B.C.

  600,000 - 10,000
Paleolithic and Mesolithic period. Earliest human remains in
 the area(found south of the Lake of Tabariyya), date back to
 ca. 600,000 BC.
  10,000 - 5,000
 Neolithic period. Establishment of settled agricultural
 communities.
  5,000 - 3,000
 Chalcolithic period. Copper and stone tools and artifacts from
 this period found near Jericho, Bi'r As-Sabi' and the Dead 
Sea.
  3,000 - 2,000
Early Bronze Age.Arrival and settlement of the Arab Canaanites
 (3,000 - 2,500 BC)
  ca. 1,250?
        Israelite conquest of Canaan.
  965? - 928?
King Solomon (Sulayman), construction of the temple in Jerusalem.
  928?
        Division of the Israelite state into the kingdom of
Israel and Judah.
  721
        Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel.
  586
        Judah defeated by Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar,
 deportation of its population to Babylon and destruction of the
temple.
  539
Persians conquer Babylonia, allowance of deportees to return
 and construction of a new temple.
  333
Alexander the Great conquers Persia and Palestine comes 
under the Greek rule.
  323
Alexander the Great dies, alternate rule by Ptolemies of
 Egypt and Seleucids of Syria.
  165
        Maccabees revolt against the Seleucid ruler (Antiochus
 Epiphanes) and establish an independent state.
  63
 Incorporation of Palestine into the Roman Empire.

---

A.D.

  70
        Destruction of the second temple by the Roman
 Emperor Titus.
132-135 
Suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Jews barred from 
Jerusalem and Emperor Hadrian builds a pagan city on its ruins.
330-638
Palestine under Byzantine occupation, Christianity spreads.
638
Muslim Khalifa Omar ibn al-Khattaab liberates Jerusalem and
 ends the Byzantine occupation.
661-750
Palestine administered by the Umayyad muslim chaliphs from 
Damascus and construct the Dome of the Rock ('Abd al-Malik,
 685-705) and Al-Aqsa in its current shape (al-Walid, 705-715).
750-1258
Palestine administered from Baghdad by the'Abbasid muslim caliphs.
969
Palestine administered by the Fatimids.
1071
Muslim Saljuqs (originally from Isfahan) rule Jerusalem and parts of
 Palestine (officially still under the 'Abbasids).
1099-1187
The Crusaders occupation and establishment of the "Latin Kingdom of
 Jerusalem".
1187
Great muslim leader Salah al-Diin al-Ayyoubi (from Kurdistan)
 conquers the  crusaders in the battle of Hittin, kicks
 them back to Europe and frees Jerusalem. Plaestine 
administered from Cairo.
1260
The Mamluks succeed the Ayyubis, continue to administer Palestine 
from Cairo and kick the Mongols in the battle of 'Ayn Jaluut near
 An-Nasira.
1291
The Mamluks (Khalil bin Qalawuun) conquer the last crusader
 stronghold in Akka and Qisariya.
1516-1917
Palestine incorporated into the Ottoman state and administered from 
Istanbul.
1832-1840
Moh'd Ali Pasha (Egypt) rules Palestine, Ottomans take over
 afterwards.
1876-1877
First Palestinian deputies from Jerusalem attend the first Ottoman 
parliament.
1878
First Zionist settlement (Petach Tiqva) established under the
 guise of agricultural community.
1882-1903
First wave of Zionists (25000 strong) enters Palestine as illegal 
immigrants 
from Eastern Europe.
1882
French Baron E. de Rothschild starts backing Zionists activities
 in  Palestine financially.
1887-1888
Ottomans divide Palestine into three districts: Jerusalem (follows 
Istanbul), Akka and Nablus (follow the 'wilaya' of Beirut). 

1895 - 1917 

1895


The total population of Palestine was 500,000 of whom
47,000 were Jews who owned 0.5% of the land.


1896


Following the appearance of anti-Semitism in Europe,
 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 programme 
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 return for Arab support against 
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 "TheBalfour 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.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.


1929 


The outbreak of Al-Boraq uprising .


1935/11/20 
The muslim syrian leader Izz-aldeen Alqasam 
killed in Palestine by british occupation(a biginning to 1936 strike) 


1936-1939 
The Great revolution;
Palestinians held a six-month General Strike(longest strike 
in history )to protest against killing of Izz-aldeen Alqasam   & the 
confiscation of land and Jewish immigration.
But the strike was stopped by arab leaders thinking that Britain 
will give palestinians thier rights.But revolution continues:
-146 palestinians excuted;
-50,000 palestinians arrested for miscellanuous periods;
-2,000 palestinians centanced for long periods;
-5,000 houses detroyed;
-leaders of revolution expeld.
 


1939


Timing with the outbreak of WW2 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.(The white paper was banded by Britain after war)


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.& for zionist
 who stole 5% allocated 50%of palestine & the rest is international 
zone(UN resolution 181)


1948


British forces withdrew from Palestine in
 May (leaving weapons for zionists)and the Zionists proclaimed
 the state of Israel without defining its borders.Unprepared 
Arab armies moved to defend the Palestinians.Corruption in 
arab armies leads to  a  defeat for arab armies.Angry arab
 military officcers staged coup d'etat in thier contries
 against thier leaders (e.g Qasim in  Iraq ,Zaiem in Syria&
 Naser & Muslim brotherhode in Egypt)


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.



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.UN issues resolution 
number 242


1973 - 1988



1973


The October War between Israel and the Arab states 
broke out.UN issues resolution number 338


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


 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.


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.



Following the US government refusing
  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  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 programme
 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 


Israeli soldiers re deployed from major cities in the
West Bank, yet Hebron is still controlled by the Israeli soldiers 



1997


January: Agreement of the redeployment from Hebron

February: Release of the women prisoners. 
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. 


Palestine & U.N.(1)

Palestine & U.N.(2)

Palestine Diary














Designed by Feras Sallam  1999
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