Israel Timeline

• 1800-1500 BC Abraham, the father of the Jewish People, lived during this era
  

• 63 BC The Romans conquered the region
  

• 66-70 AD the Jews stage a rebellion against the Roman rule
  

• 132-135 AD The Romans forced the Jews to leave the region of Israel when it then became known as Palestine
  

• 600s The Arabs conquered the region
  

• 1000s -1200s The Crusades when Christians tried to claim the area and particularly Jerusalem
  

• 1800s The Zionists start a movement to set up a Jewish state in Palestine
  

• 1900s Conflict between the Jewish and Arab populations
  

• 1914 - 1918 WW1
  

• 1917 The Balfour Declaration issued by Great Britain supporting the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine
  

• 1939-1945 World War II and the Holocaust when approximately 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis
  

• 1947 The United Nations divided the region into an Arab and a Jewish state
  

• 17 May 1948 The Nation of Israel was established
  

• 1950 The Law of Return was passed allowing any Jew, with just a few exceptions, to settle in Israel
  

• 1967 Israel occupies the Gaza Strip and the West bank at the end of one of the Israeli-Arab conflicts

Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine.

On 29 November 1947 the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine or United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, a plan to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine, was approved by the United Nations General Assembly, at the UN World Headquarters in New York.

The  UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. 

• 1948 War of Independence-The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, referred to as the "War of Independence or as the "War of Liberation by Israelis, is the first in a series of armed conflicts fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors in the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.  

Department of History, U.S. Military Academy

Department of History, U.S. Military Academy

On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. 

Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo Accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. 

In April 2003, US President Bush, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia - the "Quartet" - took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Palestinian-Israeli violence between September 2000 and February 2005. An agreement reached at Sharm al-Sheikh in February 2005 significantly reduced the violence.

In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military while retaining control over most points of entry into the Gaza Strip. The election of HAMAS in January 2006 to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006; he shelved plans to unilaterally evacuate from most of the West Bank following an Israeli military operation in Gaza in June-July 2006 and a

Capital: Jerusalem 

Administrative divisions: 6 districts (mehozot, singular - mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv

Population: 7,233,701

Ethnic groups: Jewish 76.4% (of which Israel-born 67.1%, Europe/America-born 22.6%, Africa-born 5.9%, Asia-born 4.2%), non-Jewish 23.6% (mostly Arab) (2004)

Religions: Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9%

Economy - overview:

Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial, though diminishing, government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain but is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable trade deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the US, its major source of economic and military aid. Israel's GDP, after contracting slightly in 2001 and 2002 due to the Palestinian conflict and troubles in the high-technology sector, has grown by about 5% per year since 2003. The economy grew an estimated 4.2% in 2008, slowed by the global financial crisis. The government's prudent fiscal policy and structural reforms over the past few years have helped to induce strong foreign investment, tax revenues, and private consumption, setting the economy on a solid growth path.

Israel's Prime Ministers

• Israel

  • United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181

  • Palestine Mandate

Source: Wikepedia, United States Department of State, CIA Factbook, Yale Law School, Jewish Virtual Library