Timeline
BCE – Before Current Era (BC) CE – Current Era (AD) – circa or approximate date
1800 BCE, the Patriarchal Period began with Abraham who moved from Ur to Haran. Abraham declared a belief in One God and this initiated Judaism.
1440 BCE, there was the first evidence of the Habiru, which could mean Hebrew in Egyptian texts.
1300 BCE, the Bible establishes the birth of Moses around this time. The Bible says that Moses led the Israelites to the promised land of Canaan.
1200 BCE, following this approximate date, Israel was led by judges that brought about the establishment of a kingdom. It was also at this time that the name Israel was first used.
922 BCE, two kingdoms formed with Judah in the south and Jerusalem as its capital. The northern tribes formed the Kingdom of Israel.
721 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel was taken by the Assyrians.
612 BCE, the Babylonians destroyed the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh, which won Babylon’s independence and led to the destruction of the Assyrian empire.
597 BCE, the Babylonians conquered Judah, which brought a large exile of the population to Babylon.
539 BCE, the Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Persians led by Cyrus.
332 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire and took control of Israel.
63 BCE, Roman forces led by Pompey conquered Israel in 63 BCE, making it a client kingdom of Rome.
66 CE – 73 CE, the “Great Jewish Revolt” occurred.
70 CE, the Romans occupied Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. The Romans renamed Judah as Syria-Palestine.
1517, the Ottoman Turks expanded their empire to Palestine and retained control until after World War I.
1300 – 1400, throughout the 14th and 15th centuries Jerusalem was changing with the continuous influx of Jews who were fleeing persecution in places like Spain where they were expelled.
1915, Hussein-McMahon correspondence promised independence for the Arab lands, which took place during 1915 and 1916.
1917, the Balfour Declaration was issued supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1919, after the First World War, the Paris Peace Conference parceled out former Ottoman territories called “mandates.”
1922, Churchill White Paper stated that McMahon’s pledge had been meant to include Palestine.
1947, the United Nations presented a plan for partitioning the mandate of Palestine.
14 May 1948, just before the last British troops were due to leave Haifa, Israel declared itself an independent state.
1948, following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, over 110,000 Palestinian refugees arrived in Lebanon from Israel.
1956, Egyptian President Nasser put the Suez Canal under Egyptian control, which brought about an Israel attack on Egypt on October 29.
1964, the Palestinian Liberation Orgization (PLO) was formed from a confederation of groups promoting Palestinian Arab nationalism, and advocating for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
1967, The Six-Day War began on 5 June; Israel launched its surprise attack on Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
1973, the October War was also known as the Yom Kippur War to Jews and the Ramadan war to Arabs. It was fought between Israel and a coalition of Syria and Egypt from 6 October to 24 October.
1978, Palestinian attacks from Lebanon on Israel brought about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon called the Litani River Operation on 15 March 1978.
1978, two peace agreements were reached between Egypt and Israel in September 1978.
1979, Egypt was suspended from the Arab League in 1979, but returned in 1989.
1982, the Palestine Liberation Organization continued rocket and artillery attacks on Israel from Lebanon, which brought about an invasion in 1982. The Israelis occupied the area from their border to sections of Beirut.
1987 – 1993, the Palestinian uprising known as the First Intifadeh started in 1987 and ended in August 1993 when the Oslo Accords were signed and the Palestinian National Authority was established.
2002, the Roadmap to Peace was outlined for the first time by the U.S. President, George W. Bush on 24 June 2002.
2002, the Palestinian Authority claimed Jerusalem as their capital in a law passed in 2000, which was ratified in 2002.
