Century Timeline 1917-2017
| Date | Event |
| 1917 | Britain seizes Palestine from Ottomans. Balfour Declaration. |
| 1920 | San Remo Allied Powers conference grants Palestine to Britain |
| 1922 | Britain separates Transjordan from Mandate Palestine, forbids Jewish settlement. |
| 1939 | British government White Paper limits Jewish migration. |
| 1940s | Nazi Holocaust mass migration to Palestine |
| 1947 | United Nations recommends partition of Palestine. |
| 1948 | Israel declares independence. |
| 1948-1949 | Arab-Israeli war. Jordan annexes West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, Egypt occupies Gaza. |
| 1949-1960s | Up to a million Jewish refugees from Muslim countries, plus 250,000 Holocaust survivors, settle in Israel. |
| 1948-1977 | Centre-left dominates coalition governments, initially under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. |
| 1956-1957 | Suez Crisis, UN buffer set up in Sinai and Gaza, Israeli shipping allowed through Suez Canal. |
| 1957 | Israel begins to build nuclear reactor at Dimona in the Negev desert. |
| 1961 | Trial and execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. |
| 1962 | Concerns about the Middle Eastern balance of power prompt the USA to sell Israel missiles. |
| 1966 | When France halts arms supplies to Israel the United States increases sales. |
| 1964 | National Water Carrier completed brings water from the Jordan to the Negev. |
| 1966 | SY Agnon wins Nobel Prize for Literature. |
| 1967 | Six Day War |
| 1972 | Munich Massacre Palestinian ‘Black September’ take the Israeli team hostage at the Olympics. |
| 1973 | Yom Kippur War – Egypt and Syria launch co-ordinated attack against Israel. |
| 1974 | Gush Emunim movement formed to promote Jewish religious settlements |
| 1976 | Entebbe Airport rescue frees over 100 hostages held by Palestinian gunmen. |
| 1977 May | Menachem Begin wins surprise election victory. |
| 1977 | Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Jerusalem. |
| 1981 June | Israeli Air Force raid destroys nuclear reactor at Osirak in Iraq. |
| 1982 June | Lebanon conflict |
| 1984 November | Ethiopian Jews rescue begins. Operation repeated in 1991. |
| 1987 | First Intifada. Muslim Brotherhood forms Hamas movement. |
| 1988 | Israel launch satellites with Ofek reconnaissance probe. |
| 1990 | Soviet Union allows Jews to emigrate to Israel. |
| 1991 | Gulf War. Iraq fires Scud missiles at Israel. |
| 1991 | Madrid conference brings Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestinian together. |
| 1993 | Prime Minister Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign Oslo Declaration. |
| 1994 May-July | Israel withdraws from Gaza and the West Bank city of Jericho. |
| 1994 June | Arafat moves PLO administration from Tunis and sets up Palestinian National Authority. |
| 1994 October | Jordan and Israel sign peace treaty. |
| 1994 December | Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres awarded Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1995 September | Rabin and Arafat sign Interim Agreement for transfer of power and territory to Palestinians. |
| 1995 November | Yitzhak Rabin assassinated. Shimon Peres becomes prime minister. |
| 1996 May | Netanyahu pledges to halt further concessions to Palestinians. |
| 1999 May | Ehud Barak pledges to move ahead with talks with Palestinians and Syria. |
| 2000 May | Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon. |
| 2000 July | Talks between Prime Minister Barak and Yasser Arafat break down. |
| 2000 September | Ariel Sharon visits Temple Mount which leads to wave of Palestinian violence. |
| 2001 January | Talks fail in Taba, Egypt. |
| 2002 March-May | Operation Defensive Shield on West Bank after spate of Palestinian suicide bombs. |
| 2002 June | Israel begins building barrier near West Bank aimed at stopping Palestinian attacks. |
| 2003 June | Proposed road map to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict. |
| 2005 September | Israel withdraws from Gaza. |
| 2006 July-August | Second Lebanon War in response to deadly Hezbollah attack and abduction of soldiers. |
| 2007 September | Israeli Air Force destroys nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. |
| 2007 November | Two-state solution’ proposed at Annapolis Conference between Israel and Palestinians. |
| 2008 December | Gaza conflict to prevent Hamas and other groups from launching rockets into Israel. |
| 2009 January | Discovery of major offshore natural gas deposits. |
| 2010 September | Talks resume and falter between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. |
| 2011 October | Hamas release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners. |
| 2012 November | Military campaign against Gaza after months of escalating rocket attacks. |
| 2013 July | Talks resume with Palestinians but reach no conclusions. |
| 2013 December | Israel, Jordan and Palestinian Authority sign agreement to save the Dead Sea from drying up. |
| 2014 January | Energy Minister Silvan Shalom attends renewable energy conference in Abu Dhabi. |
| 2014 July-August | Israel responds to attacks by armed groups in Gaza. |
| 2015 May | Netanyahu forms new coalition government. |
| 2017 January | Palestinian drives a truck into a crowd in Jerusalem, killing four soldiers. |
