1897 First Zionist Congress in Switzerland establishes the World Zionist Organisation to secure a ‘home for the Jewish people in Palestine’, in response to European, and particularly Russian, anti-Semitism.

1917 Balfour Declaration. In a letter to Lord Rothschild, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Lord Arthur Balfour, announces his government’s support for the establishment of ‘a Jewish national home in Palestine’. The British also make a potentially contradictory promise of independence for an Arab nation covering most of the Arab Middle East in exchange for Arab support against the Ottomans.

1920–48 Mandatory Palestine. In the aftermath of World War I, Britain is awarded a legal commission to administer Palestine, confirmed by League of Nations. Arab discontent with British rule and increasing Jewish immigration leads to clashes between all parties.

1939–45 Some six million Jews are murdered in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany. Hundreds of thousands of Jews are displaced, fleeing Nazi persecution.

1947 Britain announces that she will withdraw from Palestine in 1948 and hands over responsibility to the UN. The UN passes Resolution 181, which recommends dividing the territory into separate Jewish and Palestinian states and is accepted by the Jewish Agency but rejected by the Arab Higher Committee. The plan was never implemented, overtaken by civil war on the ground.

May 1948 The State of Israel is proclaimed in Tel Aviv. British troops withdraw and Palestinians face al-Nakba, the Catastrophe. In a fiercely fought battle for territory, by the end of the year Israel occupies some 75% of what had been the British Mandate. Almost three quarters of a million Palestinian are forced from their homes and settle in refugee camps in Jordan, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon.

1949–67 Gaza is ruled by Egypt, initially under the auspices of the All Palestine Government.

June 1967 During The Six Day War, known as an-Naksah (The Setback) to the Palestinians, Israel doubles its land-holding, taking Gaza and the Sinai peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.

1973 Yom Kippur War. To try to regain territory lost in 1967, Egypt and Syria launch attacks against Israel on the festival of Yom Kippur. Three weeks later Israel has reversed all her initial losses.

September 1978 Egypt and Israel sign Camp David accords, leading to the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982.

1987–93 First Intifada. The Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory consists largely of non-violent resistance.

1993 Oslo Accords. During secret talks in Norway, the Palestinians recognise Israel’s right to exist within her pre-1967 borders, and Israel agrees to gradually cede control of the Palestinian territories to the Palestinians. Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shake hands on the White House lawn after signing the Declaration of Principles, but the most difficult issues, such as the status of Jerusalem, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees, are undecided. These prove impossible to resolve in the suggested five-year timeframe.

July 2000 Camp David Peace Summit. In the seven years since the Oslo accords, continued Palestinian suicide bombings and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza undermine the peace process. This attempt to address outstanding issues, initiated by President Clinton, is unable to break the deadlock.

2000–05 The Second Intifada is characterised by an intensification of suicide bombings by Palestinians in Israel, and of targeted Israeli assassinations of Palestinian militants, as well as Israeli air strikes and incursions into Palestinian areas of self-rule. Israel begins to build a wall dividing the West Bank.

2005 Israeli withdraws troops and settlers from Gaza.

January 2006 Hamas, an Islamist party whose charter then denied Israel’s right to exist, wins a majority in the Palestinian parliamentary elections and forms a government, but Israel, the US and the EU refuse to negotiate with it.

March 2007 Hamas and Fatah form a national unity government, headed by Hamas’ Ismail Haniya. Israel still refuses to negotiate, calling Hamas a terrorist organisation. Behind the scenes, Israel, Egypt and the US conspire with Fatah to isolate, weaken and topple Hamas.

June 2007 Battle of Gaza. As trust between Hamas and Fatah breaks down, Hamas seizes power in Gaza, ousting Fatah officials.

2007 Blockade of Gaza. Israel and Egypt seal most border crossings. Israel maintains that this is to prevent Hamas obtaining weapons with which to attack Israel. Egypt maintains that recognizing Hamas by opening the border would undermine the Palestinian National Authority and drive a permanent wedge between the Palestinian factions.

December 2008–January 2009 Gaza War. The Israel Defence Forces’ Operation Cast Lead begins on December 27th, ostensibly to stop rocket fire into Israel. A ceasefire was agreed on January 18th, after the death of at least 1300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, four of the latter from friendly fire. The UN Goldstone Report, released in September 2009, accuses both sides of war crimes.

May 31st 2010 Israeli commandos board ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine passengers, some at point blank range. The boats are attempting to deliver aid and building materials through the blockade.

June 2010 International pressure forces Israel to lessen the restrictions on importing goods into Gaza, but a 2011 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs assessment concluded that this had not resulted in a significant improvement in people’s livelihoods in Gaza.

May 28th 2011 The Rafah Gate reopens in the wake of the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt.