Israel: from B-G to Bibi - 50 years of history
May 1948
David Ben-Gurion declares the establishment of the State of Israel. He is elected as Prime Minister and Chaim Weizmann as President. Almost immediately, the State is under attack in the War of Independence.
December 1948
Operation Magic Carpet sees almost 50,000 Jews from Yemen and Aden flown to Israel in under two years.
May 1950
Operation Ali Baba sees 120,000 Iraqi Jews flown to Israel in the following eighteen month period.
January 1952
David Ben-Gurion gains Knesset approval to submit a collective claim to the West German government for $1 billion in reparations.
August 1953
The Knesset adopts a law establishing "Yad Vashem", aimed at perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust.
December 1953
David Ben-Gurion resigns as Prime Minister. He is succeeded by Moshe Sharett.
July 1955
David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister again.
October 1956
The Sinai Campaign. 180 Israelis are killed in the fighting.
April 1961
The Eichmann trial opens in Jerusalem. He is found guilty and executed in 1962.
June 1963
David Ben-Gurion resigns as Prime Minister for personal reasons. He is replaced by Levi Eshkol.
January 1965
Eli Cohen, an Egyptian-born Israeli intelligence officer who infiltrated the highest echelons of Syrian political circles, is hanged in Damascus
June 1967
The Six Day War. Reunification of Jerusalem.
February 1969
Levi Eshkol dies. He is succeeded as Prime Minister by Golda Meir.
April 1969
War of Attrition
September 1972
Eleven Israeli Olympic athletes are killed at the Olympic Village in Munich.
October 1973
On October 6th, Yom Kippur, The Egyptian and Syrian armies launch a massive surprise attack on Israel.
December 1973
David Ben-Gurion dies.
May 1974
Yitzchak Rabin forms a new Labour government.
June 1976
In a daring raid at Entebbe, Uganda, an Israeli rescue force, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Netanyahu, freed the hostages.
December 1976
Yitzchak Rabin and his government resign.
April 1977
Rabin withdraws as the Labour candidate. Shimon Peres is unanimously elected to succeed him.
May 1977
Likud wins for the first time. Menachem Begin becomes Prime Minister.
November 1977
Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat addresses the Knesset.
March 1979
Peace treaty signed by Carter, Begin and Sadat at the White House in Washington DC.
July 1980
The Israeli Knesset adopts a new basic law declaring Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel.
June 1981
Israeli war plans completely destroy Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
December 1981
Israel adopts a law extending "Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights.
June 1982
Israel launches Operation Peace for the Galilee.
August 1983
Menachem Begin resigns as Israeli Prime Minister. He is replaced by Yitzchak Shamir.
July 1984
A national unity government is established with Shimon Peres as Prime Minister and Yitzchak Shamir as minister of foreign affairs. It is agreed that, at the end of the first half of the fifty month term, Shamir will replace Peres as Prime Minister.
September 1984
An airlift of Jews from Ethiopia begins. By January 6, 7,000 Ethiopian Jews will have been taken to Israel from the Sudan.
February 1986
Anatoly Sharansky is released from prison, and receives a proud welcome on his arrival in Israel.
December 1987
Palestinian intifada begins.
January 1991
Allied forces launch air attacks on Iraq, in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Iraq launches several SCUD missiles attacks on Israel.
May 1991
Operation Solomon brings 14,087 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
October 1991
Israeli, Jordanian, Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian and Palestinian representatives meet for peace talks in Madrid.
June 1992
A Labour government is established for the first time since 1977. Yitzchak Rabin becomes Prime Minister.
September 1993
A joint Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles.
Feb 1994
Dr Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish resident of Hebron, kills an estimated thirty Moslem men at prayer at the mosque by the Cave of Machpelah.
May 1994
The Gaza-Jericho Agreement is signed in Cairo, with Israel agreeing to the withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza and Jericho, and the transferral of authority to a Palestinian authority.
October 1994
Israel and Jordan sign a bilateral peace agreement.
September 1995
Oslo II
November 1995
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated after attending a peace rally at Kikar Malchei Yisrael, later renamed Kikar Rabin. Shimon Peres takes over as Prime Minister.
February/March 1996
A series of three Hamas suicide bombs in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv kill 62 people in total.
April 1996
Operation Grapes of Wrath is launched against Hezbollah targets in South Lebanon.
May 1996
In the first ever direct election for Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu beats Shimon Peres by under one per cent of the votes cast.
December 1997
First candle of Chanukah marks the opening of celebrations leading to...
May 1998
The 50th anniversary of the State of Israel.
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