I. TIMELINE OF MODERN PALESTINE

The history of the lands west of the Jordan River is vast, complex, and contentious. We’ve composed the following timeline as a guide to help readers understand the broader context of some of the stories presented in this book, and to understand the ways the very name “Palestine” has developed across millennia. We’ve assembled the timeline with information from the Palestine Institute, as well as information from timelines assembled by UNRWA and other UN agencies, the Guardian, PBS, BBC, and others. For further reading, we recommend Ilan Pappé’s A History of Modern Palestine and Edward Said’s The Question of Palestine.

8000 BCE—The first permanent human settlements appear in the land west of the Jordan River. These settlements develop into the city of Jericho, which is still inhabited and located in what is today the West Bank.

8000 BCE–1000 BCE—Control of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (known in the ancient world as Canaan) passes through control of numerous empires, including Egypt and Babylon. Parts of the region are controlled by autonomous Canaanite city-states. Around 1200 BCE, a coastal Canaanite people known as the Philistines form a defensive alliance around the cities of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon near the Mediterranean coast. Egyptians describe the land of the Philistines as “Peleset.” Later, Greek writers refer to the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River as “Palestine,” or “land of the Philistines.”

1000 BCE–850 BCE—The Kingdoms of Israel and Judea emerge from confederations of autonomous tribes of the people known as the Israelites. The Kingdom of Israel has its capital in Samaria (near modern Nablus), and the Kingdom of Judea makes Jerusalem its capital.

722 BCE–1 BCE—Part or all of the land now known as Palestine is ruled by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, numerous Hellenistic dynasties, and the Romans, among others. Semi-autonomous city-states also flourish during this time, including those of Israelite and other Canaanite peoples.

324–634—Roman Emperor Constantine moves his capital from Rome to the city of Byzantium (renamed Constantinople). He establishes Christianity as the religion of the new Byzantine Empire, which includes all of Palestine. Palestine passes through Byzantine rule to Persian rule, then back to Byzantine rule. During this time period, much of the population of the region is Christian.

610–632—The religion of Islam is established in the Arabian Peninsula under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad. By the time of his death in 632, Prophet Muhammad has established Islam as the accepted belief of many Arabic-speaking peoples in the region.

634—Two years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, Islamic Arabs defeat the armies of the Byzantine and Persian empires and take control of Palestine. In subsequent years, Arabic-speaking peoples move into Syria, west into Egypt and Africa, and east into Mesopotamia.

634–1516—During the Middle Ages, Palestine is ruled by a number of dynasties and Sultanates. Power struggles open the way for Crusaders, or Christian armies from Europe, to invade parts of Palestine. In 1187, a Muslim leader from Kurdistan named Salah Ad-Din conquers the first Crusader kingdom in Jerusalem. During the next century, Palestine is controlled by numerous rulers—including Crusaders—until an Egyptian military aristocracy known as the Mamluks takes control in 1250. Two centuries of relative peace follow. In 1453, Constantinople falls to the Ottomans, a Turkic people from central Asia. After renaming the city Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire begins expanding. By 1516, the Ottomans have conquered Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Western Arabia.

1516–1918—Palestine is ruled by the Ottomans for over four hundred years.

1800—By this year, there are as many as 250,000 people living in Palestine. Though the majority population is Muslim, there may be as many as 7,000 Jews living in the region and 20,000 Christians.

1850s—The roots of the modern Zionist movement first appear in Europe and Russia in the context of growing anti-Jewish sentiment and secular nationalism. In the following decades, 1.5 million Jews emigrate from Europe and Russia—many move to the United States, but some begin purchasing land in Palestine.

1900—Jewish leaders in Europe sympathetic to the Zionist movement fund expanded land purchases in Palestine from the Ottoman Empire. Jewish colonies are established. By 1900, the population of Palestine is between 500,000 and 600,000, with as many as 50,000 Jews and 60,000 Christians living approximately 400,000 Muslims.

1914—World War I begins. The Ottoman Empire joins Germany and the Central Powers against Britain, France, and Russia.

1915—Britain’s high commissioner in Egypt writes letters to Arab leader Sharif Hussein bin Ali and promises British support for Arab independence if Hussein revolts against the Ottomans. Hussein plans for a unified Arab state that stretches from Palestine and Syria to Yemen.

1917—Britain issues the Balfour Declaration, promising support for a Jewish national home in Palestine.

1918—World War I ends. The British army defeats the Ottoman army in Syria, and British forces occupy Palestine, Transjordan, and most of Iraq while French forces occupy Syria, Lebanon, and parts of Turkey and Iraq.

1921—Palestinians protest the loss of land through frequent demonstrations. Serious conflict between Jewish and non-Jewish Arab communities over land rights erupts in May. Dozens are killed near the neighboring cities of Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

1922—Through the League of Nations, Britain receives a mandate to administer Palestine. Transjordan is established as a semi-autonomous kingdom called Jordan, while Britain and the League of Nations agree to work toward a Palestine divided between a Jewish nation and an Arab one. The British Mandate is formally implemented in 1923. Arab protests over land loss continue through the decade.

1924—European and American philanthropists establish the Palestinian Jewish Colonization Association, an organization that helps fund the construction and maintenance of new Jewish colonies in the region.

1929—Increasing tensions between the British, Arabs, and Jews leads to violence. In August, sixty-seven Jews are killed by Arabs in the city of Hebron. Zionist settlers develop the Haganah, a paramilitary group established to protect Jewish interests.

1931—A paramilitary group called the Irgun splits off from the Haganah and begins to organize military strikes against the British and Arabs.

1936–1939—In the years before World War II, thousands of European Jews immigrate to Palestine, despite restrictions imposed by the British. Many Arabs angered by British authority, Jewish immigration, and loss of land rights adopt a general strike and call for acts of civil disobedience, including a boycott of British institutions. British authorities respond to these acts of rebellion with mass arrests, housing demolitions, school closures, and other methods. In 1937, the first partition plan for Israel and Palestine is created by the British Peel Commission.

1939—World War II begins. Britain bans land sales to Jews in Palestine in an effort to obtain Arab support against Germany.

1946—The Irgun orchestrates the bombing of the King David Hotel, then the British mandate headquarters.

1947—The General Assembly of the newly formed United Nations recommends partitioning Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab one. Under the proposal, Jerusalem will be shared by the two states under a United Nations peacekeeping force. The vote represents international community approval of the Zionist aspiration to an independent state and lays the groundwork for the state’s establishment. However, many Christian and Muslim residents of Palestine resist the planned partition. Many believe that the land granted to the Jewish State doesn’t reflect the demographic distribution of Palestine. At this time, the population of Palestine is approximately one-third Jewish.

—Beginning soon after the UN vote, paramilitary groups such as the Irgun begin expelling Palestinians from their homes and demolishing their villages. The forced migration of Palestinians that begins in 1947 during the emergent civil war comes to be known as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” Over the next two years, 750,000 Palestinians are displaced from their homes and pushed toward the coastal land around Gaza City, Egypt, the lands east and west of the Jordan River, Syria, and Lebanon.

1948—Forced migration of Arabs continues. On May 14, David Ben-Gurion declares statehood for Israel, with borders largely following the UN plan, and becomes its first prime minister. The next day, U.S. President Harry Truman instructs a member of the American delegation to the UN to recognize Israeli statehood. The same day, military units from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia declare war on the new state of Israel.

—May–June: Coordinated Arab forces battle the Israeli military until both sides accept a truce proposed by UN peacekeeping forces. The truce does not last.

—July: After further battles with Syria and Egypt, Israel expands the territory under its control to include parts of western Galilee, the Negev desert, and access to the Red Sea.

—December: After capturing part of the West Bank of the Jordan River, King Abdullah I declares the union of Arab Palestine and Jordan.

1949—The UN mediates armistice agreements between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, ending the conflict. The armistice establishes new boundaries between Israel and bordering nations, though no formal border. The UN boundaries come to be known as the “Green Line” and are used as a point of departure when Israel and Palestinian representatives discuss borders in future peace negotiations. Around the time of the armistice, 750,000 non-Jews have been displaced from the land declared to be Israel while as many as 150,000 remain. Many Arabs that remain receive citizenship but are governed by military law until 1966 and many experience continued violence and repression.

—The peace agreement creates the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as distinct political regions. The Gaza Strip comes under Egyptian control. Jordan gains control of part of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Jewish immigration to Israel increases, bringing Israel’s population to one million people by the end of 1949.

1950—Israel passes its Law of Return, allowing any Jewish person (with a few restrictions) to live in Israel and receive Israeli citizenship. From 1949 to 1952, Israel’s Jewish population more than doubles.

—The United Nations formally launches the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which sets up refugee camps and provides aid for 750,000 Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

1964—January: Arab League leaders meet in Cairo and decide to sponsor the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an organization with transnational aims of representing Palestinians and “the liberation of” Palestine.

1965—Syria begins discreetly supporting Fatah, a small organization founded in 1959 by Palestinian refugees living abroad. Fatah seeks military action against Israel and begins raids on Israeli targets in mid-1965. The organization carries out more than three dozen attacks by the end of the year.

1967—Israeli military forces clash with Fatah and Syrian armies. With regional tensions mounting, Egypt sends troops near its border with Israel in May. In response, Israel mobilizes troops to the Sinai border and calls up its reserve soldiers.

—June 5: Israel launches an air strike on Egypt’s airfields in the Sinai, destroying nearly all of the Egyptian air force and beginning what will become known as the Six-Day War.

—June 7: Israel secures East Jerusalem and moves further into the West Bank as fighting continues.

—June 8: Egypt accepts a UN cease-fire.

—June 9: Syria accepts a UN cease-fire, but Israel begins an assault on the Golan Heights.

—June 10: Israel occupies Qunaitra, a key position in the Syrian Golan Heights. The Six-Day War ends. At the war’s end, Israeli military and administrative control begins throughout Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula.

—More than 100,000 new Palestinian refugees leave the newly occupied territories for Jordan. Soon after, Arab heads of state attempt to find diplomatic solutions to regain the territory Israel occupied in the war. Fatah continues attacks in the West Bank as well as in land within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, and new factions organized around Palestinian liberation emerge. Still, the aims for many Palestinian activists shift from cultivating pan-Arab unity to a narrower Palestinian sense of nationalism.

—Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are issued ID cards by Israeli military authorities. Palestinians living outside Gaza or West Bank at the time IDs are issued lose permission to reside in the occupied territories.

—The first Israeli settlement is established in the West Bank at Kfar Etzion.

1969—Yasser Arafat, a Fatah leader, is elected head of the PLO.

1970—By this year, there are more Palestinians living in the unified territories of the West Bank and Jordan than Jordanians. The PLO attempts to assert political power in Jordan. The tension between the PLO and Jordanian authorities leads to a civil war known as Black September and the PLO’s expulsion from Jordan. The PLO then makes its base in Lebanon.

1973—The Israeli government builds settlements in the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and northern Sinai, suggesting an eventual turn from temporary military occupation to a permanent Israeli civilian presence. On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israeli forces in the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. On October 22, a cease-fire agreement officially ends attacks on both sides, but some attacks continue as Egypt attempts to gain territory in the Sinai. In postwar negotiations brokered by the U.S. early the next year, Syria regains much of the Golan Heights, and Egypt and Israel agree to new borders on either side of the Suez Canal. Israel continues to occupy a portion of the Golan Heights despite international legal restrictions on the occupation.

1974—November: Arafat speaks before the United Nations and asks for international recognition of Palestine as the home of an independent people. In response, the UN grants the PLO “observer status.” The designation allows limited participation in the UN General Assembly by certain non-state organizations.

1975—Civil war begins in Lebanon. The PLO is a major force in the war as it seeks to protect Palestinian refugees and assert its control over the country’s south. The war continues for fifteen years.

1978—September: U.S. President Jimmy Carter meets in secret with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat at Camp David, resulting in the Camp David Accords. These agreements set the principles for an Egypt–Israeli peace treaty that ends three decades of hostilities between the two countries. Israeli soldiers are removed from the Sinai Peninsula, and the region is reclaimed by Egypt.

1980—Israel passes a law declaring the city of Jerusalem “complete and united, is the capital of Israel.”

1981—Israel votes to annex the Golan Heights, which it had captured from Syria in the Six-Day War.

1982—June: Israel invades Lebanon, where the PLO is based. Defense minister Ariel Sharon’s raids exceed the limits of the state-approved defense plan, taking Israeli forces into the capital Beirut and incurring thousands of civilian casualties, especially in the Palestinian and Shiite neighborhoods of Sabra and Shatilla. By the end of the summer, a multinational peacekeeping force arrives to protect Palestinian civilians and oversee the departure of the PLO. The PLO is expelled from Lebanon and settles in Tunisia. Israeli forces remain in south Lebanon through 2000.

1987—December: An Israeli tank-support truck crashes into civilian cars in Gaza, killing four Palestinians. Shortly after, Palestinian frustrations erupt into demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank. Known as the Intifada or “casting off,” this uprising begins without direction from the PLO or any other external organization, though the PLO soon becomes heavily involved. By January 1988, Intifada leaders adopt proposals calling for the creation of a PLO-led Palestinian state that would coexist with Israel. Over the next few years, the center of Palestinian politics shifts from exiled Palestinian populations in neighboring Arab states to the occupied territories.

—Israel responds to the uprising with violence targeting demonstrators and Arab prisoners, and begins large-scale arrests of protesters; during this period its per capita prison population climbs to the highest in the world. In the first five weeks of the Intifada, almost 200,000 Palestinians are imprisoned, more than 250,000 are wounded, and 33 are killed; Israel’s response receives criticism from the international community and creates solidarity across Palestinian factions.

—As Intifada violence escalates, Palestinian members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement form Hamas, an armed group calling for a theocratic Palestinian state. With PLO corruption scandals on the rise, the appeal of Hamas and other Islamic groups grows.

1988—Palestinian leaders release the Palestinian Declaration of Independence on November 15.

1991—October–December: Leaders from Israel and Arab representatives from Lebanon, Syria, and a combined Jordan-Palestine delegation convene in Madrid for peace and land negotiations, at a conference sponsored by the U.S. and the USSR. The conference is the first attempt at direct peace talks between delegates from Israel, the Arab states, and the Palestinians.

1992—October: Jordan and Israel announce that they have drafted a peace treaty, to be ratified if a larger, comprehensive regional peace treaty is established.

1993—After months of talks in secret, Israel and the PLO sign the Oslo Peace Accords. For the first time, the PLO formally recognizes Israel’s existence as a state, and Israel formally recognizes the Palestinian people and the PLO. The agreement establishes the Palestinian Authority, which will govern Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank on an interim basis. Israel also promises to freeze settlement construction in the occupied territories. While there is some disagreement among historians about where to mark the end of the First Intifada, most place it at either the Oslo Accords or the 1991 Madrid conference.

1995—September: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat sign another peace accord, known as Oslo II, that solidifies some of the principles set out in the 1993 Oslo Accords. Oslo II sets deadlines for Palestinian elections, negotiations on permanent status, and land concessions from Israel.

—November: Amid unrest from the ultra-Orthodox and extremist Israeli settlers in reaction to Oslo II’s proposed land concessions, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by Israeli citizen Yigal Amir. The assassination and its fallout disrupt the peace process severely.

1996—Israel’s next elected prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, lifts a four-year freeze on settlement expansion in the territories without consulting Yasser Arafat. Settlements expand rapidly. Over the next decade, the population of settlers in the West Bank alone doubles from roughly 125,000 to 250,000.

1999—May: The deadline passes for the end of negotiations on Palestine’s permanent status, as set by the Oslo agreements.

2000—July: U.S. President Bill Clinton hosts Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for negotiations at Camp David, though no agreement is reached.

—September: Ariel Sharon, an Israeli opposition leader and former military commander, visits an East Jerusalem site holy to both Judaism and Islam known as the Temple Mount, or the Al-Aqsa Mosque. While visiting, Sharon publicly declares that the holy site will remain forever under Israeli control.

—The Second Intifada begins, guided by popular disappointment with the Oslo Accords. Palestinian protests begin in Jerusalem and spread throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Compared to the First Intifada, the Second Intifada is marked by increased violence: greater incidence of shootings, suicide bombings by Arab militias, and targeted assassinations of Palestinian political leaders by the Israeli Defense Forces.

2002—Israeli military forces invade and occupy parts of the West Bank in Operation Defensive Shield, their largest ground assault into Palestinian territory since 1967. Israel begins construction of a barrier separating the West Bank and Israel, which divides communities, blocks travel routes, and remakes the geography of the West Bank. Nearly 85 percent of the proposed barrier between Israel and the West Bank cuts through territory delineated as Palestinian by the 1949 Armistice “Green Line.”

2004—April: Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon announces a unilateral “Disengagement Plan,” calling for the removal of all Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Intifada violence dwindles. Plans accelerate for a barrier wall that will seal off most of the West Bank and Gaza from Israel. Yasser Arafat falls ill and dies in November.

2005—After the death of Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas is elected president of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas works with international organizations for transparency and the de-militarization of resistance groups.

—August: Israel’s Unilateral Disengagement Plan of Gaza begins, and thousands of settlers in the region are relocated by the following September. While the Palestinian Authority governs within Gaza, Israel stays in control of Gaza’s borders.

2006—January: Hamas wins a surprise majority in elections for the Palestinian Authority’s legislature. In response, international donors including the U.S. and the European Union suspend aid to Gaza. Israel also begins withholding the taxes it collects for the Palestinian Authority.

—Soon after the election, Hamas and rival Fatah clash. In June, Hamas captures Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from a Gaza border post. His safe return becomes a focus for Israel’s politicians and citizens.

2007—July: Hamas drives Fatah out of Gaza following a spate of armed confrontations. Hamas effectively severs its relationship with the Palestinian Authority.

—Following Hamas’s takeover of Gaza, Israel imposes a comprehensive blockade on the Gaza Strip. With support from Egypt, Israel restricts the movement of people, goods, electricity, fuel, and water into and out of Gaza. By mid-2008, imports to Gaza are reduced to 30 percent of their pre-blockade levels.

2008–2009—Israel launches Operation Cast Lead, a campaign into Gaza with the stated aim of destroying Hamas’s rocket capabilities. Casualties are widespread, including the deaths of 1,200 to 1,400 Gazans. Israel also damages much of Gaza’s internal economic infrastructure, leaving it reliant on outside aid that has been restricted by the blockade.

2009—October: Israel releases twenty female prisoners in exchange for a video proving that Gilad Shalit is still alive.

2010—April: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signs a decree promoting a boycott of products made in the Israeli settlements. The decree stipulates punishments for Palestinians who sell settlement goods.

—June: Israel eases import restrictions of the Gaza blockade after a failed raid on a flotilla of six ships bringing aid to Gaza. During Israel’s raid nine Turkish activists on the ships are killed and dozens injured, causing an international outcry.

2011—After five years, Hamas releases Gilad Shalit, in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Rocket attacks and armed conflict between Israel and Hamas continue, as does the Gaza blockade.

2012—November: The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approves Palestine as a non-member observer state, the same status held by the Vatican. The same year, Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense, an eight day assault that leaves as many as 167 Gazans dead. Six Israelis, including four civilians, are killed by rockets fired from Gaza.

2013—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announces renewed Israel–Palestine peace talks. Plans to construct housing for settlers in areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem under Israeli control increase.

2014—In response to increased settlement construction, the Palestinian Authority unilaterally applies for membership in fifteen international organizations and treaties. Peace talks initiated by John Kerry are called off.

—April: Political parties Hamas and Fatah announce a reconciliation and begin to negotiate a reunion between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The reconciliation plan includes new elections scheduled for the end of 2014.

—June: Three Israeli teens are kidnapped near Hebron. Though Israeli officials have strong evidence that the teens have been killed shortly after the kidnapping, raids and mass arrests are undertaken throughout the West Bank. Israeli re-arrests dozens of Palestinians previously released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap. Weeks later, a Palestinian teen in East Jerusalem is kidnapped and murdered by Israeli settlers.

—July: Hamas begins firing rockets into Israel, claiming that the attacks are driven by the re-arrest of prisoners from the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, as well as the continued siege of Gaza. The Israeli military launches what it calls Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip. After a week of bombings, Israel sends a ground force into Gaza. In the first month of Operation Protective Edge, over 1,800 Gazans are killed, the majority civilians.

—August: Israeli strikes in Gaza continue. A unified Palestinian delegation negotiates a cease-fire with Israel through Egypt. Rockets from Gaza also continue. Through the end of August, over 2,100 Palestinians have been killed, while four Israeli civilians and over sixty Israeli soldiers have also been killed.