1947: Israel declares its independence and a united Arab force assails its borders. The Israelis win a battlefield victory. Many Palestinians flee and others the Israelis force out. No Arab state recognises Israel.

1948: Ben-Gurion and his associates proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. Civil war in Palestine; Britain ends its mandate, Israel declares independence, Arab states declare war against Israel; Israel gains control of 77% of British Mandatory Palestine.

1948-1958: Large-scale Jewish immigration to Israel from Europe, North Africa, and Asia.

1956-1957: Suez War begins when Israel, supported by Britain and France, attacks Egypt; Israel conquers, later withdraws from, Sinai and Gaza Strip.

1965: Fatah (set up 1959 by Arafat & others) leads first guerrilla action against Israel.

1967: War begins when Israel attacks Egypt; Israel occupies West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian Sinai, and Syrian Golan Heights, expands Jerusalem boundaries and extends Israeli law over East Jerusalem; UN SC Resolution 242 calls for withdrawal of Israeli troops from territories newly occupied.

1968-1970: Israel begins to establish Jewish settlements in newly occupied territories; PLO adopts goal of a democratic secular state in all of Mandate Palestine; Arafat named chairman of PLO; War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt, Israel and Syria.

1970: PLO expelled from Jordan, moves to Lebanon.

1973: War begins when Egypt seeks to regain by force Egyptian land that Israel captured in 1967; UN Security Council Resolution 338 calls for cease-fire and comprehensive peace conference; oil embargo by Arab petroleum exporting countries.

1974: Arab League declares PLO the sole legitimate rep of Palestinian people.

1975: UN grants PLO observer status.

1977: Iranian religiously based revolutionaries overthrow the American backed regime of the Shah of Iran. The new government, a religiously based one-party state becomes an opponent of the US and exporter of revolution.

1978: Temporary Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon.

1979: Begin and Sadat sign Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty in Washington, DC

1981: Israel attacks Iraqi nuclear reactor; U.S. sponsors encourage a cease-fire between Israel and the PLO that lasts until June 1982.

1982: Israeli invasion of Lebanon; PLO evacuated from Beirut to Tunisia.

1985: Israel vacates most of Lebanon; Israel bombs Tunisian headquarters of PLO.

1987-1993: First Intifada.

1988: Jordanian disengagement from West Bank; emergence of Hamas; Arafat accepts UN, Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and recognises the State of Israel; U.S. opens direct discussions with PLO.

1990: Influx of Jews from former Soviet Union to Israel begins; U.S. suspends dialogue with PLO.

1996: First Palestinian elections for president and parliament result in Arafat victory; Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; Israeli "Grapes of Wrath" operation against Lebanon; Binyamin Netanyahu elected Israeli Prime Minister.

1997: Hebron Protocol divides West Bank city of Hebron into Israeli and Palestinian areas; Israel begins building Har Homa settlement between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

2000 – Present: Second Intifada brought along suicide bombings and whatnot.