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A Brief History of Palestine 1895-1995
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1895
The total population of Palestine was 500,000 of whom 47,000
were Jews who owned 0.5% of the land.
The Jewish populations were the descendants of the Jewish refugees
who fled from Spain 1609 AD
1896
Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism tried to find a political
solution for the problem in his book, 'The Jewish State'. He advocated
the creation of a Jewish state in Argentina or Palestine.
1897
The first Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland, which issued
the Basle program on the colonization of Palestine and the establishment
of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
1904
Fourth Zionist Congress decided to establish a national home
for Jews in Argentina.
1906
The Zionist congress decided the Jewish homeland should be Palestine.
1914
With the outbreak of World War I, Britain promised the independence
of Arab lands under Ottoman rule, including Palestine, in opposing
to Turkey which had entered the war on the side of Germany.
1916
Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided
the Arab region into zones of influence. Lebanon and Syria were
assigned to France, Jordan and Iraq to Britain and Palestine was
to be internationalized.
1917
Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary sent a letter to
the Zionist leader Lord Rothschild which later became known as
"The Balfour declaration". He stated that Britain would
use its best endeavors to facilitate the establishment in Palestine
of a national home for the Jewish people. At that time the population
of Palestine was 700,000 of which 574,000 were Muslims, 74,000
were Christian, and 56,000 were Jews.
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1919 - 1967
1919
The Palestinians convened their first National Conference and
expressed their opposition to the Balfour Declaration.
1920
The San Remo Conference granted Britain a mandate over Palestine
and two years later Palestine was effectively under British administration,
and Sir Herbert Samuel, a declared Zionist, was sent as Britain's
first High Commissioner to Palestine.
1922
The Council of the League of Nations issued a Mandate for Palestine.
The Mandate was in favor of the establishment for the Jewish people
a homeland in Palestine.
1936
The Palestinians held a six-month General Strike to protest against
the confiscation of land and Jewish immigration.
1939
The British government published a new White Paper restricting
Jewish immigration and offering independence for Palestine within
ten years. This was rejected by the Zionists, who then organized
terrorist groups and launched a bloody campaign against the British
and the Palestinians. The aim was to drive them both out of Palestine
and to pave the way for the establishment of the Zionist state.
1947
The United Nations approved the partition under which the Palestinian
Arabs, who accounted for 70% of the population and owned 92% of
the land, were allocated 47% of the country. (UN resolution 181)
1948
British forces withdrew from Palestine in May and the Zionists
proclaimed the state of Israel without defining its borders. Arab
armies moved to defend the Palestinians.
1949
A cease fire was finally agreed. The Zionists controlled 77%
of Palestinian land and over 1 million Palestinians were forced
to leave their country. The West Bank was put under Jordanian
control and the Gaza Strip under Egyptian control.
1964
The Palestine Liberation Organization was established.
1965
The Palestine 'Revolution' began on 1 January.
1967
Israel launched a new war against the Arabs and seized the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian
Sinai peninsula.
1973 - 1988
1973
The October War between Israel and the Arab states broke out,
And it was the first practical defeat for Israel.
1974
The Arab Summit in Rabat recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people. At the United Nations
General Assembly, the UN reaffirmed its commitment to an independent
sovereign state in Palestine and gave the PLO observer status
at the United Nations. Yasser Arafat, chairman of the PLO, addressed
the General Assembly of the United Nations.
1978
Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Agreement under the auspices
of the United States.
1982
Israel invaded Lebanon with the aim of destroying the PLO. Tens
of thousands were killed and made homeless in the wake of the
invasion which culminated in the massacres of Sabra and Shatilla.
1983
The United Nations called for the convening of a Peace Conference
with the participation of the PLO on an equal footing with the
other delegates as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian
people.
1987
The 18th Session of the Palestine National Council (PNC) supported
the convening of a UN- sponsored conference. In December the Intifada-the
Palestine Uprising - in the Occupied Territories began.
1988
Abu Jihad, Palestinian leader, was gunned down in his home in
Tunis on 14April by the Israeli Mossad.
(Ehud Barak the current Israeli P.M (1999) was the Assassin who
did it.
July 31
Jordanian disengagement - King Hussein of Jordan said he no longer
considered the West Bank as part of his kingdom.
November 15
The PNC meeting in Algiers declared the State of Palestine as
outlined in the UN Partition Plan 181.
December 9
British Junior Foreign Minister William Waldegrave met with Bassam
Abu Sharif President Arafat's adviser, thus upgrading Britain's
relations with the PLO.
Following the US government refusing President Arafat a visa
to enter the US, the UN General Assembly held a special session
on the question of Palestine in Geneva.
US/PLO dialogue began
1989 - 1996
1989
June 28: EEC Madrid Conference issued a new declaration calling
for the PLO to be involved in any peace negotiations.
August 3: Fateh, the mainstream PLO organization, at their 5th
Conference endorsed the PLO strategy adopted at the PNC in Algiers
in November 1988.
1990
May 20: Seven Palestinian workers from Gaza were massacred by
an Israeli gunman near Tel Aviv.
Yasser Arafat addressed the UN Security Council In Geneva after
the massacre in which he called for the deployment of a UN emergency
force to provide international protection for the Palestinian
people to safeguard their lives, properties and holy places.
The US vetoed a motion which called for the Security Council
to send a fact finding mission to the area. At the end of their
hunger strike, Palestinian leaders in the Occupied Territories
decided to boycott the US.
The Arab Summit in Baghdad pledged support fort he Palestinian
Intifada and strongly denounced the settlement of Soviet Jews
with in the Occupied Territories.
June 20: The US suspended its dialogue with the PLO after the
PLO refused to denounce a military operation in the sea by the
PLF.
June 26: The EEC in Dublin issued a new declaration on the Middle
East which condemned Israeli human rights violations and the settlement
of Soviet Jews in the Occupied Territories. It also doubled its
economic aid program to the Occupied Territories.
August 2: The Gulf Crisis erupted.
December 20: UN Security Council adopted Resolution 681.
1991
January 16: War in the Gulf started.
February 17: Cease fire agreed in War in the Gulf. - 23 September:
The PNC met in Algiers and paved the way for the Palestinian delegation
to participate in the Middle East Peace Conference.
October 30: The Middle East Peace Conference convened in Madrid.
December 3: The bi-lateral talks between Israel and the Palestinians,
Syrians, Jordanians and Lebanese started in Washington.
1992
June 23: Israeli Labor Party won the election in Israel and formed
a Labor coalition government.
August 24: The sixth round of the bi-lateral talks ,W.
1993
September 9-10: PLO Israeli recognition
September 13: Palestinian-Israeli Declaration of Principle
1994
May 4: Gaza strip and Jericho Agreement in Cairo
August 29: Transfer of the power Agreement.
1995
September 28: Palestinian Israeli Interim Agreement signed in
Washington.
1996
January: Election in Palestine
1997
January: Agreement of the redeployment from Hebron
March: The construction of the new Israeli settlement of Jabal
Abu Ghneim (Har Homa) started.
March: Cease of the peace talks because of the continuous of
the settlements policy of the Netanyahu Government.
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