A Timeline of Zionism

1843

Christian Restorationist Alexander Keith publishes an early version of the phrase that becomes remembered as “A land without a people for a people without a land” (The Land of Israel According to the Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, 1843).

1878

First agricultural Zionist settlement in Palestine, Petah Tikva, founded.

1881

First Aliyah begins, a relatively small wave of Jewish immigration mostly from Russia, amid rampant pogroms.

1884

Reverend William Hechler writes The Restoration of the Jews to Palestine According to the Prophets, prophesying a Jewish “restoration” to Palestine in 1897.

1896

Theodor Herzl writes The Jewish State, seminal text of the Zionist movement, which, upon reading, prompts Hechler to lend his political connections and support to Herzl.

1897

World Zionist Organization is established and hosts the first World Zionist Congress.

1899

Jewish Colonial Trust founded to serve as a bank providing capital and credit to the Zionist movement.

1901

Jewish National Fund set up to acquire land for settlement.

1902

Philosopher Martin Buber becomes editor of the leading Zionist newspaper, Die Welt.

1907

First kibbutz established during the Second Aliyah wave of Jewish settlement.

1909

Tel Aviv established.

HaShomer becomes first militant “self-defense” Jewish group in Palestine.

1916

Sykes-Picot Agreement divides Ottoman territory between the British and the French, creating the British Mandate of Palestine.

1917

British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, who as prime minister championed the 1905 Aliens Act to keep Jewish pogrom refugees out of Britain, issues Balfour Declaration announcing British support for a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

1920

Haganah, the underground Jewish military and forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), formed with British support.

Winston Churchill pens “Zionism versus Bolshevism,” advocating support for Zionism to combat the fervor of Jewish internationalist revolutionary activity.

1929

Haganah begins smuggling arms into Palestine.

Irgun, also referred to as Etzel, splits off from the Haganah, forming an anti-British and aggressively anti-Arab militant organization.

1933

Hitler’s rise to power and the world’s refusal to provide asylum to Jewish refugees leads to an increase in Jewish immigration to Palestine beyond those Jews who had settled earlier for ideological reasons.

1935

Haganah arms smuggling is discovered at Jaffa, sparking the Great Palestinian Revolt. The Great Palestinian Revolt was the longest sustained rebellion against British Mandate control of Palestine.

1936–39

The British military, in collaboration with Irgun and Haganah, kills 5,000 Palestinians in retaliation for the Great Palestinian Revolt.

1939

British government issues White Paper following suppression of Palestinian Revolt, nullifies Balfour Declaration, states objective of an “independent Palestine State” of Arabs and Jews, and limits Jewish immigration.

1942

In opposition to the White Paper, Zionists adopt the Biltmore Program, formalizing the call for a Jewish state.

1947

United Nations Resolution 181 partitions historic Palestine into a Jewish state and Palestinian state. Mass expulsion begins.

1948

March

Haganah launches Plan Dalet, a blueprint for destroying and depopulating Palestinian villages.

April

Zionist paramilitary groups massacre over 100 Palestinians at Deir Yassin.

May

Israel declares statehood, prompting a war with neighboring countries; forms the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF); and occupies land beyond that partitioned in 1947, creating borders known as the Green Line.

Dec

United Nations passes Resolution 194 establishing the Palestinian right of return.

1949

War with neighboring countries ends, leaving 750,000 Palestinians displaced and exiled.

1950

Israel passes its Law of Return, stating any Jewish person in the world can live in Israel and receive citizenship.

1956

Israel invades the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, backed by England and France, in order to gain access to the Suez Canal.

1950s–60s

The height of the Jewish Zionist summer camp movement in the United States; many summer camps were socialist or labor Zionist and bolstered American Zionism.

1967

Israel attacks its neighbors and takes over the Egyptian Sinai, the Syrian Golan Heights, Egyptian-controlled Gaza, the Jordanian-controlled West Bank, and East Jerusalem. 300,000 Palestinians are exiled, and all remaining Palestinians are placed under Israeli occupation.

1975

United Nations adopts Resolution 3379, naming Zionism as a form of racism.

1978

Camp David Accords lead to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which includes the return of the Sinai Peninsula.

1979

Reverend Jerry Falwell founds the Moral Majority, a Christian evangelical organization that strongly supports Israel, invigorating Christian Zionism. The movement believes Jews taking over the biblical land of Israel will bring about the second coming of Christ and the end of the world; according to the prophecy, all non-converts to Christianity will be killed.

1980

Israel passes the Jerusalem Law, declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel and effectively annexing East Jerusalem. International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is founded by Evangelical Christians supporting the move.

1981

Israel officially annexes the Syrian Golan Heights.

1982

Israel invades Lebanon, where the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is based. In September 1982, the Lebanese Phallange, a right-wing Christian party, and the IDF collude in the massacre of 3,500 Palestinian and Lebanese Shiites in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut. The PLO is expelled. Israel occupies South Lebanon until 2000.

1987

The First Intifada (Arabic for “shaking off”) begins. Israel responds to the uprisings with large-scale and systematic injuries.

1993

The first of two Oslo Accords is signed between Israel and the PLO, heightening the rhetoric of a two-state solution (without realizing it) and creating an interim Palestinian Authority with limited power.

1994

Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty.

1995

The Oslo II Accords are signed, fragmenting the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C, each with different levels of Israeli control.

2002

As retaliation for the Second Intifada, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank, the largest ground assault on the region since 1967. Israel begins construction of apartheid wall.

2004

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces Unilateral Disengagement Plan from Gaza.

2005

Israel’s Unilateral Disengagement Plan from Gaza begins. Thousands of Israeli settlers leave the region. Palestinian Authority governs Gaza, but Israel controls Gaza’s borders.

2006

American Pastor and televangelist John Hagee founds Christians United for Israel, which becomes the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States with 2,000,000 members.

2007

Hamas takes control of Gaza, and Israel begins imposing blockade on the region.

2008–09

Israel launches three-week assault on Gaza known as Operation Cast Lead, resulting in the killing of 1,400 Palestinians. Israel destroys Gaza’s infrastructure, leaving Gaza reliant on aid.

2014

Israel launches a seven-week siege on Gaza known as “Operation Protective Edge,” resulting in the killing of over 1,800 Gazans.

2017

U.S. President Trump recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, making good on his campaign promise to Christian Zionists, and orders relocation of the U.S. embassy.

2018

Trump opens U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Israeli apartheid.

Knesset (Israeli parliament) passes the Nation-State Law, enshrining Israel as a Jewish-only state and entrenching an apartheid system.

2020

Israel halts large-scale annexation of the West Bank on the condition that diplomatic relations are established with the United Arab Emirates. Normalized relations with Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan soon follow.