On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the State of Israel after 28 years of British mandate. The next day, five Arab countries went to war against the new state.
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of dividing Palestine, then under the British Mandate, into two states: Jewish and Arab. The resolution, which was rejected by Arab countries, sparked violence between Arabs and Jews.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the State of Israel after 28 years of British mandate. The next day, five Arab countries went to war against the new state.
The first Arab-Israeli war ended in 1949, during which Israel expanded the lands designated for it by the United Nations, and more than 760,000 Palestinians were forced to flee or flee, and about 160,000 of them remained in the new state.
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, came under Jordanian administration, and the Gaza Strip under Egyptian supervision.
1967 war
In June 1967, Israel launched a war against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, gaining control of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, part of the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
1973 war
Six years later, during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, which repulsed the attack but suffered heavy losses.
1978: Peace with Egypt
In 1978, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat concluded the Camp David Accords in Washington, which stipulated the signing of the first peace treaty between an Arab country and Israel on March 26, 1979.
According to the agreements, Egypt regained the Sinai Peninsula, starting in 1982. The Arab countries condemned the agreement, and Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by Islamist militants who refused peace with Israel.
1982: The invasion of Lebanon
The Israelis invaded Lebanon and laid siege to Beirut in June 1982. This led to the departure of the PLO, led by Yasser Arafat, from Lebanon. Israeli forces continued to occupy southern Lebanon until 2000.
After Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers in 2006, Israel launched a devastating attack on Lebanon and fought a war for about a month.
1993: Oslo Accords
In December 1987, the Palestinians launched the first Intifada against the Israeli occupation.
In 1993, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington signed the Oslo Accords establishing the Palestinian Authority after Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s historic handshake.
In 1994, Arafat returned victoriously to the occupied Palestinian territories after 27 years of exile and established the Palestinian Authority.
1995: Rabin is assassinated
Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv in 1995 by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process.
2000: The Second Intifada
After the controversial visit of then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon in September 2000 to the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the second Intifada broke out and lasted until 2005.
2005: Withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and imposed a blockade on it in 2007 after the Islamic Hamas movement took control of it. Israel and Hamas fought four wars in the Strip in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021.
2009: Netanyahu returns
At the end of March 2009, Likud leader (right) Benjamin Netanyahu, who previously held the position between 1996 and 1999, returned to the premiership. In 2019, Netanyahu was charged with corruption in a series of cases.
After leaving power in 2021 due to his inability to form a government coalition that would win the majority of the Knesset’s votes, he returned at the end of the following year at the head of one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history. A government project to reform the judicial system has sparked unprecedented popular demonstrations since January, and critics of the text say it threatens Israeli democracy.
