1882 As a result of the persecution of Jews in Russia and Romania a year earlier, the first large-scale immigration of Jewish settlers to Palestine takes place.
1891 Arab notables in Jerusalem send a petition to the Ottoman government in Constantinople demanding the prohibition of Jewish immigration to Palestine and Jewish land purchases.
1896 Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, publishes his pamphlet The Jewish State, which argues that the “Jewish Problem” can be solved only by setting up a Jewish state in Palestine, or somewhere else, so that Jews can live freely without fear of persecution. A year later, Herzl organizes the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, to promote immigration to Palestine.
1908 The first Palestinian Arabic newspapers appear: Al-Quds, in Jerusalem and Al-Asma’i in Jaffa.
1916 The Sykes-Picot Agreement is forged by Britain, France, and Russia, carving up the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in World War I. As part of the agreement, Britain wins effective control over the area of Palestine, and France over the area that is now Lebanon and Syria.
1917 The Balfour Declaration is issued by British Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour, endorsing the idea of establishing a “national home” for the Jewish people in Palestine.
1920 France decrees the formation of the state of Greater Lebanon, knitting together Mt. Lebanon with the regions of Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon, Tyre, Akkar, and the Bekaa Valley.
1936-39 Inspired by other Arab nationalist movements, the Arabs of Palestine revolt in an attempt to halt the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Both Jewish settlements and British army units come under attack.
1943 Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim leaders agree on a “National Pact” for sharing power and balancing Lebanon’s Western and Arab orientations, enabling their country to become a state independent of France.
1947 The United Nations votes to partition Palestine into two states, one for the Jews and one for the Palestinian Arabs, with Jerusalem to become an international enclave.
1948 Britain withdraws from Palestine. Instead of implementing the UN partition plan, the surrounding Arab states join with the local Palestinians to try to prevent the emergence of a Jewish state. Israel is established anyway; Jordan occupies the West Bank and Egypt the Gaza Strip.
1956 Israel, joining forces with Britain and France to attack Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Egypt, occupies most of the Sinai Peninsula. Under pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union, Israel later withdraws.
1958 The first Lebanese civil war erupts and some 15,000 American troops are sent to Beirut to help stabilize the situation.
1964 Arab heads of state led by Nasser establish the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Cairo.
1967 Israel launches a preemptive strike against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan as they are preparing for war against the Jewish state. The Six-Day War ends with Israel occupying the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.
1969 Yasir Arafat, leader of the al-Fatah guerrilla organization, is elected chairman of the executive committee of the PLO.
1970 King Hussein’s army defeats Arafat’s PLO guerrillas in a civil war for control of Jordan.
1973 Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack against Israeli forces occupying the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.
1974 An Arab summit conference in Rabat, Morocco, affirms that the PLO is the “sole and legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people.
1975 Civil war breaks out again in Lebanon.
1977 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat goes to Jerusalem, addresses the Israeli parliament, and offers full peace in exchange for a total Israeli withdrawal from Sinai.
1979 Egypt and Israel sign their peace treaty.
1982—February The Syrian government massacres thousands of its own citizens while suppressing a Muslim rebellion launched from the town of Hama.
1982—June to September Israel invades Lebanon. Phalangist militia leader Bashir Gemayel is assassinated after his election as Lebanon’s President. Phalangist militiamen massacre hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut, while the camps are surrounded by Israeli forces. U.S. Marines arrive in Beirut as part of a multinational peacekeeping force.
1983 The American embassy and U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut are blown up by suicide car bombers.
1984—February The Lebanese government of President Amin Gemayel splinters after Shiite Muslims and Druse in West Beirut launch a revolt against the Lebanese army. President Reagan abandons hope of rebuilding Lebanon and orders Marines home.
1984—September Israel’s Labor and Likud Parties join together in a national unity government after July elections end in a stalemate.
1985 Israel unilaterally withdraws its army from most of Lebanon.
1987—December The Palestinian uprising, or intifada, begins in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
1988—December Arafat recognizes Israel’s right to exist. U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz authorizes the opening of a dialogue with the PLO. Likud and Labor join together to form another national unity government in Israel after another stalemated election.