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The Question of Palestine

A Brief Chronology of Events

(Go to FAQs about Palestine >>)

The Zionist Movement:


European Jews founded the Zionist movement in the late 19th century in response to anti-Semitism and pogroms in Europe. Most Jews at the time opposed Zionism and preferred to fight for equality in their countries.

Balfour Declaration:


In 1917, Balfour, the foreign minister of Great Britain, which controlled Palestine under a mandate, promised the Zionist movement a Jewish homeland in Palestine without consulting with Palestine’s indigenous population. Britain allowed hundreds of thousands of European Jews to immigrate to Palestine between 1917 and 1947, when it relinquished control of Palestine.

Partition Plan:


In 1947, after a long struggle between European Jewish settlers to Palestine and the native Palestinians, the United Nations proposed dividing Palestine into two states: one for Jews and another for Palestinian Arabs. Even though the Jewish population of Palestine at that point constituted only about 30% of the population and the Jews owned only 8% of the land, the UN gave the Jews more than 50% of the land. The Palestinians rejected the plan, like any native people would reject more than half their lands being taken away from them. War ensued and the newly born Israeli state occupied about 77% of historic Palestine.

Ethnic Cleansing in 1948:


About 800,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes in Palestine between 1947-1949 in a historic ethnic cleansing program that enabled the Zionists to claim Jewish majority in their newly established state. The Deir Yassin massacre came to embody the war crimes committed by the Zionist factions to force Palestinians to leave their homes. These Palestinian refugees and their descendants, which number 4 million today, are still prevented by Israel from returning to their homes and have not been compensated in any way for their loss.

The PLO:


In 1965, the Palestinians founded the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) with the aim of liberating Palestine from the Zionists. The PLO gained the recognition of Arab states and eventually most of the world as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The PLO waged armed struggle against Israel. Fatah, the faction founded by Yasser Arafat became the most powerful party in the PLO.

The 1967 Occupation:


In 1967, after a brief war between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria, Israel occupied the remaining 23% of historic Palestine, known as the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The UN Security Council in its famous resolutions, 242 and 338, and the entire international community, including the US, called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders. To this dates, the whole world recognized the West Bank and Gaza as illegally occupied territories.

The Camp David Accords:


After another war in 1973 and successes by the Egyptian and Syrian armies, Israel eventually struck a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 whereby it returned the Sinai to Egypt in return for full diplomatic relations.

Israeli Invasion of Lebanon:


In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, killing tens of thousands of civilians, in an attempt to destroy the PLO. Christian Phalange militias under the supervision of the Israeli forces committed an infamous massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, killing an estimated 2,000 innocent Palestinians. The PLO emerged form Lebanon uncrushed and moved its headquarters to Tunis.

The Oslo Accords:


In 1993, the PLO and Israel signed the Oslo agreement, which promised to establish a Palestinian state and resolve the long conflict. Instead, the livelihood of Palestinians under the Oslo process continued to deteriorate rapidly and Israel continued to build illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands, leading to the collapse of the agreements in 2000 with the eruption of the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising).

The Israeli Invasion of the West Bank:


In 2002, Israeli forces invaded the West Bank in an effort to crush Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, leaving behind massive destruction and after committing massacres in Jenin and other places.

Hamas Electoral Victory:


In January 2006, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement, which was never part of the PLO, won the Palestinian legislative elections and formed a government under prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. Fatah, the majority party until then accepted the results of the elections. However, Israel rejected the results of the elections and promised to crush the Hamas government through air strikes, assassinations and total blockade. Under pressure from Israel, the US and the West refused to recognize the Hamas government. Israeli air strikes killed hundreds of Palestinians and led to destruction of public buildings and residences.

Israeli War on Lebanon:


In July 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon again in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah, which Israel accused of being an Iranian tool against it. The war that lead to the destruction of major areas of Lebanon and the killing of more than 1,000 civilians, ended in Israel’s acknowledged failure. For the first time ever, Hezbollah was able to target Israeli cities with missiles, shifting the strategic balance of power. Hezbollah’s success encourages Palestinian factions to launch primitive, domestically made rockets into Israel, mostly landing in empty lots, but on occasion causing damage and killing a few Israeli civilians.

Hamas-Fatah Power Struggle:


In 2007, a power struggle between Fatah and Hamas turned violent and tens of civilians were killed. Subsequently, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. Israel intensified its air strikes and attacks on Gaza, killing tens of civilians every month in addition to Hamas members and leaders.

Massacre of Gaza:


In December 2008, Israel launched a massive attack on Gaza, killing more than 1400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and destroying most of the Gaza Strip’s main cities and towns. International human rights organizations accused Israeli forces of committing war crimes that are under current investigation.

Go to FAQ >>