongoing discrimination and social gaps.

Increased Soviet antisemitism contributed to a wave of Jews braving offical sanction and applying to emmigrate to Israel.

In 1972, 11 members of the Israeli team to the Munich Olympics were kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists. All the Israeli hostages and some of the terrorists were shot by members of the German security forces (apparently in a botched rescue attempt). The unharmed Palestinian hijackers were released by the Germans one month later. The Israeli government responded with an assassination campaign against the organizers.

The expulsion of Soviet advisors by the new Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, led to Israeli complacency about the military threat from the Arab world.

The Yom Kippur War began on October 6, 1973 (the Jewish Day of Atonement), the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and a day when adult Jews are required to fast. The Syrian and Egyptian armies launched a surprise attack against the unprepared Israeli Defence Forces. For the first few days there was a great deal of uncertainty about Israel's capacity to repel the invaders, however the Syrians were repulsed and, although the Egyptians captured some territory in Sinai, Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal and were heading towards Cairo when a cease fire was agreed. Although the war's results were generally favourable to Israel, it cost over 2,000 dead and resulted in a heavy arms bill. The war generally made Israelis more aware of their vulnerability. Following the war, both Israelis and Egyptians showed greater willingness to negotiate. On January 18, 1974, a Disengagement of Forces agreement was signed with the Egyptian government, and on May 31, with the Syrian government.

On the international scene, the war led the Saudi Government to initiate the oil embargo against countries trading with Israel. As a result many African and Asian countries broke off relations with Israel. Israel was banned from participation in the Asian games.

In May 1974, Palestinians attacked a School in Ma'alot, holding 100 children hostage. 26 children were killed. In November 1974 the PLO was granted observer status at the UN and Yasser Arafat addressed the General Assembly.

Later that year the Agranat Commission, appointed to assess responsibility for Israel's lack of preparedness for the war, exonerated the government of responisibility and held the Chief of Staff and head of military intelligence responsible. Despite the report, public anger at the Government, led to Golda Meir's resignation.

1975 - 1976: Rabin and Operation Entebbe

Following Meir's resignation, Yitzhak Rabin (Chief of Staff during the Six Day War) became prime minister.

Modern Orthodox Jews (followers of the teachings of Rabbi Kook), formed the Gush Emunim movement and began an organized drive to settle the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

On November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379 which asserted Zionism to be a form of racism. The General Assembly rescinded this resolution on December 16, 1991 with Resolution 46/86. (See also Zionism and racism, Israel, Palestine and the United Nations.)

In July 1976, an Air France plane carrying 260 People was kidnapped by Palestinian and German terrorists and flown to Uganda, then ruled by Idi Amin. There, the Germans separated the Jewish passengers from the Non-Jewish passengers, releasing the non-Jews. The hijackers threatened to kill the remaining, 100-odd Jewish passengers (and the crew who had refused to leave). Despite the distances involved, Rabin ordered a daring rescue operation in which the kidnapped Jews were freed.

At the end of 1976, Rabin resigned after it emerged that his wife maintained a dollar account in the United States (illegal at the time), which had been opened while Rabin was Israeli ambassador.

Shimon Peres replaced him as prime minister, leading the Alignment in the subsequent elections.

1977 - 1981: Begin and Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty

In a surprise result, the Likud led by Menachem Begin won the 1977. elections. This was the first time in Israeli history that the government was not led by the left. Mizrahi anger at discrimination was a key factor in the victory and was to play an important role in Israeli politics for many years. Morroccan born David Levy made a major contribution to winning Mizrahi support for Begin.

In addition to starting a process of healing the Mizrahi-Ashkenazi divide, Begin's government included Ultra-Orthodox Jews and was instrumental in healing the Zionist - Ultra-Orthodox rift. Begin's liberalization of the economy led to hyper-inflation but enabled Israel to begin receiving US financial aid. Begin actively supported Gush Emunim's efforts to settle the West Bank, thus laying the grounds for intense conflict with the Palestinian population of the occupied territories.

In November 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat broke 30 years of hostility with Israel by visiting Jerusalem at the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister [[Menachem Begin. During a 2-day visit, which included a speech before the Knesset, the Egyptian leader created a new psychological climate in the Middle East in which peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors seemed a realistic possibility. Sadat recognized Israel's right to exist and established the basis for direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel.

Following Sadat's visit, 350 Yom Kippur war veterans organized the Peace Now movement to encourage Israeli governments to make peace with the Arabs.

In September 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter invited President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin to meet with him at Camp David, and on September 11 they agreed on a framework for peace between Israel and Egypt and a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. It set out broad principles to guide negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. It also established guidelines for a West Bank-Gaza transitional regime of full autonomy for the Palestinians residing in these territories and for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The treaty was signed on March 26, 1979, by Begin and Sadat, with President Carter signing as witness. Under the treaty, Israel returned the Sinai peninsula to Egypt in April 1982. In 1989, the governments of Israel and Egypt concluded an agreement that resolved the status of Taba, a resort area on the Gulf of Aqaba.

The Arab League reacted to the peace treaty by suspending Egypt from the organisation and moving its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Sadat was later assassinated by members of the Egyptian army which had opposed his efforts to make peace with Israel.

Following the agreement Israel and Egypt became the two largest recipients of US military and financial aid (Iraq has now ovetaken them by a large margin).

1981 - 1983: Begin and the First Lebanon War

Begin was victorious yet again in the 1981 elections.

In the decades following the 1948 war, Israel's border with Lebanon was quiet compared to its borders with other neighbors. After the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan in 1970, however, Lebanon became the centre of their operations and hostilities on Israel's northern border increased. This helped lead to civil war in Lebanon. The Israeli north, especially the town of Kiryat Shmona, was subject to constant shelling by Palestinian forces in Lebanon.

In March 1978, after the Coastal Road Massacre, Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon commencing Operation Litani. After passage of Security Council Resolution 425, calling for Israeli withdrawal and the creation of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon peace-keeping force (UNIFIL), Israel withdrew its troops.

In June 1982, after the attempted assassination of the ambassador to Britain, Israel invaded the southern half of Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War to drive out the PLO, initially from Southern Lebanon and then altogether. The Israeli army occupied Beirut, the only time an Arab capital has been occupied by Israel.

While a few Lebanese did at first welcome the Israelis, almost all Lebanese came to resent Israeli occupation. Heavy Israeli casualties and a lack of clear goals led to increasing disquiet at the war among Israelis as well.

In August 1982, the PLO withdrew its forces from Lebanon (moving to Tunisia). The Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayel, agreed to recognize Israel and sign a peace treaty but was assassinated before any agreement was signed. The following day Christian forces entered two Palestinian refugee camps and massacred the occupants.

The massacre led to massive demonstrations in Israel against the war. An inquiry, appointed to investigate Israeli responsibility for the massacre, concluded that Defence Minister Sharon bore some moral responsibility and recommended that he never again be allowed to hold the post.

1984 - 1988: Rotation government and first Intifada

In September 1983, Begin resigned and was succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister. The 1984 election was inconclusive and led to a power sharing agreement between Shimon Peres of the Alignment and Shamir of Likud.

Acting as finance minister Peres successfully brought Israel's rampant inflation under control.

In 1984, during a severe famine in Ethiopia, thousands of Ethiopian Jews were secretly air-lifted to Israel.

In June 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon, leaving a residual Israeli force and an Israeli-supported militia in southern Lebanon as a "security zone," which Israel considered a necessary buffer against attacks on its northern territory. Israel finally withdrew from this zone in 2000, during the Prime Ministership of Ehud Barak, fulfilling UN Security Council Resolution 425. Lebanon has since claimed a small area of the Golan Heights called "Shebaa Farms" which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

Main article: First Intifada.

In response to the continuing Israeli settlement and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip regions, Palestinians began the first Intifada (uprising) in 1987. Israel responded with strong military and police resistance, but failed to end the fighting. The first intifada continued until 1991. Concern at Human Rights abuses by Israeli troops led a group of Israelis to form B'Tselem, an organization devoted to improving awareness and compliance with Human Rights requirements in Israel.

1988 - 1992: The Gulf War and Soviet immigration

The Alignment and Likud remained neck and neck in the 1988 elections but Shamir successfully formed a coalition.

Main article: Gulf War

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War between Iraq and a large allied force, led by the United States. Iraq, seeking to inflame Arab public opinion and draw Arab states out of the alliance (and possibly to Iraq's side), attacked Israel with 39 Scud missiles. Under pressure from the United States, Israel did not retaliate. Instead, it accepted U.S. assistance in deflecting the attacks. One man in the Ramat Khen neighborhood in Ramat Gan was killed by a MIM-104 Patriot anti-missile missile which went astray. Between 7 and 13 people died from asphyxiation due to gas mask misuse. Statistical analysis suggests that 30-80 excess deaths occurred, mostly from heart attacks due most likely to "emotional stress and breathing difficulties" (Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 273(15), 19 April 1995, pp 1208-1210). Israel provided gas masks for both the Palestinian population and Israeli citizens.

In 1990, the Soviet Union finally permitted free emmigration of Soviet Jews to Israel. Prior to this, Jews trying to leave the USSR faced persecution, those who succeeded arrived as refugees.

Over the next few years some one million Soviet citizens migrated to Israel, there was concern that some of the new immigrants had only a very tenuous connection to Judaism and many were accompanied by non-Jewish relatives.

Additional concerns centered on the ability of these immigrants to adapt to Israeli culture and find suitable employment.

1992 - 1995: Rabin and peace talks

Main article: Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The coalition's victory in the Gulf war opened new possibilities for regional peace, and in October 1991 the U.S. President, George H.W. Bush and Soviet Union Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, jointly convened a historic meeting in Madrid of Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Syrian, and Palestinian leaders. This meeting became the foundation for ongoing bilateral and multilateral negotiations designed to bring lasting peace and economic development to the region.

In the 1992 elections, the Labour Party, led by Yitzhak Rabin, won a significant victory with a manifesto promising to pursue peace.

On September 13, 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles (DOP) on the South Lawn of the White House. The declaration was a major conceptual breakthrough achieved under the Madrid framework. It established an ambitious set of objectives relating to a transfer of authority from Israel to an interim Palestinian authority. The DOP established May 1999 as the date by which a permanent status agreement for the West Bank and Gaza Strip would take effect. Israel and the PLO subsequently signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement on May 4, 1994, and the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities on August 29, 1994, which began the process of transferring authority from Israel to the Palestinians.

On July 25, 1994 Jordan and Israel signed the Washington Declaration which formally ended the state of war that had existed between them since 1948. On October 26, 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a historic peace treaty at a border post between the two countries, witnessed by US President Bill Clinton, accompanied by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Israel ceded a small amount of contested land to Jordan, and the countries opened official diplomatic relations, with open borders and free trade.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the historic Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on September 28, 1995, in Washington, D.C.. The agreement, witnessed by President Bill Clinton on behalf of the United States and by Russia, Egypt, Norway, and the European Union, incorporates and supersedes the previous agreements and marked the conclusion of the first stage of negotiations between Israel and the PLO.

The agreement allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted autonomy to the Palestinians with talks to follow regarding final status. In return the Palestinians redognized Israel's right to exist and promised to abstain from use of terror.

However the agreement was opposed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions which launched suicide bomber attacks at Israel. Rabin had a barrier constructed round Gaza to prevent attacks.

Tensions in Israel, arising from the continuation of terrorism and anger at loss of territory, led to the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin by a right-wing Jewish radical on November 4, 1995.

1996 - 1999: Netanyahu and Wye accords

In February 1996 Rabin's successor, Shimon Peres, called early elections. Those elections were held in May 1996 and were the first featuring direct election of the prime minister, resulted in a narrow election victory for Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu and his center-right National Coalition (Likud) and the defeat of Peres and his left-of-center Labor/Meretz government. On the run up to the election the polls showed that Peres would win a comfortable margin, but a spate of suicide bombings reinforced the Likud position for security. Hamas claimed responsibility for most of the bombings.

Despite his stated differences with the Oslo Accords, Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed to continue their implementation, but his Prime Ministership saw a marked slow-down in the Peace Process. (Netanyahu supporters argue that this slow-down was in response to Palestinian terrorism.)

Prime Minister Netanyahu signed the Hebron Protocol with the Palestinian Authority on January 15, 1997. The Protocol resulted in the redeployment of Israeli forces in Hebron and the turnover of civilian authority in much of the area to the Palestinian Authority.

At the Wye River Conference Center in Maryland, agreement was reached on October 23, 1998. The Wye Agreement is based on the principle of reciprocity and meets the essential requirements of both the parties, including unprecedented security measures on the part of the Palestinians and the further redeployment of Israeli troops in the West Bank. The agreement also permits the launching of the permanent status negotiations as the May 4, 1999 expiration of the period of the Interim Agreement.

1999 - 2001: Barak and Camp David

In the election of July 1999, Ehud Barak of the Labour Party became Prime Minister.

On March 21 2000 Pope John Paul II arrived in Israel for a historic visit.

In 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew its remaining forces from the "security zone" in southern Lebanon. The UN Secretary-General had concluded that, as of June 16, 2000, Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 425. Lebanon claims that Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory called "Sheba'a Farms"; but the UN insists that Sheba'a Farms is Syrian, not Lebanese, territory. After the withdrawal the Lebanese government did not assert sovereignty in the area which came under the control of Hezbollah.

In the Fall of 2000, talks were held at Camp David to reach a final agreement on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Although Israel offered to meet most of the Palestinian requests for territory and political concessions, including Arab parts of east Jerusalem, Arafat chose to walk out of the talks.

On September 28 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, sparking widespread Palestinian riots. This marked the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada. Israel claims that the Palestinians had been planning violence far in advance of Sharon's visit, and that his visit was used as an excuse for the planned violence to be launched. In his book The High Cost of Peace, Yossef Bodansky describes the event: "When Sharon expressed interest in visiting the Temple Mount, Barak ordered GSS chief Ami Ayalon to approach Jibril Rajoub with a special request to facilitate a smooth and friendly visit... Rajoub promised it would be smooth as long as Sharon would refrain from entering any of the mosques or praying publicly... Just to be on the safe side, Barak personally approached Arafat and once again got assurances that Sharon's visit would be smooth..." (p354)

In October 2000, Palestinians destroyed Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish shrine in Nablus. They also stoned worshippers at the Western Wall and attacked another Jewish shrine, Rachel's Tomb.

With the Peace Process increasingly in disarray, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. Barak was hoping that a victory for him would give him renewed authority in negotiations with the Palestinians. But Barak's hopes were not to be, and in 2001, opposition leader Ariel Sharon was elected PM in a special election for Prime Minister in 2001. After this election the system of directly electing the Premier was abandoned.

2001 - 2006: Sharon and unilateral disengagement

The failure of the peace process and increased Palestinian terror led much of the Israeli public and political leadership to lose confidence in the Palestinian Authority as a peace partner. Most felt that many Palestinians view the peace treaty with Israel as a temporary measure only. However many Israelis were anxious to disengage from the Palestinians.

In response to intensifed bomb attacks, Sharon began construction of a barrier round the West-Bank (the idea had been debated for several years).

On December 18, 2003, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced he would consider a unilateral withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories in order to make it easier for long term management of the ongoing intifada. This was crystallized as a plan for total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, while maintaining most of the settlements in the West Bank. The US government announced its support for the plan on April 14, 2004. The first phase of the plan regarding the work of technical committees to work out logistical details was approved by the Israeli cabinet on June 6, 2004.

In 2005 Sharon left the Likud and formed a new party called Kadima. He was joined by many leading figures from both Likud and Labour.

On October 26, 2004, Sharon's withdrawal plan was ratified by the Israeli parliament. The civilians were evacuated from Gaza (some forcibly) and the residential buildings demolished after August 15, and the disengagement from the Gaza Strip was completed on September 12 2005, when the last Israeli soldier left the Gaza strip. The military disengagement from the northern West Bank was completed ten days later.

2006 - Present: Olmert and Second Lebanon War

After Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, the powers of the office were passed to Ehud Olmert, who was the designated Acting Prime Minister. On April 14, 2006,

Olmert was elected Prime Minister after his party, Kadima, won the most seats in the 2006 legislative elections.

References

1. See The History of the Jews in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem by Joshua Prawer, 1988, see alo http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cru1.htm (accessed No 2007)
2. "How to Respond to Common Misstatements About Israel". Anti-Defamation League. 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
3. "The Population of Palestine Prior to 1948". MidEastWeb.org. 2005. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
5. God, Guns and Israel, Jill Hamilton, UK 2004, Especially chapter 14.
6. God, Guns and Israel, Jill Hamilton, UK 2004, Especially chapter 15
7. A Survey of Palestine prepared for the Aglo-American Committee of Inquiry, 1946, chapter 1
8. Palestine Royal Commission Report (the Peel report) London 1937, chapter 10, page 283.
9. Yehuda Bauer, Brichah: Flight and Rescue, Random house 1970
10. The Times 30/7/46 pg.4 3/8/1946 Pg.4. That is almost 20% of the entire Jewish population of Palestine.
11. The text read as follows: "The mandatory Power shall use its best endeavours to ensure that an area situated in the territory of the Jewish State, including a seaport and hinterland adequate to provide facilities for a substantial immigration, shall be evacuated at the earliest possible date and in any event not later than 1 February 1948" UN General Assembly resolution 181, Part 1 section A.
12. British treaties of friendship with Iraq, Egypt and Transjordan required them to buy arms only from Britain and required Britain to supply them with the latest arms. see D. Silverfarb, Britain’s Informal Empire in the Middle-East: A case study of Iraq, 1929-41 (New York: Oxford University Press 1986), C. Seton, Legislation of Transjordan 1918-1930 (London 1930) pp703-741
13. Arab states against israel , 1948 - A map from New York Times including Mutawakkilite Yemen
14. Pollack, 2004; Sadeh, 1997
15. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/scres046.htm
16. Benny Morris, in the Birth revisited, 2003, p.34]].
17. Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, 2006, p.51.
18. Ilan Pappe, The ethnic cleansing of Palestine, 2006, p.44.
19. Benny Morris, in the Birth revisited, 2003, p.16.
20. Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, 2006, p.73.
21. Ilan Pappe, The ethnic cleansing of Palestine, 2006, p.44 fix these numbers to 50,000 with 30,000 fighting forces.
22. The Times, 14 & 15/5/1948 both page 4
23. The decleation of war can be read at: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/arab_invasion.html
24. N.G. Finkelstein, 'Beyond Chutzpah', 2205, ISBN 0-520-24598-9, p. 3
25. I. Pappé, 2006, ‘The ethnic cleansing of Palestine’
26. Morris in an interview with Haaretz, 8 January 2004, ]
27. I. Pappé, 2006, ‘The ethnic cleansing of Palestine’, p. xvi
28. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/gov_un_mem_dat-government-un-membership-date
29. Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and its Repercussions in the 1950s and After Dvora Hacohen, Syracuse University Press, 2003
30. Source: Professor Moshe Sikron, http://www.lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=12938 (Hebrew)
31. Mishtar HaTsena (in Hebrew), Dr Avigail Cohen & Haya Oren, Tel-Aviv 1995
32. Haaretz 8/1/1952, http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3306796,00.html (Hebrew accessed 10/10/2007)
33. Dalia Ofer, Holocaust Survivors as Immigrants: The Case of Israel and the Cyprus Detainees in Modern Judaism, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Feb., 1996), pp. 1-23
34. Israel's Military Aid to Africa, 1960-66 , Abel Jacob in The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Aug., 1971), pp. 165-187
35. (Hebrew) http://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/heb/lavon.htm
36. Middle East Review of International Affairs Volume 2, No. 4 - November 1998 ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES: CAN THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP SURVIVE THE NEW STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT? http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/1998/issue4/jv2n4a7.html
37. http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Egypt/Missile/2362.html accessed 18/10/2007
38. The Eichmann Trial and American Jewry: A Reassessment, Françoise S. Ouzan in Jewish Political Studies Review 19:1-2 (Spring 2007)
39. http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_periods3.html accessed 17/10/2007
40. http://hnn.us/articles/751.html accessed 17/10/2007
41. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1627015,00.html, http://www.sixdaywar.co.uk/timeline.htm, Whose Voice? Nasser, the Arabs, and 'Sawt al-Arab' Radio By Laura M. James in TBS (Transnational Broadcasting Studies) 16 2006 http://www.tbsjournal.com/James.html
42. 30 years to the Black Panthers in Israel by Sami Shalom Chetrit, http://www.kedma.co.il/Panterim/PanterimTheMovie/EnglishArticles.htm accessed October 2006
43. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/entebbe.html accessed 17/10/2007 many websites erroneously describe the hostages as Israelis. Although most were Israeli, they were all Jewish and the terrorists policy was to hold Jews.
44. for further information see http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/trade/files/98-916.pdf accessed November 2007
45. Aliya from the USSR/Commonwealth of Independent States Jewish Agency for Israel
46. Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements Jewish Virtual Library
47. Main Points of Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty October 26, 1994 Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
48. Treaty of Peace between The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and The State of Israel King Hussiien website
49. Security Council endorses Secretary-General's conclusion on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as of 16 June United Nations, 18 June 2000
50. Israeli Proposal to Palestinians and Syria Information Regarding Israel's Security (IRIS)
51. Hasson, Nir (11 April 2006). "Cabinet approves appointment of Ehud Olmert as interim PM" (HTML). Retrieved 2006-11-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)

Bibliography

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• Eytan, Walter The First Ten Years: a Diplomatic History of Israel, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1958
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• Lucas, Noah The Modern History of Israel, New York: Praeger, 1975.
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• Facts about Israel: History, Jerusalem: Israel Information Centre, 2003.

Further reading on Lavon Affair

• Doron Geller: The Lavon Affair
• List of books and articles covering the affair
• Jack Riemer: Author unravels the scandal that brought down Ben-Gurion
• Israeli government's summary (in Hebrew)

Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties

• Paris Peace Conference, 1919
• Faisal-Weizmann Agreement (1919)
• 1949 Armistice Agreements
• Camp David Accords (1978)
• Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty (1979)
• Madrid Conference of 1991
• Oslo Accords (1993)
• Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (1994)
• Camp David 2000 Summit
• History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
• List of Middle East peace proposals
• International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict

See also

• History of Levant
• History of the Jews in the Land of Israel

External links

• The Jewish History Resource Center Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• NAAMZ, Israeli Advocacy Group
• Israel GenWeb - Jewish Genealogy Resources
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• Full Profile of Israel Ynetnews Lexicon

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• Zionism: Historical Source Documents and texts
• "Zionism" — from the Jewish Virtual Library
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• The UNISPAL web site contains the full texts of hundreds of official documents, including those of the League of Nations and the United Nations, the British government, the Israeli government, the Palestinian authority, and many others.
• Economic History of Israel from EH.NET's Encyclopedia
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