Timeline of Jewish History: Modern Israel & the Diaspora (1990 - 1999) - Draiman

Timeline of Jewish History:
Modern Israel & the Diaspora

(1990 - 1999)

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Click on a Year: 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999
Other Periods: 1940's | 1950's | 1960's | 1970's | 1980's | 2000's | 2010's

1990

1990	Life magazine's list of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century included 15 Jews: Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein, Abraham Flexner, Betty Friedan, Milton Friedman, Edwin Land, William Levitt, Louis B. Mayer, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William Paley, Jonas Salk, Alfred Stiegitz, and Walter Winchell.
1990	Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the rabbinical schools of the Reform movement, removes obstacles to ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis.
1990	Persian Gulf War: 1990-1991
1990	About 200,000 Soviet immigrants arrive.
1990	Israel and the USSR sign a trade pact after a 23-year break.
January 8	Israel and the U.S. sign a cooperation agreement on medicine.
January 17	Foreign Minister Arens visits Portugal, the first such visit of an Israeli minister.
February 4	Nine Israelis are killed and 16 wounded in an attack on a tourist bus in Egypt.
February 9	Foreign Minister Arens signs a protocol in Prague renewing diplomatic relations between Israel and Czechoslovakia.
	Czechoslovakia restores diplomatic relations with Israel.
February 11	Nelson Mandela is freed from prison. A month later he meets with Yasser Arafat, who wishes him success in fighting apartheid.
February 27	Poland retores diplomatic relations with Israel.
March 15	Break-up of the national unity government following a vote of no-confidence in theKnesset. The peace process is effectively in abeyance.
March 24	U.S. Senate adopts a resolution recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
April 3	Israel and Bulgaria sign a protocol to restore diplomatic relations.
April 23	Israel launches the Ofek 2 satellite into space.
April 24	The U.S. House of Representatives adopts a resolution recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
May 3	Israel and Bulgaria restore full diplomatic relations.
May 20	Ami Popper murders seven Arab workers at Vradim Junction in Rishon Lezion.
May 21	Greece grants a de jure recognition to Israel and establishes full diplomatic relations with Israel.
May 30	Two motorboats manned by PLO terrorists land in central Israel. IDF repulses the attackers. The Palestine Liberation Front assumes responsibility for the raid.
May 31	The U.S. vetoes a draft resolution in the Security Council to send an observer to the territories.
June 8	Yitzhak Shamir presents his government to the Knesset. David Levy appointed foreign minister and Moshe Arens defense minister.
June 20	The U.S. suspends its dialogue with the PLO for its failure to condemn the May 30 attacks on Israel.
August 2	Iraq invades Kuwait.
August 6	The Security Council imposes economic sanctions on Iraq.
August 7	The U.S. begins to send troops to the Persian Gulf.
August 8	Iraq annexes Kuwait.
August 9	Saddam Hussein says that military action against Iraq will be met with a strike on Israel.
August 18	Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz says Iraq will use chemical weapons if Israel uses nuclear arms.
September 3	Foreign Minister Levy visits Washington, meets with Secretary Baker. It is agreed that there be no linkage between the resolution of the Gulf crisis and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Agreement is reached on granting of U.S. loan guarantees of 400 million dollars.
September 17	Saudi Arabia and USSR sign agreement in Moscow restoring diplomatic relations after 52-year hiatus.
October 8	Disturbances on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem kill 21 Arabs.
October 9	Saddam Hussein threatens Israel with new missiles “when the time comes.”
October 12	The Security Council adopts a resolution condemning Israel and sending a fact-finding mission to Jerusalem.
October 24	The Security Council unanimously deplores Israel's refusal to permit a fact-finding mission.
November 5	Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of Jewish Defense League and Kach Party, assasinated in New York City.
November 29	The Security Council authorizes use of all necessary means against Iraq unless it withdrawls by January 15, 1991.
December 11	Following a meeting with President Bush in the White House, Prime Minister Shamir says that he was promised that there would be no deals at Israel's expense.
December 20	The Security Council approves a resolution condemning Israel's policy of expulsion calling lands occupied by Israel in 1967 including Jerusalem, Palestinian territories.
December 23	Saddam Hussein tells Spanish Television that Tel Aviv will be Iraq's first target if war breaks out.
December 24	Prime Minister Shamir threatens retaliation if Israel is attacked.
December 31	Israeli jets strike PLO bases in Lebanon.

1991

January 10	First Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries arrive in Israel.
January 14	Civil defense authorities instruct Israelis to begin preparing sealed rooms.
	PLO's second-ranking official Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf) is assassinated in Tunis.
January 15	Beginning of the Gulf War. Israel goes into state of alert as war breaks out.
January 18	Israel attacked by eight Iraqi Scud missiles during the Gulf War. Two missiles hit Tel Aviv and a third lands near Haifa, causing great damage in residential areas.
January 19	Four Iraqi Scuds launched at Israel.
January 22	A Scud missile hits Ramat Gan. 96 are injured, 400 apartments are damaged.
January 23	A Scud missile is intercepted over Haifa; as it fell it shattered windows in the Haifa area.
January 24	Eight Scuds are fired at Israel. One person is killed, 45 are injured in Ramat Gan, 144 apartments are heavily damaged, 400 other apartments are lightly damaged.
January 25	Four Scud missiles are fired at Israel. 3 are intercepted over Haifa and one over Tel Aviv. Slight damage is reported.
January 28	A Scud missile lands in the Galilee, causing no damage or injuries.
January 31	A Scud lands in the West Bank causing no injuries or damage.
February 2	A Scud missile lands in Israel causing no injury or damage.
February 3	A Scud missile lands in Israel causing no injuries or damage.
February 8	A Scud lands in the center of Israel. 25 civilians are injured, 400 apartments are damaged.
February 11	A Schud lands in the center of Israel causing no injury or damage.
February 12	A Scud missile lands near Tel Aviv injuring 6 residents and damaging dozens of homes.
February 19	2 Scuds are fired at Israel. One lands in the Negev, the other in the Galilee. Both cause no injuries or damage.
February 20	US releases $400 million loan guarentee to Israel for housing for Soviet Jewishimmigrants.
February 23	A Scud lands in the center of Israel causing a fire to break out, but no injuries or damage are reported.
February 25	Two Scuds land in the Negev desert causing no injuries or damage.
February 28	Gulf War ends.
February 28	Israel congratulates President Bush as the Gulf War comes to an end. Israel demands the elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
April 1	Ehud Barak apointed twelfth IDF Chief-of-General Staff.
	Middle East peace conference convened in Madrid.
May 24-25	Operation Solomon brings Jews from Ethiopia to Israel. About 14,500 Ethiopian Jews are rescued and airlifted to Israel with 24 hours, just hours before the Mengistu regimes collapse.
July 14	The Congo restores diplomatic relations with Israel.
August 19	Albania's foreign minister visits Israel. Diplomatic relations are established.
September 4	Israel recognizes the independence of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
September 13	U.S. President George Bush criticizes Israel's friends in the U.S. and asks Israel to delay its request for $10 billion loan guarantees.
September 18	Peace activist Abie Nathan is sentenced to 18 months in jail for contacts with the PLO.
October 18	Secretary of State Baker visits Israel and together with Soviet Foreign Minister Bessmertnykh delivers a letter of invitation to the Madrid Peace Conference.
October 18	Soviet Union restores full diplomatic relations with Israel.
October 24	Israeli embassy in Moscow is rededicated.
October 30-31	Madrid Peace Conference.
October 31	Bilateral talks are held in Madrid between Israel and Syria, Lebanon and aPalestinian-Jordanian delegation.
November 3	Israel ratifies UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
	Albania's last 11 Jews arrive in Israel.
	Riots break out in Crown Heights, NY after a seven-year old black boy is killed by a car driven by Hasidic Jews.
December 9	Second round of the Middle East bilateral talks begins in Washington.
December 16	United Nations rescinds resolution equating Zionism with racism.
December 23	Soviet Ambassador Alexander Bovin presents his credentials to President Herzog.
December 26	Israel and Zambia restore diplomatic relations.

1992

1992	Conservative synagogue arm, United Synagogue of America, changes its name toUnited Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
January 3	Israel decides to expel 12 Palestinians following the murder of an Israeli settler in the Gaza Strip.
January 10	Security Council condemns Israel for the expulsion of the Palestinians.
January 18-22	Another round of peace talks is held in Washington.
January 24	Israel and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations.
January 28-29	The multilateral Middle East peace talks are held in Moscow.
January 29	Diplomatic relations established with India.
February 16	Hezbollah's chief Abbas Musawi is killed in an Israeli air strike in Southern Lebanon.
	Kiryat Shemona comes under heavy katyusha fire from Lebanon.
February 27-March 4	Another round of bilateral talks held in Washington ends inconclusively.
March 10	Islamic Jihad terrorists assassinate an Israeli security officer in Ankara.
March 17	Five killed and 106 wounded in attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.
March 18	Knesset passes law for direct  election of the prime minister.
March 20	The U.S. accuses Israel of transferring to China information on the Patriot missile. Israel denies the charges.
April 12	Kazakhstan establishes diplomatic relations with Israel.
April 16	Angola establishes diplomatic relations with Israel.
April 26-29	Another round of peace talks is held in Washington
May 1-8	Another round of peace talks is held in Washington
May 4	Armenia establishes diplomatic relations with Israel.
May 10	King Hussein announces he will donate $8.25 million to restore Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem.
June 8	Acting PLO security head Atif Basaysu assassinated in Paris.
June 23	Elections for Thirteenth Knesset. Labor wins majority for the first time since 1977.Labor gains 44 seats, Likud 32, Meretz 12.
July 10	New government headed by Yitzhak Rabin of Labor party.
July 20	Israel formally requests loan guarantees from the U.S.
July 30 and 31	Israel wins first Olympic medals, silver and bronze in Judo.
August 21-23	A Memorandum of Understanding on trade, economic affairs and tourism is signed
August 23	Israel announces the release of 800 Palestinian prisoners. 280 houses sealed since 1987 in teh areas would be unsealed.
August 24	Round Six of the bilateral peace talks resumes in Washington until September 3
	Prime Minister Rabin cancels 11 deportation orders against PLO activists.
August 25	Israel presents a detailed autonomy plan, defining the role of the Palestinian Administrative Council controlling civilian matters.
September 10	Rabin announces that Israel is ready to accept territorial compromise on the Golan Heights in return for peace.
September 13	Gambia restores diplomatic relations with Israel.
September 14-24	The second session of Round Six of the bilateral peace talks is held in Washington.
September 15-17	Round Two of the Arms Control and Regional Security multilateral talks is held in Moscow
September 16-17	Round Two of multilateral talks is held in Washington.
September 26-27	Round Two of the multilateral talks on Environment is held in The Hague
October 5	Nicaragua restores diplomatic relations with Israel.
October 5	U.S. Congress approves the foreign aide appropriations for fiscal 1993, including the annual $3-billion military and economic aid package and the $10-billion loan guarantees
October 21-29	Session One of Round Seven of the bilateral talks is held in Washington.
October 28	Israel and Jordan announce that they had almost completed a full agenda on peace treaty, water and land claims, arms control and Palestinian refugees in Jordan
October 29-30	Multilateral talks on Economic Development are held in Paris
November 9-19	Session Second of Round Seven of the bilateral peace talks is held in Washington
November 11-12	Multilateral talks on refugees are held in Ottawa. Syria and Lebanon boycott the talks.
December 7-17	Round Eight of the bilateral peace talks is held in Washington.
December 13	An Israeli Border Policeman is kidnapped and killed by Hamas terrorists.
December 16	The cabinet approves deportation of 415 Hamas activists.
December 17	Israel expels 415 Hamas activists, 251 from the West Bank, and 164 from Gaza toLebanon. The US State Department “strongly condemns the action of deportation.”
	The Arab delegations suspend the bilateral talks in Washington in protest over theHamas deportations.
December 18	The Security Council adopts Resolution 799 which condemned Israel's actions.
	New Supreme Court building is opened.

1993

1993	The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opens in Washington, DC.
1993	Avraham Biram finds ancient inscription in Tel Dan about the dynasty of King David; it is the first time his name appears outside the Bible.
January 13	Israel ratifies an international convention banning chemical weapons.
January 19	The Knesset repeals a 1986 law banning meetings between Israelis and members of terrorist organizations, opening the way for talks with the PLO.
January 28	In a unanimous decision, the Israeli High Court of Justice rules that the Hamas deportations were legal.
February 16	Jordan appoints Sheikh Sulayman al Jabari Mufti of Jerusalem.
February 28	Arrow missiles is successfully test-fired.
March 13	Ezer Weizman is sworn in as President, succeeding Chaim Herzog.
March 16	Prime Minister Rabin visits Washington for talks with President Clinton and other political and religious leaders.
March 30	Israel's Inner Cabinet decides to seal off the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria for an indefinate period. Some 100,000 Palestinians are prevented from working in Israel.
April 14	Prime Minister Rabin and President Mubarak hold talks in Ismailiyah.
April 27	The suspended Eighth Round of bilateral peace talks is resumed in Washington, ends on May 13
April 28	Israel to allow the return of 30 deportees, expelled between 1967-1987 for PLO membership.
May 13	The Eighth Round of talks in Washington ends in deadlock when Israeli and Palestinian negotiators fail to reach an agreement on Statement of Principles.
May 30- June 1	Some 200 Libyans arrive in Jerusalem for three day visit to holy sites. Pilgrims call on Muslims to "topple Zionist entity" and establish Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinean state.
June 15	Bilateral peace talks are resumed in Washington. This round lasts until July 1.
June 30	Prime Minister Rabin starts an official visit to France. That country announces an end of arms sales embargo on Israel.
July 11-14	Visit to Israel of the deputy foreign minister of Vietnam. During his visit Israel and Vietnam sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of diplomatic relations.
July 25	Israel launches “Operation Accountabity” with aerial strikes at Hizbollah and PFLPbases. Two Israeli civilians are killed in Hizballah shelling of Kiryat Shmonah.
July 29	The Supreme Court overturns the conviction of John Demjanjuk.
July 31	“Operation Accountability” ends with an understanding arranged by Secretary of State Christopher, Syria, and Lebanon to ensure that Hizballah will not shell Israel.
August	The Supreme Court overturns the conviction of John Demjanjuk
August 20	Israel-PLO agreement is signed (in secrecy) in Oslo.
August 30	Announcement is made of an Israeli-PLO agreement.
September 10	Israel and the PLO exchange letters formally recognizing each other.
September 11	The U.S. resumes ties with the PLO suspended in 1990.
September 12	Sheik Ajlun, Gaza: Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) suicide bomber crashes car filled with explosives into a bus of soldiers. The car does not explode and only the driver dies.
September 13	Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements for the Palestinians signed by Israel and PLO, as representative of the Palestinian people. A historic handshake is made between Prime Minister Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
September 14	Israel and Jordan sign a formal “Common Agenda” for negotiations in Washington.
September 19	Prime Minister Rabin holds talks with President Mubarak in Cairo.
September 19	UEFA (the European football Union) grants Israel provisional membership.
September 21	Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau meets in Rome with Pope John Paul II.
September 23	Knesset ratifies the Oslo Agreeement 61-50 with 8 abstentations.
September 29	Gabon and Mautius re-establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.
September 29	Amitai Kapach killed by terrorist.
October 4	PIJ car bomb exploded next to bus on no. 173 line. Thirty people mildly injured.
October 9	Dror Forer and Aran Bachar are killed in Wadi Kelt by Islamic Jihad terrorists.
October 13	Israel-PLO talks for implementing the Declaration of Principles begin in Taba.
October 24	Two small bombs explode near the French Embassy in Tel Aviv. A member of the Jewish extremist Kahana Hay group claims responsibility, saying the explosions were in protest of PLO leader Yasser Arafats's visit to France and agreements he signed there.
October 26-28	Multilateral talks on water are held in Beijing.
October 30	Bet El resident Chaim Mizrachi stabbed to death by Arab terrorists.
November 2	Local elections held. Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek ousted by Ehud Olmert.
November 2-4	Arms control multilateral talks are held in Moscow.
November 8-9	Economic development multilateral talks are held in Copenhagen.
November 9	Suleiman al-Hawashle is run over and killed by terrorists at Shagai Junction.
November 11	Ephraim Olevi killed by Hamas terrorists in Hebron.
November 11-18	Prime Minister Rabin visits the United States for talks with President Clinton and senior officials.
November 15-16	Multilateral talks on environment are held in Cairo.
November 17	Israel-PLO Economic Coordination Committee talks open in Cairo.
November 17	Sgt. Chaim Drina stabbed to death by Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza.
December 1	Shalva Ozana and Yitzchak Weinstock shot to death by Hamas terrorists in el-Bireh
December 5	IDF soldier David Masherti is shot to death by Islamic Jihad terrorists at Holom Junction.
December 6	Mordechai and Sholom Lapid are killed by Arab terrorists in Hebron.
December 15	Steven Spielberg releases Schindler's List.
December 15-17	Meeting of Steering Committee on multilateral talks is held in Tokyo.
December 22	Eliyahu Levin and Mayer Mendolovitz are shot to death by Hamas terrorists in Betunia.
December 23	Anatoly Kolisnikov is stabbed to death in Ashdod by Fatah terrorist.
Decmber 24	Lt.-Col. Meir Mintz is killed by terrorists in Gaza.
December 29	Yuval Golan is killed by terrorists in Adorayeem
December 30	Israel and the Holy See sign a Fundamental Agreement in Jerusalem.
December 31	Chaim Weizman and David Booblil are killed by Fatah terrorists in Ramle.

1994

January 12	OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Nechemia Tamari and three other officers are killed in a helicopter crash.
January 14	Gregory Izanov stabbed to death by Hamas terrorists at Erez crossing in Gaza
January 16	President Clinton meets with President Assad in Geneva.
January 29	A Jordanian diplomat was shot and killed outside his home in Beirut. Members of the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) were arrested and prosecuted by Lebanese government.
February 9	Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Yaaser Arafat sign an agreement on security arrangements of Jericho and the Gaza Strip.
February 25	Baruch Goldstein kills 29 Muslim worshippers at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.
February 27	The Government appoints a Commission on Inquiry to investigate the events in Hebron.
February 28	Knesset votes 93-1-7 to condemn the Hebron massacre
March 8	State commission of inquiry into the Hebron massacre begins holding hearings.
March 13	“Kach” and “Kahane Chai” are outlawed by the Government.
March 15-19	Prime Minister Rabin holds talks in Washington with President Clinton and senior U.S. officials.
March 18	The Security Council adopts a resolution condemning the Hebron massacre and calling for an international presence in that city.
March 31	Israel-PLO agreeement on Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) is reached. 160 observers (35 Danish, 35 Italian, 90 Norwegian) are deployed to Hebron for three months.
	IDF cadet Shachar Simoni kidnapped and killed in Jerusalem by Hamas terrorists.
April 6	9 Israelis killed and 45 wounded in car explosion next to a bus in the northern city of Afula. Hamas claims responsibility.
April 13	Hamas claims responsibility for suicide bomber blowing up a bus in Hadera, in central Israel in which 6 Israelis were killed and 45 wounded.
April 16	At a roadside block at Mehola, Israel in the Jordan valley, a car bomb claimed byHamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) denotes, killing one and wounding nine.
April 25	Reflooding of 6,000 dunams of Lake Hula- dried up in the 1950's- is begun.
April 29	Israel and the PLO sign an Economic Agreement in Paris.
May 4	Israel and the PLO sign an agreement giving autonomy to Jericho and the Gaza Strip.
May 8	A 160-member Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) begins its mission.
May 10	An independent list headed by Labor MK Chaim Ramon wins the Histadrut elections.
	Knesset approves Gaza-Jericho Agreement by a vote of 52-0. In a speech in a mosque in Johannesburg, Arafat calls for a jihad to liberate Jerusalem; compares Gaza-Jericho Agreement to a temporary agreement made by Mohammad with the tribe of Kuraish. After Israel protests, Yasser Arafat says he had referred to a religious jihad, which has no military significance.
May 13	Israel hands over the Jericho area to Palestinian police.
May 18	Israel completes its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
May 19	Prime Minister Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan hold secret talks in London.
May 20	IDF commandos kidnap Hizballah leader Mustafa Dirani, who in 1988 sold NavigatorRon Arad to the Iranians for $300,000.
May 26	Britain lifts its 12 year old embargo on arms sales to Israel.
June 15	Vatican and Israel establish first ever diplomatic relations
June 26	State commission of inquiry into Hebron massacre releases its report.
	David Mishali killed by Fatah terrorists in Tel Aviv.
July 1	Yoram Skori was killed by Hamas terrorist in Netafim.
July 1-4	Arafat visits Gaza
July 5	Arafat visits Jericho and swears in the Palestinian Council.
July 6	Premier Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres receive the UNESCO Peace Prize in Paris. They also meet with Arafat.
	IDF soldier Aryeh Frankental killed in Beersheba by Hamas terrorist.
July 7	Sarit Prigal killed in Harsina by Hamas terrorists
July 17	Border Policeman Jacques Atias killed at Erez Checkpoint by PA police.
	Israel and Cape Verde establish diplomatic relations.
July 18	Israel and Jordan start talks in the Arava.
	A car bomb destroys the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, killing 102 and wounding others. A radical Moslem organization linked to Iran claims responsibility.
July 19	A commuter plane explodes over the Santa Rita Mountains in Panama, killing 21 persons, including Israelis, dual Israeli-Panamanian citizens, three Americans, and 12 Jews.
	Lt. Guy Ovadia shot to death in Rafiach by Hamas terrorists.
July 20	Foreign Minister Peres, Secretary of State Christopher and Jordan's Prime Minister Majali meet on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea to launch the Israel-Jordan talks.
	Implementation of Palestinian self-government in Gaza Strip and Jericho area.
	Full diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
July 23	Two unknown Palestinians escape after stabbing and seriously injuring an American woman in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.
July 25	Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty signed.
July 25-26	Prime Minister Rabin and King Hussein meet at the White House; they sign theWashington Declaration ending the state of war between Israel and Jordan.
July 26	In two car bomb explosions in London, the Israeli Embassy and the offices of the Joint Israel Appeal are damaged.
July 27	Five are injured when a car bomb detonates in front of a building that houses Jewish Attackers in London.
July 30	Uganda and Israel re-establish diplomatic relations severed in 1972.
August 3	The Knesset ratifies the Washington Declaration, 91-3-2.
August 4	Israel and Senegal restore diplomatic relations, suspended in 1973.
August 8	Israel and Jordan open a border crossing post north of Eilat. King Hussein and Prime Minister Rabin meet in Aqaba.
August 9	Israel and Ghana restore diplomatic relations.
August 14	Ron Sobel shot and killed by Hamas terrorists in Kissufim.
August 24	Agreement between Israel and the PLO on Early Empowerment in the West Bank initialed in Cairo.
September 1	Israel and Morocco announce the opening of interest offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv.
September 8	Rabin tells the Cabinet of a plan for limited withdrawal on the Golan over a three-year period.
September 25	Rabin and Arafat meet at Erez checkpoint and agree to start preliminary talks on Palestinian elections and IDF re-deployment.
September 30	Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States announce lifting of Secondary and Tertiary Economic Boycotts against Israel.
October 1	Tunisia interest offices set up.
October 9	Two Hamas terrorists began shooting with automatic weapons in Jerusalem's Nahalat Shiva'a business district. Fourteen were injured, and an off-duty Israeli soldier and Israeli Arab were killed in the attack. One gunman was shot by bystanders and the other was captured.
October 9	An Israeli soldier is abducted by Hamas terrorists. Two Israelis are killed in Jerusalemby Hamas.
October 10	Israel and Rwanda resume diplomatic relations.
October 13	An IDF attempt to free abducted soldier fails.
October 14	Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yassir Arafat are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
	Cpl. Nachshon Wachsman and Captain Nir Poraz are killed by terrorists in Bir Naballah.
October 17	Israeli and Jordanian negotiators initial a peace treaty, which is unanimously approved by the government.
October 19	Twenty-two Israelis and one Dutch citizen are murdered and 48 injured when a suicide bomber strikes on the No. 5 bus in Tel Aviv.
	Israel announces completion of Jewish immigration from Syria.
October 23	The Cabinet unanimously approves the Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
October 24	Sgt. Ehud Roth and Sgt. Ilan Levy are kidnapped and shot to death by terrorists in Khan Yunis
October 25-27	President Clinton visits Israel.
October 25	The Knesset ratifies the peace treaty with Jordan, 105-3.
October 26	The Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty is signed in the Arava in the presence of President Clinton.
October 27-28	Visit to Israel of President Clinton. He addresses the Knesset, holds talks with President Weizman, Prime Minister Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres.
November 1	Israel opens a liaison office in Morocco.
November 7	The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron reopens.
November 8	Israel ratifies the peace treaty with Jordan.
November 9	In a meeting between Rabin and Yasser Arafat at the Erez checkpoint, it is decided that the Palestinian Authority will assume additional responsibilities in the civilian sphere.
November 10	King Hussein of Jordan makes his first public visit to Israel.
November 11	Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for an attack by a Palestinian suicide bomber on a bike in the Gaza Strip which killed three Israeli soldiers.
November 21-22	Prime Minister Rabin holds talks in the White House with Clinton.
December 1	Israel transfers authority to the Palestinians in the fields of health and taxation, completing the process of early empowerment.
December 10	Prime Minister Rabin, Foreign Minister Peres, and chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
December 11	Israel and Jordan open embassies in each other's counties.
December 19	The European Union announces finalization of principles of the new Israel-EU agreement.
December 25	A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 12 Israelis in a bus bombing in Jerusalem. Hamasclaims responsibility.
December 26	Prime Minister Rabin visits Oman.

1995

January 2	Prime Minister Rabin halts new construction in a West Bank settlement, stating that Israel's future lies in territorial compromise with the Palestinians.
January 8	The government votes to establish a state commission of inquiry into the disappearance of Yemenite immigrant children between 1948-1954.
January 15	Prime Minister Rabin orders construction of bypass roads in the West Bank.
January 22	PIJ claims responsibility for a bombing in Beit Lid junction in central Israeli by two Palestinian suicide bombers in which 21 Israelis were killed.
February 2	Mubarak, Rabin and Yasser Arafat meet in a Cairo summit to promote Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the Interim Agreement.
February 23	Tanzania restores diplomatic relations with Israel.
February 24	Israel and Burundi resume diplomatic relations.
March 21	Rabin reiterates the separation plan through a fence manned by IDF and dogs.
April 6	Israel launches its first spy satellite into orbit.
April 9	Two Palestinian suicide bombers set off bombs outside two Israeli settlements in theGaza Strip and kill 7 Israeli soldiers and one American. Hamas and PIJ claim responsibility.
April 27	Israel confirms its intention to confiscate 130 acres of land in East Jerusalem.
May 18	U.S. vetoes a Security Council draft resolution condemning Israeli seizure of land in East Jerusalem.
May 22	The government suspends its plan to confiscate land in East Jerusalem.
May 24	Israel and Syria make small progress in talks on future security arrangements.
June 9	Prime Minister Rabin holds talks in Cairo with President Mubarak.
June 25	A PIJ member detonates cart filled with explosives near an I.D.F. vehicle, wounding three soldiers.
July 2	Worst fire in Israeli history hits Jerusalem, near Shoresh and Neve Ilan.
July 24	Hamas claims responsibility for Palestinian suicide bus bombing in Tel Aviv in which 6 Israelis were killed and 28 injured.
August 11	Israel and the PLO reach an agreement on redeployment of forces in the West Bank.
	Broadened Palestinian self-government implemented in West Bank and Gaza Strip;Palestinian Council elected.
	Shimon Peres becomes Prime Minister.
	Treaty of Association is signed with the EU.
August 21	A Palestinian suicide bomber blows up a bus in Jerusalem, killing 4 Israeli soldiers and 1 American, and wounding over 100 Israelis. Hamas claims responsibility.
September 4	Jerusalem 3000 celebrations begin.
September 24	Israeli and Palestinian negotiators intial the Oslo II agreement in Taba, Egypt.
September 27	The government approves the Oslo II agreement 18-0-2.
September 28	Oslo II signed in Washington.
October 6	The Knesset approves the Olso II agreement 61-59.
October 24	U.S. Congress approves a bill calling for the transfer of the U.S. embassy in Israel toJerusalem no later than 1999.
October 29-30	The second Middle East North Africa Economic summit is held in Amman.
November 4	Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by Yigal Amir at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
November 6	Representatives and heads of state from all over the world , including King Hussein andPresident Mubarak attend Rabin's funeral in Jerusalem.
November 8	High Court of Justice rules that the air force cannot bar Alice Miller from its combat pilots' course based on her gender.
	The PA takes over Jenin, and deploys forces to surrounding villages.
November 19	The state commission of inquiry into the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin begins.
November 20	Israel and the EU sign a trade agreement in Brussels.
	The IDF withdraws from six West Bank towns.
November 22	The Knesset votes confidence in Shimon Peres' new government.
December 5	Yigal Amir indicted for murdering Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.
December 9	A Jewish vehicle is fired upon by terrorists in Gush Etzion. One girl is shot in the back.
December 11	IDF pulls out of Nablus a day earlier than scheduled. Palestinean forces arrive in Ramallah. Samiha Khalil announces her candidacy for presidency.
December 12-13	Prime Minister Peres holds talks in Washington with President Clinton.
December 19	Trial of Yigal Amir begins.
December 21	Israel evacuates Bethlehem, Palestinean police enter.
December 26	Israeli army pulls out from 5 villages near Hebron: Dura, Yat-ta, Bani Naim, Thahariyeh, and Nuba.
December 27	IDF leaves Ramallah.
	Israeli and Syrian negotiators meet at Wye Planation near Washington.

1996

January 6	Hamas master bomb-maker, Yihya Ayash (the Engineer), is killed in Gaza by a booby-trapped cell phone.
January 10	King Hussein of Jordan visits Tel Aviv, holds talks with Prime Minister Peres.
January 17	Israel redeploys from Abu-Dis. Ahmed Qur'ei raises the Palestinean flag, and declares the city free.
January 20	First election of Palestinian Council, Arafat becomes president with 90% of the vote.
January 28	Israel and Oman issue a joint statement.
February 5	Prime Minister Peres decides to call early elections for the 14th Knesset to be held on May 29.
February 12	Yasser Arafat sworn in as first elected President of Palestine.
February 25	Twenty-five killed and about 90 wounded when Hamas suicide bombers attacks the #18 bus in Jerusalem and the hiking post at Ashkelon Junction
February 26	An American Arab drives a rental car into a Jerusalem bus stop, killing one Israeli and injuring 23. The driver is shot and killed. Hamas claims responsibility, though the man seems to have acted on his own.
February 28	Peres warns Israel may delay its redeployment in Hebron as a result of the wave of suicide bombings.
March 2	Hamas suicide bomber blows up a bus in Jerusalem killing 20 Israels.
March 3	Palestinian suicide bomber blows up bus stop in Jerusalem, killing 8 Israelis and wounding 10. The Students of Yehiye Ayyash, a breakaway group of Hamas, claims responsibility.
March 4	A Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself up in the midst of a holiday shopping crowd in a Tel Aviv mall killing 14, wounding 130. Both Hamas and PIJ claim responsibility for the attack.
March 5	President Clinton pledges to help Israel with high technology bomb detection devices.
March 13	An anti-terrorist summit conference, called the Summit of the Peace Makers is held in Sharm-el-Sheikh, attended by 25 world leaders. Syria boycotts the summit
March 14-15	President Clinton visits Israel.
March 27	Yigal Amir convincted for the assasination of Yitzchak Rabin. He received life and six additional years.
	Fundamentalist Arab terrorism against Israel escalates.
	Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox wage battle against Shabbat traffic on Bar Ilan Street,Jerusalem.
April 11	Israel lanuches “Operation Grapes of Wrath,” retaliation against Lebanon for Hizbullahterrorists' attacks on northern Israel.
April 18	A stray Israeli shell kills 100 Lebanese at Kafr Qana.
April 22	Palestine National Council (PNC) meets for first time since 1964 in Gaza.
	PNC votes to amend the PLO Covenant by 504 votes to 54, with 14 abstentions.
April 28	A cease fire in Lebanon is arranged by the U.S..
April 30	President Clinton and Prime Minister Peres issue a joint statement at the conclusion of talks in Washington.
May 3	Israel decides to postpone redeployment in Hebron.
May 4	The PLO announces it amended its National Covenent to remove anti-Israel sections. PLO refuses to announce changes and no changes appear on PLO website
	Yeshiva student David Reuvein Boim shot and killed by terrorists near Bet El.
	Jerusalem celebrates its 3,000th anniversary as the capital of the Jewish state.
	Israeli trade representation offices set up in Oman and Qatar.
May 5	Final Status Talks between the PA and Israel begin in Taba.
May 13	Near the Beth El settlement, a Hamas shooter opens fire on a bus and a group of Yeshiva students, killing a dual US/Isaeli citizen and injuring 3 Israelis. Hamas is suspected to be responsible but has not confirmed it.
May 29	Benjamin Netanyahu wins the first direct election for Prime Minister.
May 30	Likud forms government after elections for the Fourteenth Knesset.
June 2	President Arafat's plane inaugurates Gaza International Airport, coming from Sinai
June 9	A dual US/Israeli citizen and an Israeli are killed by an unidentified gunman while in their car near Zekharya. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is suspected to be responsible.
June 9	Efrat and Yaron Unger shot to death by arab terrorists near Bet Shemesh.
June 22-23	Egypt host the first Arab League Summit in six years
Summer	Israeli wins bronze medal in windsurfing competition at the Atlanta Summer Olympics.
July 2	Israeli jets bomb a base of Abu Moussa's Palestinian National Liberation Movement in Lebanon.
July 3	Israel eases the closure on the territories.
July 9	Prime Minister Netanyahu holds talks in Washington with President Clinton.
July 10	Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses the U.S. Congress, saying Israel will gradually ease its dependence on U.S. economic aid.
July 21	The bodies of two IDF soldiers missing since the 1982 war in Lebanon are returned to Israel. Israel and the SLA release 45 Hizbollah prisoners and return the bodies of 123 terrorists killed by the IDF over the years.
July 26	President Clinton denies clemency to Jonathan Pollard.
August 2	The cabinet decides to terminate the freeze on construction in Judea-Samaria and GAza placed by the previous government.
August 8	The five-nation committee monitoring the Israel-Hizbullah cease-fire in Lebanon holds its first meeting in Naqura.
August 11	Oman opens a trade office in Tel Aviv, becoming the seventh Arab state to have an official presence in Israel.
August 14	Talks between Israel and the PA resume after eight months' suspension.
August 20	In a test, an Arrow 2 missile successfully intercepts and destroys a target missile.
September 4	Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat meet for the first time at Erez Checkpoint. Both reiterate their committment to implementing the 1995 Interim Agreement.
September 9	Sgt. Sharon Edri kidnapped and shot to death by Hamas terrorists.
September 22	Qatar's Minister of Foreign Affairs says his country postponed its decision to open a trade office in Israel.
September 23	Israel opens a new exit to the Western Wall tunnel. Prime Minister Netenyahuannounces this in London. This triggers off a wave of Palestinian violence in the territories and Jerusalem.
September 23-27	In a wave of violence 14 Israelis and 56 Palestinians are killed in clashes
September 25	Violence erupts after the opening of Hasmonean Tunnel alongside the Temple Mountand Western Wall.
September 28	The UN Security Council adopts a resolution condemning Israel for opening the tunnel. The U.S. abstained in the vote, which was carried by 14-0.
October 1-2	Clinton holds bilateral talks with Netanyahu, Yasser Arafat, and King Hussein.
	Arafat secretly marries Suha Tawil in Tunis. Their daughter Zahwa is born July 24, 1995, in Paris.
November 6	Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druze working in an Israeli-Egyptian plant in Cairo, is arrested and charged with spying for Israel.
December 13	The Governmnent reinstates financial subsidies to all settlements in the territories.
December 24	Prime Minister Netenyahu and Yasser Arafat hold talks in Erez.

1997

1997	Agreement Between the State of Israel and the Holy See.
January 5	Netenyahu and Yasser Arafat meet again in Erez.
January 12	King Hussein visits Gaza and Tel Aviv for talks with Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu
January 14-15	Hebron Agreement signed by Netenyahu and Arafat.
January 14	Christoph Meili, a guard for Switzerland's largest bank, reveals documents of transactions with the Nazis.
January 15	Israel redeploys troops in Hebron.
January 16	The Knesset approves the Hebron Protocol by 87 to 17 (one abstentation). The IDF completes its redeployment in Hebron.
February 4	Helicopter crash kills 73 Israeli soldiers.
February 11	Israel releases 30 Palestinian women prisoners.
February 13	Prime Minister Netenyahu and President Clinton meet in the White House.
February 23	Prime Minister Netenyahu meets King Hussein in Amman.
	A Palestinian gunman opens fire on tourists visiting the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Dane and injuring tourists from the United States, Argentina,Switzerland, and France. He then shoots himself, leaving a note saying that the attack was to punish the 'enemies of Palestine.'
February 28	Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem approves construction in Har Homa.
March 13	Seven school girls are murdered by Jordanian soldier at Naharayim
March 16	King Hussein pays condolence call to families.
March 21	Suicide bombers kill 24 people in three separate attacks, one in Tel Aviv and two inJerusalem.
April 1	An Arab League meeting calls on the Arab states to freeze ties with Israel.
April 7	Prime Minister Netenyahu meets with President Clinton at the White House.
May 27	Israel and Jordan sign a water agreement
Summer	Israeli wins silver medal at European Swimming Championship.
July 30	Two consecutive suicide bombings in the Mahane Yehuda market on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem kill 16 people and wound 178 wounded. Hamas claims responsibility.
August 21	Israel and Croatia establish diplomatic relations.
September 4	Three Palestinian suicide bombers set off explosions on Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall inJerusalem, killing 4 Israelis and injuring nearly 200. Hamas claims responsibility.
September 24	Mossad agents botch an assassination attempt on Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas official, in Jordan. Israel releases Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in return for its agents.
November 10	Israel and the Holy See sign a Legal Personality Agreement.
November 16	Israel and Jordan sign an agreement on Irbid Industrial Zone.
November 16-18	Prime Minister Netenyahu visits the United States.
November 20	A Hungarian Yeshiva student is killed and an Israeli student is injured by an unknown gunman in Jerusalem's Old City. No one claims responsibility.

1998

1998	Israel celebrates its 50th anniversary.
January 7	Israel, Turkey, and the U.S. begin joint naval maneuvers in the Eastern Mediterranean. Jordan sends an observer.
January 14	A booby-trapped videocassette explodes at the Israel-Lebanon border near Metulla, injuring 3 Israelis and 3 Lebanese. The intended target was a senior Israeli intelligence officer. Al-amal claims responsibility.
January 20	Prime Minister Netenyahu meets President Clinton in the White House. The U.S. presents a plan for a three stage FRD of at least 10% of the West Bank. Netanyahu also meets twice with Secretary of State Albright.
January 22	Yasser Arafat holds talks with President Clinton. He rejects the 10% FRD plan. In a letter to Clinton he states which PLO Covenant clauses were annuled in May 1996. He also demands time out on Israel settlement expansion
January 27-28	Finance Minister Neeman holds talks in Washington on phasing down the $1.2 billion of America's economic aid to Israel
January 29	In view of mounting tension over Iraq, Israel and the U.S. Defense Department inaugurate an emergency hot line.
January 31	The PLO Executive Committee claims to approve by voice vote the annulment of offensive PLO Covenant clauses given to President Clinton. In 2004, PLO Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi denied that the charter was ever annuled.
February 8	King Hussein sends President Weizman a check for $1 million for compensation to families of seven girls slain by a Jordanian soldier in Naharayim in 1997
	The U.S. offers Israel defense weapons and says it will provide Israel with an early warning sytem in case of an attack on Iraq.
February 19	The U.S. sends 10 Patriot missile batteries to Israel.
February 27	Israel apologizes to the Swiss government for the incident involving its agents. Mossad head Danny Yatom resigns.
March 1	Netenyahu offers Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in return for adequate Lebanese security guarantees. Lebanon rejects the proposal.
March 4	Ezer Weizman is re-elected for a second term as Israel's president.
	The UN General Assembly, in an emergency session on the Har Homa issue, condemns Israel by a vote of 120 for, three against, five abstentions.
March 24	Israel and Turkey sign a trade protocol in Ankara.
April 2	An Israeli vehicle is shot at near Telem, Israel. There were no casualties.
April 3	In a letter to Clinton, 81 senators urge him not to issue the FRD plan. The PA announces acceptance of the U.S. proposal for 13% FRD
April 28	Prime Minister Netenyahu holds talks in Caito with President Mubarak - their first meeting since May 27, 1997.
April 30	In Amman, Jordan, a firebomb is thrown at the Jerusalem Hotel's parking lot. The Jordanian authorities arrest 8 members of a foreign-financed Islamic group accused of being behind a number of arson attacks.
May 3	A pipe bomb causes a fire in the stairwell in the apartment building of three Arab students in the Massrara neighborhood of Jerusalem. There is little damage and right-wing extremists are suspected.
May 6	21 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives call on Clinton not to pressure Israel on the FRD plan.
June 1	Two Palestinians ambush and fire 6 bullets at an Israeli vehicle. No casualties were reported.
July 22	The Knesset adopts a bill requiring an absolute majority of Knesset members, and referendum majority before any territorial concessions are made on the Golan Heights. The bill won final approval on January 26, 1999.
July 27	Netanyahu says that Israel is now proposing a new FRD proposal based on 10% + 3% nature preserve in the Judean desert.
July 30	Israel transfers to Jordan the $50 million it owes under the Peace and Stability Fund agreement
August 7	The U.S. embassies in Nairovi and Dar es Salaam are destroyed leaving 256 dead and thousands wounded. The IDF dispatches a drescue team to Nairobi.
August 20	Rabbi Shlomo Raanan is stabbed to death in his Tel Rumeiyda home by a Hamasterrorist who came in through a window and escaped after setting fire to the house with a Molotov cocktail.
September 4	Larry Page and Sergey Brin file papers with the State of California to start a company called Google
September 24	Hamas blows up a bus station near Hebrew University in Jerusalem. An IDF soldier is injured and the station is destroyed.
September 28	Netenyahu, Clinton and Yasser Arafat hold a meeting in the White House clearing the way for summit talks in October.
September 30	A Hamas terrorist throws two grenades at a border police jeep in Hebron and injures 14IDF soldiers and 11 Palestinians. He is shot in the leg and pursued by the patrol into the Palestinian-control area of Hebron, but escapes.
October 1	A Hamas grenade attack in Hebron injures 13 soldiers and 5 Palestinians. The Palestinian terrorist from the Palestinian-controlled H-1 area threw two grenades at IDFsoldiers. One injured several Palestinian bystanders, soldiers, and border policemen. The other hit two parked cars and hurt several Palestinians. Two policemen and one soldier were moderately wounded and 10 others were only slightly injured. Five Palestinians were taken to Hebron hospitals. The attacker managed to escape to the H-1 area despite being chased by soldiers and shot in the leg.
October 15-23	Israel and the PA negotiate an agreement at the Wye River Plantation.
October 19	During rush hour at Central Bus Station in Be'er Sheva, two grenades are thrown into a crowd of civilians. At least 59 Israelis are wounded, two of whom seriously. The terrorist is captured and turned over by a number of bystanders to civil guard policemen. Hamas claims responsibility.
October 23	Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat sign the Wye River Memorandum in the White House in the presense of President Clinton and King Hussein.
October 27	Mohmoud Majzoub, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad Attacker in Lebanon, survives an Israeli car bomb assassination attempt. He is seriously woundedand his wife, 9 month-old son, and a Syrian pedestrian are also hurt.
October 29	A Hamas suicide bomber attempts to collide head-on with a school bus of children from the community of Kfar Darom going to a school near the Gush Katif Junction. The bus is being escorted by army jeeps, and the lead jeep cuts off the terrorist's car to block him from reaching the bus. The bomber then detonates the explosives near the jeep, killing at least one of the soldiers and himself. Two passengers of the jeep are seriously injured and six people have light-to-moderate injuries, including three young people and three children.
October 31	Khaled Kurdiyeh, a Fatah activist, survives an assassination attempt in Lebanon. The car bomb goes off at a Palestinian refugee camp and no one is hurt.
November 6	Two suicide bombers drive a car bomb inot the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem and injur 20 people. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
November 14	In a speech in Nablus, Yasser Arafat calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on May 4, 1999.
November 17	The Knesset adops the Wye River Memorandum by 75 in favor, 19 against, nine abstentions and 13 absent.
November 20	The IDF carries out the first of the three FRDs outlined in the Wye agreement. Israel releases 250 Palestinian prisoners.
November 24	Israel allows the opening of Gaza International Airport.
December 14	The Palestinian National Council in Gaza reaffirms the annullment of the anti-Israel provisions of the PLO Covenant, in the presence of President Clinton.
December 21	The Knesset votes 81-30, four abstentions and five absent, to dissolve itself. Next elections to be held on May 17, 1999.

1999

1999	Reform Movement's rabbinical body (CCAR) adopts new platform of principles which shows some openness to Jewish ritual, while reaffirming Reform's ideology of personal autonomy.
1999	Fifteenth Knesset elections.
February 7	Death of King Hussein of Jordan
May 17	Ehud Barak is elected Prime Minister. One Israel party wins 26 seats, Likud - 19, Shas - 17, Meretz - 10, Shinui, Merkaz and Yisrael b'Aliya - 6 each. Arab parties win 10, the NRP - 5, UTJ - 5, National Union and Yisrael Beitenu - 4 each, and Am Ehad - 2
June 24	After Hizbullah fires rockets into Israel, the IDF strikes bridges and power stations nearand in Beirut. Hizbullah fires 36 rockets into Israel killing two civilians.
July 23	King Hassan of Morocco dies and is succeeded by his son King Mohammed VI. Barakattends his funeral on 25 July.
July 27	Israel and the Republic of Georgia sign a Memorandum of Understanding on defense cooperation. Israel and Uganda sign an agreement to expand economic ties.
August 10	At about 7:55 a.m. a driver, inspired by Hamas literature, drove twice into a group of civilians and soldiers at a bus stop in Central Israel. He injured 6 people before police shot and killed him.
	A gunman goes on a shooting rampage at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles, injuring five.
August 30	Sharon Steinmetz, 21, and Yehezkel Shai Pinpater, 26 were hiking several kilometers from the autonomous Palestinian town of Jenin when they were murdered by two Israeli Arabs. The two Islamist group members were later arrested.
September 4	Barak and Yasser Arafat sign the second Wye Accord in Sharm el-Sheikh. Secretary Albright, President Mubarak and King Abdullah also sign as witnesses.
September 5	Less than 24 hours after the signing of the Sharm el-Sheik Memorandum, two car-bombs went off at around 5:30 in Tiberias and Haifa. The blasts killed three terrorist bombers and seriously injured a 73-year-old woman.
September 9	Israel releases 199 of 350 Palestinian prisoners in the framework of the Wye II Accords.
September 10	Israel transfers 7% of the West Bank land from Area C to Area B.
October 5	Israel and the PA sign the Gaza-West Bank Safe Passage Protocol.
October 12	Barak orders dismantling of 15 of 42 unauthorized settlements built since October 1998. Eleven are to remain; in 16, no new buildings are to be allowed.
October 15	Israel releases additional 151 Palestinian prisoners.
October 18	Former South African President Nelson Mandela holds talks in Jerusalem with Israel's leaders.
October 25	Israel opens the safe passage road from Gaza to the West Bank.
October 28	Israel and Mauritania raise their missions to embassies.
November 1	President Clinton holds talks in Oslo with Barak and Yasser Arafat on final status negotiations. Barak and Yasser Arafat also have a private meeting. Clinton meets with both the next day.
November 11	Yasser Arafat refuses to sign the map for the next FRD.
November 11	Journalist Jacobo Timmerman dies
November 14	Barak and Yasser Arafat meet but fail to reach an understanding on the next FRD. Israel decides to delay the second stage of the Wye II FRD.
December 13	Barak tells the cabinet that an Israel-Syria agreement is possible within a few weeks. Addressing the Knesset, Barak says Israel may have to pay a “heavy territorial price” for peace with Syria. He wins a vote of confidence 47 for, 31 against, 24 abstentations and 18 absent.
December 15	Israel and Syria resume talks in Washington, DC. Barak, Clinton, and Syrian Foreign Minister Shara hold an opening ceremony at the White House.
December 16	Israel-Syria talks end in Washington, DC. They will resume near Washington in early January.

Timeline of Jewish History:
Modern Israel & the Diaspora

(2000 - 2009)

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2000

2000	Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman named first Jewish vice presidential candidate of a major political party - becomes first Jew on a major party ticket.
	Birthright Israel is created with the goal of sending thousands of young Jewish adults on trips to Israel.
January 3-10	Israeli and Syrian leaders convene in Shepardstown, WV to negotiate a peace deal. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara fail to make a deal.
January 5	Israel transfers to the PA 3% of land from Area C to Area B and 2% from Area B to PA-controlled Area A.
January 10	The Israel-Syria talks end after the U.S. proposes a draft agreement.
January 12	Israel and Jordan renew their bilateral trade agreement.
January 17	The U.S. announces freezing of the Israel-Syria talks due to fundamental differences.
January 19	Syria says it will not resume talks with Israel unless Israel pledges to withdraw to theJune 5, 1967 lines.
January 25	Israel cancels plans to send experts to Washington, D.C. to discuss a working paper onSyria.
February 1	The Multilateral Steering Committee meets in Moscow.
March 5	Israeli cabinet votes to withdraw from southern Lebanon by July.
March 14	Israel begins the deployment of the Arrow 2 missile system.
March 21	Israel and PA negotiatiors meet at Boiling Air Force Base near Washington, DC. Israel hands over 6.1% of Area B to Area A. The PA now controls 18.2% of the West Bank (Area A), and partially controls 21.8% (Area B).
March 21-26	Visit to Israel of Pope John Paul II.
March 26	President Clinton meets President Assad in Geneva; he later admits that the Israel-Syrian differences cannot be bridged.
March 27	A suicide bombing on No. 6 bus in the French Hill junction of Jerusalem injurs 28 people.
March 28	At a gas station east of Kfar Saba a suicide bombing kills two and injurs four.
April 11	Prime Minister Barak and President Clinton hold talks in the White House on FAPS, withdrawal from Lebanon and the Phalcon deal with China.
April 17	Israel informs the United Nations of its plans to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
April 22	A suicide bombing at a bus stop in Jerusalem leaves one dead and 39 injured.
April 24	Israel is given temporary membership in the UN regional group Western European and Other Groups. Israel is allowed to take part in WEOG activities in New York, but no other UN office.
May 7	Prime Minister Barak and Arafat meet in Ramallah. Barak says that Israel will shortly cede three West Bank villages near Jerusalem to Palestinian control.
May 12	Israel and Jordan sign an agreement to proceed with plans for the construction of the Akaba-Eilat airport. Lebanon anounces to the United Nations that Israeli withdrawal will not be complete until they withdraw from Sheba farms.
May 14	It is revealed that back channel talks between Israel and the PA took place in Stockholm. Israel was represented by Internal Security Minister Ben-Ami.
May 15	The cabinet, and later the Knesset, approve the transfer of Abu Dis, Izariyah and Sawarah al-Sharquiya to Area A.
May 18	Outside a Netanya shopping center a suicide bomber kills five and injurs more than 100.
May 21	Following attacks on Israeli civilians near Jericho, Israel suspends the Stockholm talks and postpones transfer of the three villages near Jerusalem to the PA.
	Election of Jorg Haider, leader of the ultra-right Freedom party, to Austria's parliament.
	Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. academic, is sued by Holocaust denier David Irving in England for libel. The case is ultimately dismissed.
May 23-June 1	Unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan notes that most of the disputed region of Sheba Farms is within United Nations control, and recommends Lebanon to proceed with negotiations.
June 1	President Clinton and PM Barak meet in Lisbon. Clinton says FAPS is within reach.
	Birthright Israel is created by philanthropists Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt with the goal of sending thousands of young adults on a free trip to Israel.
	Federal judges approve $1.25 billion to settle Holocaust claims brought against Swiss banks.
June 10	Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad dies in Damascus. He was quickly suceeded by his son, Bashar Assad.
June 16	UN Secretary-General Annan certifies that Israel completed its withdrawal fromLebanon. This certification is endorsed on June 18 by the Security Council.
June 18	The United Nations officialy recognizes Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
July 10	President Ezer Weizman resigns his office.
July 11-25	Camp David Summit.
July 12	Israel cancels the Phalcon deal with China.
July 25	The Camp David meeting ends in failure. President Clinton and PM Barak blameArafat for the failure; Clinton says that Barak was much more flexible.
July 29	Arafat begins to visit foreign heads of state in an effort to gain support for the Palestinian position.
July 31	Moshe Katsav is elected Israel's eighth president.
August 5	UNIFIL completes its deployment along the Blue Line (border of Lebanon and Israel).
September 6	Clinton fails to resolve the differences between Barak and Arafat during separate meetings held with each leader during the UN Millenium Summit in New York.
September 10	The PLO Central Committee votes to postpone plans to declare Palestinian statehood.
September 13	Both sides fail to meet the deadline set for reaching a peace agreement.
September 27	An Israeli soldier is killed by a roadside bomb in Gaza.
September 28	Visit of Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, ultimately sparking the Second Intifada.
September 29	Clashes erupt between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.
October 1	Serious clashes in the West Bank and Gaza spread to a number of Israeli cities. 13 Israeli Arabs are killed.
October 4	Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agree to a limited cease-fire during talks in Paris between Prime Minister Ehud Barak, PA President Yasser Arafat and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The cease-fire only lasts a few hours before violence is renewed.
October 7	Destruction of Joseph's Tomb after Israeli forces withdraw. Hezbollah shells northern Israel and captures three Israeli soldiers.
	Three Israeli soldiers (Adi Avitan, Omer Soued and Binyamin Avraham) are kidnapped by Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon line in the Mt. Dov sector.
October 12	Lynching of Israeli reservists in Ramallah.
	Israeli helicopters attack Palestinian targets in Gaza and Ramallah.
	Destruction of the Shalom al Yisrael Synagogue in Jericho.
October 13	Oman closes its trade office in Tel Aviv. Morocco recalls its envoy from Israel.
October 16-17	Sharm El-Sheikh Summit attended by President Clinton, President Mubarak, KingAbdullah, EU, and Israeli and Palestinian leaders who agree to cease-fire.
October 17	PM Barak and Arafat reach oral understanding on ending the uprising. PresidentClinton decided to appoint an international inquiry commission (letter headed by Senator Mitchell).
October 20	Cease-fire ends when new clashes erupt.
October 22	PM Barak suspends the peace process.
	In the wake of an Arab League summit decision, Tunisia demands Israel close its trade office in Tunis.
October 26	A PIJ suicide bomber blows himself up near the Kisufim settlement in Gaza. No Israelis are seriously hurt.
November 7	The U.S. names the Mitchell Commission members.
November 9	Qatar orders the Israel trade mission in Doha to close.
	Hussein Abayat, head of Fatah's armed militias in the southern West Bank, is killed when a missile hits his vehicle.
November 12	PM Barak meets with President Clinton in Washington, D.C.
November 16	Hezbollah militants plant an explosive near an IDF convoy. There are no casualties.
November 21	Egypt recalls its ambassador from Israel.
November 22	Jamal Abdel Razeq, suspected of involvement in a serious of deadly attacks, is ambushed and killed by the IDF, along with three other Palestinians.
November 23	Ibrahim Beni Ouda, leaders of Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, is blown up in a car in Nablus.
November 26	A charge is detonated near an IDF convoy. IDF soldier Khalil Taher is killed and two other soldiers are wounded.
December 9	PM Barak announces that he will resign on December 10 and call elections for the office of prime minister within two months. Former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, not a Knesset member, cannot run against him unless the Knesset dissolves itself, which it does not.
December 10	Prime Minister Ehud Barak resigns hoping to win a mandate in a new election for his peace policies.
	Mahmoud Yusef Moghradi, a Fatah militant accused by Israel of having planted a bomb, is killed on a bypass road.
December 11	Investigation into causes of Palestinian-Israeli violence allegedly sparked by Sharonvisit to Temple Mount is initiated under the leadership of former U.S. Senator George Mitchell.
	Anwar Mahmoud Hamran, a member of Islamic Jihad, is shot near an army post in Nablus.
December 12	Fatah militant Yusef Ahmed Abu Suwai is shot while standing outside his West Bank village home near Bethlehem.
December 13	Hamas militant Abbas Osman Awidi is killed outside his home in Hebron.
December 19	The Knesset decides not to dissolve itself, but to allow Netanyahu to run. He decides not to run.
December 22	President Clinton presents the Israeli and PA negotiating teams with a peace plan and demands acceptance by Barak and Arafat within five days.
December 25	Barak says he is prepared to accept the Clinton plan with no reservations as long as the PA does the same.
December 27	Arafat says he cannot accept the Clinton plan without additional clarifications.
December 28	President Clinton says he will not agree to further talks unless Arafat accepts his plan.
December 31	Thabet Thabet, head of Fatah in Tulkarem, is shot and killed.

2001

January 6	CIA Director Tenet holds talks on security issues with Israeli and PA officials.
January 21-27	Peace talks are held at Egyptian town of Taba, but break up after Arafat gives a vitriolic speech to an international forum accusing Israel of being “fascist” and after Palestinian militants kills two Israeli civilians.
January 31	Six mortar bombs are fired in the area of the Sion river outpost near the Lebanese border. There are no casualties.
February 6	Election of Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel, winning 61 percent of the vote.
February 13	Israeli gunships kill Colonel Masoud Ayad, a leader of the Hezbollah and a member ofForce-17, Arafat's personal security force.
February 14	A Palestinian terrorist drives a bus into a group of soldiers and civilians at a bus stop near Holon, south of Tel-Aviv, killing eight and injuring 25.
February 16	Fire at an IDF convoy on Mt. Dov near Cheeba Farms. IDF soldier Elad Shneor is killed, and three other soldiers wounded.
February 19	Mahmud el-Madani, a member of Hamas' armed wing, is shot and killed in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.
February 20	Due to domestic political pressure, Barak backs out of a deal to forge a new Israeli government in alliance with Ariel Sharon, declaring that he will not accept the post of Defense Minister in a future partnership.
	U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell states that the Bush Administration believes the Israelis and Palestinians must solve their own security issues, and that the United States' aid cannot substitute continued efforts on both sides.
February 26	The Israeli Labor Party joins a coalition government headed by Ariel Sharon. Shimon Peres is named Foreign Minister and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer assumes the position of Minister of Defense.
March 1	A bomb goes off in a service taxi at the Mei Ami juntion in Wadi Ara, killing one Israeli and injuring nine.
	The IDF and Israeli civilian officials discuss reoccupying Palestinian-controlled territory.
March 4	A suicide bomber kills himself and three Israelis and injures dozens of others at a busy intersection in Netanya. The Izzedin al-Qassam states that this is the first of ten suicide bombers trained by Hamas in response to Ariel Sharon's election.
March 7	Ariel Sharon is sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel.
March 18	An Israeli army base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, next to the Gaza Strip, is fired at with mortar shells by Palestinians. This is the first time Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have attacked Israeli targets within Israel's borders.
March 20	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
	Colin Powell visits the Middle East for the first time as Secretary of State and calls for an end to the violence.
March 21	The IDF shells a Force-17 training base, killing one Palestinian officer.
March 26	In the West Bank town of Hebron, a Palestinian sniper shoots and kills a 10-month-old baby girl, Shalhevet Pass, and wounds her father.
March 27	In the Talpiot industrial/commercial area of Jerusalem, a car bomb goes off, wounding seven bystanders. The PIJ claims responsibility. At the French Hill junction in Jerusalem, the No. 6 bus is bombed, injuring 28 people, two seriously, in an attackHamas claims to be responsible for.
March 28	A suicide bombing near the Palestinian city of Qalquilyah, two Israeli teenagers are killed. Ariel Sharon, in his first military response since taking office three weeks prior, responds by sending helicopter gunships to bombard Arafat's Force-17 military bases and training camps. One Force-17 member and two other Palestinians are killed. In another incident, a suidice bomber detonates explosives at a gas station near Kfar Saba, killing two and injuring four.
April 1	A 42-year-old Israeli woman is stabbed to death in Haifa. Her murder was the initiation rite of a terrorist cell, whose members were apprehended in July. Six members of a Hezbollah-linked Palestinian terrorist cell responsible for the murder, originally thought to be criminally motivated, were arrested in July. The murder was the initiation rite of one of the terrorists into the organization.
April 2	Israel assassinates Mohammed Abdel Al, a military activist in Islamic Jihad, by shooting rockets from helicopters at his car in Rafah in southern Gaza.
April 5	Iyyad Hardan, the military leader of the Islamic Jihad is killed when a booby-trapped public telephone booth in Jenin explodes.
April 6	Palestinians in Gaza fire three mortar shells at Netiv Haasara, an Israeli village next to Gaza. Israel responds by firing rockets by helicopter at Palestinian police installations north of Gaza City. Four or more rockets are fired, hitting a police headquarters and two other buildings.
April 10	Palestinians continue firing mortar rounds at Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip and within Israel's borders. There are no casualties. Israel's response is to fire antitank missiles at Palestinian police posts in Gaza. At one target, a Palestinian naval post, a lieutenant is killed and seven policement injured. At another target, a police headquarters in a refugee camp, ten are wounded. There incidents are considered daylight attacks, without warning, on occupied buildings, compared to previous nighttime raids.
April 11	Israeli tanks and bulldozers level buildings in a Gaza refugee camp in Khan Younis suspected of being used as lauching pad for mortar attacks. Following the raid, a ground battle ensues as hudreds of armed Palestinians summoned by mosque loudspeakers rush to defend the refugee camp against and “Iraeli invasion.” Two Palestinians are killed and 24 injured; no Israelis are killed. This is the largest and furthest Israeli ground attack into Palestinian-governed territory since the latest series of violence beginning in September.
April 14	Israeli planes hit targets in southern Lebanon in retaliation for an attack by Hezbollahon a group of Israeli soldiers, which killed one soldier.
	Fire at an IDF post in the Mt. Dov sector near Cheeba Farms. IDF soldier Elad Litvak is killed.
	Mohammed Yassin Nasser, a Hamas activist, is killed in an explosion in a house in Gaza City.
April 15	Israeli planes attack Syrian radar sites in the central mountains of Lebanon in response to Hezbollah strikes on stations of IDF soldiers along the northern Israeli border. This is the first Israeli attack against the Syrian military in five years. One Syrian soldier is killed and four other injured.
April 16	Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdullah Khatib presents Israel with an Egyptian-backed proposal for ending Israeli-Palestinian violence and renewing peace negotions. The proposal calls for Israel to end settlement construction in Gaza and the West Bank, pull out of Palestinian towns, and lift the blockade of Palestinian-controlled regions. In return, the Palestinians would stop the violence against Israelis. Israel responds coldly, promising to look over the minister's suggestions further.
	Israel briefly takes over Beit Hanoun, a territory in northern Gaza under full Palestinian control, and bombs Force-17 posts, fatally wounding one Force-17 soldier.
April 17	For the first time since ceding the Gaza Stip to the Palestinian Authority under the 1993 Oslo Agreements, the IDF occupies territory in Gaza in response to the increased attacks from the area. Ariel Sharon states that he will keep forces in the region as long as necessary, but pulls Israeli troops back after public outcries. Yasser Arafat calls the situation an “unforgivable crime”, and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a rare criticism of Israel, calls the military act “excessive and disproportionate.” Powell calls for the Israeli government to vacate the area, but places the blame on a “provocative” Palestinian mortar attack for triggering the move.
April 22	A suicide bomber blows up a bus in Jerusalem, killing one and injuring 39 others.
April 28	A 60-year-old Israeli man is found stabbed to death in Kfar Ba'aneh, near Carmiel in Galilee. The terrorists responsible for the attack were apprehended in July. Six members of a Hezbollah-linked Palestinian terrorist cell responsible for the murder were arrested in July. The murder was the initiation rite of the organization.
	Imad Daud Karake, a Fatah activisit, is shot dead while driving near Bethlehem.
April 30	Mitchell Commission makes recommendations for ending violence.
	Two Hamas militants, Hamdi Madhoun and Mohamed Abu Khaled, are killed by the explosion of a booby-trapped car in a garage in Gaza City.
May 5	Ahmad Khalil Issa, a member of PIJ, is shot outside his ship in the West Bank village of Artas.
May 18	A suicide bomber blows himself up at a shopping mall in Netanya, killing five and injuring over 100.
May 21	The Mitchell Commission issues its report.
March 28	In a suicide bombing near the Palestinian city of Qalquilyah, two Israeli teenagers are killed. Ariel Sharon, in his first military response since taking office three weeks prior, responds by sending helicopter gunships to bombard Arafat's Force-17 military bases and training camps. One Force-17 member and two other Palestinians are killed.
May 25	A Hamas suicide bomber explodes his truck outside an Israeli army post in Gaza. He is killed and no one is injured.
June 1	Hamas and PIJ both claim responsibility for a suicide bombing outside the Tel Avivdiscotheque “Pascha” in which 21 Israelis die and 120 are injured.
June 12	U.S. CIA Director George Tenet negotiates a cease-fire, but Palestinians break it within a few hours of its announcement.
June 22	A suicide bombing in Gaza claims the lives of two Israeli soldiers and the bomber.
June 24	Osama Jawabri, a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and on the list of Israel's most wanted terrorists, is killed when a booby-trapped public telephone he often used exploded.
June 26	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
June 29	Hezbollah fighters fire 12 rockets and mortars at an Israeli position in Cheeba Farms. Two IDF soldiers are wounded.
July 1	Hezbollah fires rockets and mortars at Israeli positions in Cheeba Farms. There are no casualties.
July 15	Israel insists on seven days of calm before it will resume peace talks with Palestinians, but violence continues to escalate.
July 16	A PIJ militant blows himself up at a bus stop north of Tel Aviv, killing two Israeli settlers. A second PIJ bomber kills himself and an Israeli woman and injures five others at a train station in Binyamina.
July 17	Helicopter gunships kill four men in Bethlehem, two of who are linked to Hamas. Israeli sources claim the men were planning an attack on the athletes at the Maccabiah games.
July 23	Israel approves construction of a security fence to improve security and preventterrorism.
July 25	Hamas activist Saleh Darwezeh dies when Israeli antitank missiles strike his car near Nablus.
July 30	Israeli rockets destroy a Hamas office in Nablus, killing Jamal Mansour, a leading Hamas figure in the West Bank.
August 5	Hamas activist Amer Mansour Habiri dies when Israeli missiles strike his car in Tulkarem in the West Bank.
August 9	One of the worst of a serious of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks occurs when a Palestinian blows himself up at a downtown Jerusalem pizzeria, Sbarro, killing 15 and wounding more than 130. Hamas and the PIJ both claim responsibility.
August 10	Israeli forces capture Orient House in East Jerusalem which acted as a base for Palestinian activity.
August 12	A PIJ suicide bombing at a restaurant near Haifa leaves 20 people wounded.
August 15	Israeli troops ambush and kill Palestinian militant Emad Abu Sneineh.
August 27	A shell attack destroys the offices of Abu Ali Mustafa, leader of the PFLP, and kills him.
August 31-September 8	The UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, South Africa.
September 1	Colonel Taiseer Khatab, an aide to the chief of Gaza intelligence, is killed when a bomb ignites under the seat of his car.
September 6	U.S. diplomats walk out of UN conference in Durban when organizers attempt to equate Zionism with racism.
September 9	A suicide bomber in Nahariya kills three and injures 31. Hamas, the PIJ, and Hezbollahclaim responsibility.
September 11	Terrorists crash airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Thousands of Palestinians take to the streets to celebrate while most of the world mourns and expresses outrage.
September 18	Arafat declares a cease-fire under pressure from the United States and Israel withdraws forces it had moved into Palestinian-controlled territories.
September 24	Sharon declares his willingness to “give the Palestinians what no one ever gave them before, the possibility of a state.”
October 2	President Buch declares support for a Palestinian state, so long as it does not threaten Israel's right to exist..
October 7	In Beit Shean, a PIJ suicide bomber kills himself and one Israeli.
October 8	A PIJ terrorist blows himself up near Kibbutz Shluhot in nothern Israel.
October 14	Israeli forces shoot and kill Abdel Rahman Hamad, the alleged architect behind the June 1 attack on a Tel Aviv discotheque that killed 22 people.
October 17	Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi is assassinated by Palestinian terrorists from the PFLP. Israel responds by sending troops into six Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
October 18	Atef Abayat of the PFLP is killed along with two other Palestinian gunmen when their car explodes near Bethlehem.
October 22	Hamas bombmaker Hayman Halaweh is killed and three others wounded when his booby-trapped car explodes in Nablus.
	Hezbollah operatives attack Israeli military positions in Cheeba Farms. There are no casualties.
November 1	Hamas officials Yasser Asideh and Fahami Abu Eisha are killed in a missile attack outside Tulkarem in the West Bank.
November 10	President Bush addresses U.N. General Assembly and for the first time an American president formally lays out a vision of a Palestinian state living in peace beside Israel.
November 23	An Israeli helicopter fires two missiles at a van in Nablus, killed Mahmoud Abu Hamoud, a top-tanking Hamas official.
November 26	President Bush sends Anthony Zinni to try to mediate an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire.
November 29	A PIJ militant blows himself up on a passenger bus in northern Israel, killing three Israelis and wounding six.
December 1	Back-to-back suicide bombings in west Jerusalem leave 10 dead and 170 injured.
December 2	A suicide bomber in Haifa kills 16 and wounds 40.
	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
December 10	President Bush becomes the first American president to host a reception celebratingChanukah in the White House residence.
	Muhammed Sidr, and Islamic Jihad leader, is wounded in a missile attack in Hebron.
December 12	Israeli cabinet declares Arafat “no longer relevant” after a series of horrific Palestinianterrorist attacks.
December 15	U.S. vetoes UN Security Council draft resolution that would have established an international monitoring force in Israel.
December 16	Again under pressure from the United States, Arafat issues a call for a cease-fire, but various Palestinian factions ignore him.
December 22	Israel confines Arafat to his Ramallah office until he arrests the killers of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

2002

	Hamas builds it's first Qassam rockets
January 3	Israel captures Karine-A, a ship laden with 50 tons of weapons from Iran bound for thePalestinian Authority.
January 7	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
January 15	Raed Mahmoud Karmi, a commander of Fatah Tanzim in Tulkarem, is killed.
January 24	A missile strike killes senior Hamas militant Adali Bakr Hamdam and two of his associates.
January 23	Hezbollah militants shell Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. There are no casualties.
January 25	A PIJ terrorist detonates a bomb filled with nails in a Tel Aviv mall, killing himself and injuring 24 shoppers.
January 27	A suicide bomber kills one man and injures more than 100 other people in Jerusalem in the latest of a series of terrorist incidents. This one is distinct because it is the first case of a female suicide bomber.
February 4	Five members of the DFLP are killed when their car explodes in the Gaza Strip.
	Hezbollah anti-aircraft weapons fire on Israeli warplanes conducting a surveillance mission over southern Lebanon. There are no casualties.
February 17	Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah calls for complete Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders in exchange for recognition.
February 18	Israel rejects Saudi peace plan.
March 5	Mohand Dirya (Abu Haliwa), a top Fatah Tanzim operations officer, and two members of Force 17 die in a missile strike on their car near Ramallah.
	A PIJ suicide bus bombing in Afula claims the lives of one Israeli and injures 11 others.
March 9	At Jerusalem's Cafe Moment, a suicide bombing kills 11 Israelis and injures around 54.
	Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Bridages activist Samer Awis is killed in a missile attack on his car near Ramallah.
March 12	Infiltration — In a shooting attack on the Shlomi-Metzuba route, six Israeli civilians are killed, among them IDF officer Lt. German Rojkov.
March 14	Zinni returns for a third attempt to achieve a cease-fire. This follows a decision bySharon to drop his demand for seven days of quiet before he will enter negotiations and a period of Israeli restraint in reaction to a number of terrorist attacks.
March 20	A PIJ suicide bombing near the town of Umm-al-Fahm claims the lives of seven Israelis and injures 29 others.
March 27	Twenty-eight people are killed and 134 injured when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a Passover seder in a Netanya hotel.
March 28 -April 17	“Operation Defensive Shield” is launched to halt terror attacks from the territories.
March 29	Sharon delcares Arafat an “enemy” of Israel and sends troops to root out the terror infrastructure in the Palestinian Authority. Israeli forces surround Arafat's office and keep him in “isolation.”
March 31	In Haifa a suicide bombing kills at least 15 and wounding over 35. Hamas and the PIJclaim responsibility.
April 2	Terrorists take over St. Mary's Church grounds in Bethlehem and hold the priest and a number of nuns there against their will. The terrorists used the Church as a firing position, from which they shot at IDF soldiers in the area. That same day, Palestinian gunmen entered the Church of the Nativity.
April 5	The military leader of Hamas in the West Bank, Kayes Adnan, is killed along with five other Hamas militants.
April 8	Hezbollah launches a rocket against an Israeli hilltop military position. There are no casualties.
April 10	Hamas bombs a bus near Haifa, killing eight people and injuring 22.
April 19	A PIJ suicide bombing at the Israeli checkpoint at Kisufim injures two soldiers.
April 22	Marwan Zalloum, a commander in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and his bodyguard are killed in Hebron when missiles strike their car.
May 2	The Quartet proposes holding another conference to seek an end to the violence
May 6	Palestinian officials say deal is reached to expel six to nine Palestinian terrorists holed up in the Church of the Nativity to Italy, and transfer more than 30 others to a Gazaprison guarded by American and British jailers.
May 7	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
	In Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, 16 Israelis are killed and more than 57 other injured in a suicide bombing of a crowded hall.
May 9	After another plan falls through, a breakthrough in the Bethlehem siege is announced when Italy and Spain agree to take some of the terrorists, while Austria, Greece, Luxembourg and Ireland taking the rest.
May 10	Palestinians leave the Church of the Nativity, bringing an end to the standoff.
May 14	Khalid Abu Khairan, a Palestinian General Intelligence agent, is shot and killed in the West Bank town of Haloul.
May 19	A suicide bomber dressed as an Israeli soldier blows himself up in a Netanyamarketplace, killing 3 people and wounding 59.
May 22	Mohammed Titi, chief of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and two other militants are killed while hiding in a cemetary in the West Bank.
June	“Operation Determined Path” is a new military operation to root out terrorists in the territories following three major terrorist attacks. Israel begins to erect security fence to prevent terrorist infiltration into Israel and major settlements.
June	Nefesh b'Nefesh, a new organization founded to encourage North American aliya (immigration to Israel), launches first chartered flight of 400 North Americans making aliya at one time - a first in Israel's history. Nefesh b'Nefesh flight is also first time in history that Israel's Interior Ministry (Misrad HaPanim) processes olim (immigrants) on the flight to Israel. In 2003, Nefesh b'Nefesh brings approximately 1,000 new immigrants to Israel from North America.
June 5	A PIJ terrorist drives an explosive-laden truck into an Israeli Egged commuter bus at the Megiddo Junction near Afula, killing himself and 17 Israelis.
June 10	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
June 17	President Bush chooses to exercise waiver to avoid moving the U.S. Embassy toJerusalem as called for in the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act. He argues that it would interfere with the president’s authority to formulate foreign policy.
	Walid Na'aman Aliu Sbeh, a senior member of the al-Aqsa Martyry's Bridages, is killed.
June 18	During rush hour, a suicide bomb on a Jerusalem bus kills 19 and injurs 74.
	Yusef Besharat, a member of Islamic Jihad who was accused of killing two European observers from an international force in Hebron, is killed.
June 24	President Bush calls on the Palestinians to elect new leaders, eradicate terrorism and create institutional reforms, with the vision of a Palestinian state by 2005. In the speech, Bush also calls for Israel to withdraw to its September 2000 borders and to end its settlement activity as progress is made toward security.
	Yasser Rizik, Rafah-area Hamas commander, and five other militants are killed when Israeli Apache helicopters destroy the two taxis they were riding in.
June 30	Mohamed Tahir, a senior Hamas leader, is killed in his house near Nablus.
July 4	Jehad al-A'marin, a top leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and another militant are killed in a car bomb.
July 17	Two PIJ suicide bombings in Tel Aviv leave at least three dead and 40 injured.
July 23	An Israeli warplane srops a one-ton bomb on the house of Salah Shehadeh, the head of Hamas' military wing and a close personal aide to the movement's spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, killing him.
July 30	A Hamas suicide bomber blows himself up at a falafel stand in Jerusalem and kills two Israelis.
August 6	Hussaan Hamdam, a leader in Hamas' military wing, is killed.
August 14	Hamas leader Nasr Jarrar is killed when rockets hit his house in the West Bank.
August 29	Fire at an IDF post in the Mt. Dov sector. IDF soldier Ofer Misali is killed, and two other soldiers are lightly wounded.
September 19	A suicide bombing on a Tel Aviv bus leaves five dead and at least 60 injured. Hamasand the PIJ both claim responsibility.
September 26	The bodyguard of Hamas operations chief and bombmaker Mohammed Dief is killed.
September 30	President Bush chooses to exercise waiver to avoid moving the U.S. Embassy toJerusalem as called for in the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act. He argues that it would interfere with the president’s authority to formulate foreign policy.
October	Drafts of the road map” for Israeli-Palestinian peace, crafted by the Quartet — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — are leaked to the media. The plan calls for a three-staged approach to peace, leading to an interim Palestinian state after elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the creation of a permanent state at the end of the road. Israelis argue that progress on the road map is based on a timeline, rather than measuring compliance with the plan.
October 13	Mohammed Shtewie Abayat, a member of the Fatah Tanzim militia, is killed when a public telephone explodes in his hands.
October 16	President Bush and Ariel Sharon meet in Washington. Sharon agrees to release $400 million in Palestinian tax revenue that had been frozen, and Bush gives Sharon a draft version of the road map. The two leaders also work to coordinate the right to retaliate if attacked by Iraq.
October 21	A PIJ suicide bomber crashes a jeep filled with up to 100 kilograms of explosives into a commuter bus at a bus stop east of Hadera in northern Israel, killing himself and 14 Israelis and wounding 47 others.
November 4	A PIJ militant blows himself up at a shopping mall in Kfar Saba, claiming two lives and wounding at least 30 shoppers.
	Hamad Sadder, a wanted Hamas militant, and one other man are killed in Nablus.
November 9	Iyad Sawalha, a leader of Islamic Jihad, is killed when he is shot dead in his house in Jenin.
November 21	A Hamas suicide bombing on a crowded Egged bus No. 20 driving through the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood of Jerusalem kills 11 and wounds 50.
December 4	Israeli helicopters fire several missiles at a room in the Palestinian Authority Preventive Security headquarters compound in Gaza City where Mustafa Sabah, a bombmaker responsible for destroying three Israeli battle tanks and killing seven soldiers, is employed as a guard. Sabah dies in the assault.

2003

January 5	Double suicide bombings at Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station claim the lives of 20 and leave 100 injured. Hamas and the PIJ claim responsibility.
January 21	Hezbollah fires an estimated 25 rockets and mortars at the Israeli outpost of Roueissat al-Alem in the Cheeba Farms region. There are no casualties.
January 28	Elections for the 16th Knesset.
February 16	A mysterious explosion kills six Hamas members in the Gaza Strip.
February 19	Tha'er Zakarneh, a leader in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Bridages, is killed and four others are wounded when a small bomb detonates within a car in Jenin.
March 8	Ibrahim Makadmed, co-founded of the political wing of Hamas, and three of his bodyguards are killed in a missle strike in Gaza City.
March 10	Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is appointed the new Palestinian prime minister.
March 19	U.S.-led war against Iraq commences.
March 25	Two Hamas militants are killed in Bethlehem.
March 30	A PIJ suicide bombing at a mall in Netanya injures between 30 and 50 people.
April 8	Vice President Cheney visits northern Israel and calls on Syria to restrain Hezbollah.
	Two Hamas leaders, Saad Arabid and Ashraf Halaby, are killed in Gaza City.
April 10	Islamic Jihad military leader Mahmoud Zatme is killed in Gaza City when Israeli missiles destroy his car.
April 14	Israeli emissaries submit 14 reservations to the proposed Roadmap.
April 29	A Hamas suicide bomber with a British passport blows himself up at Mike's Place, a waterfront restaurant in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis and injuring 46 others.
April 30	The road map is officially delivered to Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas.
May 1	Allied military operations in Iraq end.
May 7	Hezbollah attacks IDF positions in the Sheba farms with heavy rocket, mortar, and small arms fire. One Israeli soldier is killed and five others wounded in the attack.
May 8	Hamas militant Iyad al-Beik is killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in Gaza.
May 17	Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas hold first summit meeting.
May 18	A 19-year-old Hamas suicide bomber detonates his explosive-ladden bicycle near an Israeli army jeep in Gaza, killing himself and injuring three soldiers.
May 19	The first PIJ female suicide bomber blows herself up at a shopping mall in Afula, killing three people and injuring dozens of others.
May 23	After White House officials acknowledge Israel’s concerns about the road map in a statement, Ariel Sharon officially accepts it.
May 25	Israeli Cabinet approves road map.
June 3	President Bush meets with Arab leaders in Egypt. He says Israel “must deal with thesettlements” and make sure there is a contiguous Palestinian state. Arab leaders endorse the road map and agree to crack down on terrorism and its sources of funding.
June 4	President Bush meets in Aqaba, Jordan, with Ariel Sharon, Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah. Abbas calls for an end to the Palestinian “armed intifada” and Sharon says that he understands the Palestinians’ need for “territorial continuity” in theWest Bank. Bush names John Wolf as a new Middle East envoy, charged with monitoring implementation of the road map.
June 10	Chief Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi is wounded and his bodyguard is killed in an Israeli helicopter attack in Gaza City.
June 11	A member of Hamas disguised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew blows himself up on a bus in central Jerusalem, killing himself and 16 others, and injuring 70.
June 12	Yasser Taha, a Hamas militant, is killed in Gaza City.
June 13	Hamas militant Fuad Lidawi is killed in Gaza City,
June 19	The first Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference onanti-Semitism takes place in Vienna.
	A PIJ suicide bombing at a grocery store in Sdeh Trumot near the West Bank kills the bomber and the storeowner.
June 21	Abdullah Qawasmeh, a senior militant commander of Hamas, is killed near Hebron.
June 27	An Israeli soldier and four Palestinian militants are killed in an Israeli commando operation on the house of a Hamas bombmaker in Mughraqa and capture a cell that had launched rocket attacks from Gaza.
July 5	Hezbollah fires 26 anti-aircraft missiles into northern Israel, but there are no casualties.
July 20	Hezbollah snipers fire on an Israeli outpost near Shtula, killing two Israeli soldiers.
July 22	Hezbollah fires anti-aircraft shells as Israeli jets flying over southern Lebanon. Two Israelis in the nearby town of Shlomi are wounded.
July 29	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House. Hamas and PIJ suspend attacks against Israel for three months, while Fatah declares six month truce.
August 6	Israel releases 339 Palestinian prisoners.
August 8	Hezbollah militants fire rockets and mortars at three Israeli military positions in Cheeba Farms. Israeli retaliates with airstrikes against suspected Hezbollah positions in the disputed area and Lebanon.
August 10	Haviv Dadon, 16, of Shlomi, was struck in the chest and killed by shrapnel from an antiaircraft shell fired by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Four others are wounded. It is the first killing of an Israeli civilian since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon three years earlier.
August 12	Hamas suicide bomber blows himself up in Ariel in the West Bank, killing one person and wounding two.
August 19	Attack on Jerusalem bus kills 22 and injures at least 100.
September 6	Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) resigns as Palestinian prime minister.
September 7	Ahmed Qureia (Abu Alaa) is named Palestinian prime minister.
October 6	Staff Sgt. David Solomonov is killed when Hezbollah fired at an IDF force south of the Fatma Gate in the eastern sector. In addition, Hezbollah fired missiles and rockets at an IDF post in the Reches Ramim area.
October 15	Bomb explodes in Gaza killing three United States security guards.
November 7	Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Reform Movement's synagogue arm, renames itself the Union for Reform Judaism, after 130 years of being the UAHC.
December 1	Geneva Accords signed, outlining a draft of permanent status agreements.
December 17	President Bush signs the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act of 2003.
December 18	Sharon announces intent of unilateral disengagement.

2004

January 5	Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addresses the central committee of the Likud Party to affirm his “Disengagement Plan” for unilateral withdrawal, which he announced in December 2003 at the Herzliya Conference. Sharon informs the committee that, as Prime Minister of Israel, and head of the Likud party, he plans on going forth with his plan even if the Central Committee refuses to go along with him.
January 19	An antitank missile is fired at IDF D9 while neutralizing explosive charges near Zari't. An IDF soldier, Yan Rotzenski, is killed and another soldier is severely wounded.
January 30	Israel exchanges over 400 prisoners and the remains of close to 60 Lebanese with Hezbollah, for a captured soldier and the remains of 3 other soldiers.
February 13	The White House declares that unilateral diengagement from Gaza may help ease tensions between the two parties, but that a final settlement must be reached through negotiations.
March 18	King Abdullah of Jordan meets with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to discuss Israel's security fence and the pending disengagement from Gaza.
March 22	The IDF kills Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.
March 24	Abd al-Aziz Rantissi chosen as new leader of Hamas.
March 25	U.S. vetoes Security Council Resolution condemning Israel for killing Ahmad Yassin.
April 14	President Bush commends Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's withdrawal plan and recognizes that territorial modifactions will be made to include large settlement blocks.
April 17	Israeli security forces kill Abd al-Aziz Rantisi, the co-founder of Hamas and successor to Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.
April 18	Israeli Army Radio reports that following the assassination of Abdel Aziz Rantisi,Mahmoud Zahar becomes the leader of Hamas. Hamas did not publicly announce Rantisi's successor out of fear that Israel would target him.
April 19	Israel gives the U.S. written commitment to dismantle illegal settlements.
April 28-29	The second Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conferenceon anti-Semitism issues declaration to fight anti-Semitism.
April 30	U.S. Court rules John Demjanjuk was a Nazi guard.
May 7	Fire in the Mt. Dov sector. IDF soldier Dennis Leminov is killed, and two other soldiers are severely wounded. The IDF returns fire.
May 11	U.S. imposes sanctions on Syria.
May 19	Marwan Barghouti convicted of murder for his involvement in three terrorist attacks in Israel that killed five people. He was acquitted for 33 other murders due to a lack of evidence of his direct involvement in those crimes.
June 6	Israel's cabinet approves a compromise disengagement plan whereby Israel would evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza Strip and 4 settlements in the northern West Bank.
June 30	Israeli High Court upholds Israel's right to build security fence, but makes slight modifications on its route.
Summer	Windsurfer Gal Fridman wins Israel's first Olympic Gold Medal.
July 9	The International Court of Justice issues non-binding advisory opinion that Israel's security barrier violates international law..
July 20	Hezbollah sniper fires at an IDF post in the western sector of the Israeli-Lebanese border. Two IDF soldiers are killed.
September 2	Security Council declares support for a free and fair presidential election in Lebanonconducted without foreign interference and calls upon all remaining foreign (Syrian) forces to withdraw from Lebanon.
November 11	Yasser Arafat dies in Paris.

2005

January 9	Palestinian Authority election; Mahmoud Abbas chosen as President.
	An explosive device is detonated against an IDF patrol at Nahal Sion. One Israeli solider is killed, and a UN officer is killed.
January 30	Iraq holds first free election in a half century.
February 7	United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visits Israel and the PA.
February 8	Summit at Sharm e-Sheikh attended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubara, and Jordan'sKing Abdullah during which Sharon and Abbas declare an end to violence. Jordan proposes deploying Palestinian soldiers (Badr Bigade) to the northern part of the West Bank. Israel approves the offer, though the plan is never put into effect. Jordan also deploys ambassador to Israel.
February 16	Knesset approves the Disengagement Implementation Law to compensate Jews who will be evacuated as a result of the disengagement plan.
February 20	Israel's cabinet adopts a revised route for the security fence closer to the pre-1967 borders in some areas.
March 16	Israel transfers control of Jericho to the Palestinians.
March 17	Multiple Palestinian groups agree to informal truce until end of year.
March 20	It is reported that Israel's defense minister approved the building of 3,500 new housing units between the Ma'ale Adumim settlement and East Jerusalem, in the E-1 corridor.
March 21	Israel transfers control of Tulkarem to the PA.
April 2	Pope John Paul II dies.
April 7	Two Israeli Arabs from the village of Rajar on the Israel-Lebanon border are kidnapped by Hezbollah operatives and held in captivity for four days in an attempt to obtain information on Israel.
April 19	Joseph Alois Ratzinger elected Pope and becomes Benedict XVI.
May 26	In a meeting with Abbas, Bush declares that changes to the 1949 armistice line must be mutually agreed upon. Abbas claims that the PA is willing to work with Israel to help plan the diesngagement from Gaza.
June 29	More than 20 mortars are fired from across the border. Cpl. Uzi Peretz of the Golani Brigade is killed and four soldiers wounded, including the unit’s doctor. Fire was exchanged and helicopters and planes attacked five Hezbollah outposts in the Reches Ramim area.
July 12	A Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) suicide bombing kills 5 in Netanya. Israel responds by reentering Tulkarem and Hamas increases rocket attacks in the South.
August 15	Israeli soldiers begin to give notices to settlers in Gaza that they must evacuate their homes within 48 hours or they will be forcibly removed. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announces that Israel intends to hold onto the main settlement block in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
August 17	Forcible evacuation of Jews in Gaza begins.
August 22	Disengagement from the Gaza Strip completed.
August 23	Disengagement from four settlements in northern Samaria completed.
August 29	Sharon declares that there will be no more disengagements, that future territorial concessions will be handled in accordance with the Roadmap, and reiterated that the large settlement blocks would remain in Israel.
September 20	Last army units leave settlements of Ganim and Kadim in northern Samaria.
September 25	Hamas anounces intent to hault operations in Gaza.
September 27	Hamas kidnaps and kills a settler in the West Bank.
October 20	Bush urges Abbas to stand up to armed gangs and bring an end to violence.
October 26	PIJ suicide bomber kills 6 in Hadera. Israel responds by ruling out talks with PA until violence quels.
November 14	Secretary Rice visits Israel to urge Sharon not to interfere with Palestinian elections if Hamas runs for power.
November 15	Agreement on movement and access from the Gaza Strip to Israel reached.
November 21	Sharon asserts he is no longer willing to deal with Likud rebels, so he resigns from the party and creates a new centrist party, Kadima. Asks President Katzav to dissolve Parliament and schedule an early election.
	An attempt to kidnap an IDF soldier was foiled when paratroopers patrolling near Rajar village discerned a Hezbollah unit approaching. Private David Markovitz opened fire, killing all four. In a heavy attack of mortars and Katyusha rockets that ensued, nine soldiers and two civilians were injured.
November 25	Rafah border crossing reopened.
December 5	PIJ kills 5 in Netanya, Israel retalliates by barring Palestinians from entering Israel for a week.
December 27	A branch of a Palestinian organization connected to al-Qaeda fires six Katyushas, damaging a house in Kiryat Shmona and a house in Metulla. In reponse, the IAF attacks a training base of the Popular Front, south of Beirut.
December 28	Responding to rockets fired from Lebanon to northern Israel, Israeli jets attack a terrorist base south of Beirut.

2006

January 4	Prime Minister Sharon suffers severe stroke and falls into a coma. Ehud Olmertassumes role of Acting Prime Minister and acting Chairman of Kadima.
January 19	PIJ suicide bombing in Tel Aviv wounds 30.
January 25	Hamas wins majority in PA general elections. The US, Israel and several European countries cut off aid to the Palestinians as the Islamist movement rejects Israel's right to exist.
January 30	Quartet calls on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist, and accept all prior agreements.
February 21	Ismail Haniyah sworn in as Palestinian Prime Minister.
March 28	Kadima party wins Israeli elections and Ehud Olmert becomes Prime Minister. Voter turnout was the lowest ever (63.2%).
March 30	The Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in the West Bank killing four. Hamas reacts by applauding their efforts.
March 31	In an interview with the British press, Hamas head Ismail Haniyah calls for an end of requests to recognize Israel's right to exist.
April 9	Israeli security cabinet recommends severing ties with PA.
April 17	PIJ suicide bombing in Tel Aviv kills 11. Hamas applauds efforts while Fatah denounces it.
April 26	Abbas calls for an international peace conference.
May 4	New Israeli government takes office. Vows to strive to shape the permanent borders of the State of Israel as a democratic Jewish state with a Jewish majority.
May 10	Imprisoned Hamas, Fatah, and other officials draft a National Accord Document calling for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, a right of return of all refugees, and the release of all prisoners. Abbas accepts, Hamas rejects because of its implied recognition of Israel.
May 21	Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni meets Abbas at the World Economic Forum in Egypt. Abbas asserts that "permanent" arrangements are impossible without resolving the main issues of conflict - security, borders, Jerusalem, and refugees. Also claims Israeli unilateralism will increase violence and put an end to the two-state solution. Haniya says his government will maintain a cease fire for many years if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders.
May 23	Olmert meets President Bush at the White House. Bush and Olmert reiterate their commitment to a two state solution.
May 27	An IDF soldier is wounded when Katyushas were fired at an army base at Mt. Meron in the upper Galilee.
May 28	Palestinian rockets hit deep into northern Israel. Israel responds by striking terrorist bases in Lebanon.
June 10	Hamas ends 16 month long truce as crossborder violence escalates near Gaza.
June 25	Hamas, Popular Resistance Committees, and Army of Islam militants attacked Israeli forces in Israel, killing two Israeli sodiers, wounding four and kidnapping Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The terrorists had reached Israel through a tunnel from Gaza and demanded the release of an estimated 400 prisoners, mostly women and minors.
June 27	After diplomatic efforts to secure the release of kidnapped soldier are unsuccessful, IDFbegins major operation in Gaza to rescue Shalit, deter future Hamas attacks, and weaken the Hamas government.
June 28	Palestinian factions agree on a revised National Accord Document (Prisoner's Document), which states that the PLO and the President of the PA will be responsible for negotiations with Israel to create a state on territories occupied by Israel in 1967. The Popular Resistance Committees announce they had kidnapped a young West Banksettler and would kill him if Israel did not stop the Gaza Operation. (Three alleged perpetrators of this attack were arrested on July 4 in Ramallah) Israeli jets fly over Syrian President Bashar Assad's summer residence in Latakia as a warning to stop supporting terrorism.
June 29	Kidnapped West Bank settler's body found. Israeli forces arrest 64 Hamas cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, and other officials in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
July 2	A Hamas rocket hits Israeli port city of Ashkelon, hitting near a vacant school. This is the farthest north a Palestinian rocket has ever struck. The Israeli government approved prolonged activities against Hamas, institutions and infrastructures used by terrorist organizations, and rocket launching squads in Gaza. Israeli operations in Gaza were expanded.
July 12	Hezbollah kidnaps two Israeli soldiers (Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev) and kills three Israeli soldiers in Israeli territory, sparking the Second Lebanon War. Hezbollahdemands the release of three Lebanese and other Arab prisoners in exchange for the return of Goldwasser, Regev, and Shalit. Prime Minister Olmert declares Hezbollah's attack an act of war.
July 16	The G-8 blames Hezbollah and Hamas for the destabilization of the region and calls upon them to halt their attacks. G-8 also calls upon Israel to “be mindful of the strategic and humanitarian consequences of its actions.” Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and several Gulf States blame Hezbollah for the war.
July 17	Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issues calls on Hezbollah to return the kidnapped soldiers, cease terrorist attacks, and allow Lebanese troops to mdeploy along the border.
August 7	London's New West End Synagogue dedicated as a national landmark.
August 8	The Lebanese Government offers to deploy 15,000 troops to the Israel-Lebanon border in exchange for complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
August 11	The United Nations Security Council passes Resolution 1701 calling for an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
August 14	Israel and Hezbollah agree to United Nations ceasefire. The Lebanese Defense Minister declares that Lebanon has no intention of disarming Hezbollah (as required by UNSC Resolution 1701).
August 15	Syrian President Bashar Assad declares that the peace process has failed.
August 19	Israeli forces raid Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon.
September 21	Abbas informs the United Nations General Assembly that all future Palestinian governments will comply with previously signed agreements.
September 30	Last Israeli soldier withdraws from Lebanon
October 31-November 8	Israeli forces enter the northern Gaza town of Beit Chanun in an effort to prevent rocket fire to Israel.
November	The government appoints a commission of inquiry, chaired by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, to investigate and draw lessons from the war in Lebanon.
November 13	Prime Minister Olmert meets with President Bush.
November 16	Milton Friedman, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, passes away.
	Following talks between Hamas and Fatah, both sides agree to form a unity government.
November 25	Palestinians and Israelis agree to ceasefire in Gaza.
November 27	Olmert expresses willingness to implement Roadmap and urges Palestinians to uphold the principles outlined by the Quartet.
November 28	United States National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley reiterates Olmert's point that an agreement between Israel and Syria cannot be reached until Syria stops supporting terrorism.
December 6	Iraq Study Group’s Report is released, making the recommendation that Israel transfer the entire Golan Heights to Syria to help stabilize the region.
December 8	Hamas head Ismail Haniyah travels to Iran and publically declares that Hamas will never recognize Israel's right to exist.
December 16	Abbas calls for new elections as a solution to the ongoing crisis.
December 23	Olmert promises to give PA $100 million in tax revenue for humanitarian purposes.

2007

January 14	Abbas rejects Olmert's offer at establishing preliminary borders for a future Palestinian state out of fear that such borders would become permanent.
January 17	Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Defense Minister Amir Peretz resign following criticism of their role in the Lebanon War. Olmert holds on to his office.
January 29	PIJ claims reponsibility for suicide bombing in Eilat which killed three Israeli's.
January 30	Fatah and Hamas reach a ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt after a series of clashes that led to the death of 32 Palestinians. Both sides welcome a Saudi initiative to meet in Mecca.
February 2	Quartet calls on PA unity government to revert to its commitments as outlined in the Roadmap.
February 8	Palestinian Unity Agreement in Mecca. Hamas and Fatah agree to share power, based on vaguely worded agreement. Hamas officials reiterate that they will never recognize Israel. US and Israel insist that the new government must recognize right of Israel to exist, disarm terrorist groups and agree to end violence.
February 9	The Quartet welcomes the role of Saudi Arabia in reaching the agreement to form a Palestinian National Unity government but later reaffirms that it must obey international demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous peace agreements.
February 15	Ismail Haniyah and his cabinet resign. Haniyah is re-appointed by Abbas and begins the process of forming a new Palestinian unity government.
February 19	Secretary Rice meets with Olmert and Abbas in Jerusalem to discuss the Mecca Accord.
March 15	Palestinian unity government formed.
March 28-29	Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia. Reiterates adherence, without changes, to the Arab Peace Initiative and direct negotiations on all tracks.
April 30	The Inquiry Commission into the military campaign held in Lebanon in summer 2006, headed by former Justice Dr. Eliyahu Winograd, submitted to the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense an interim report relating to the time from the IDF's exit from Lebanon to the soldiers' abduction on July 12, 2006 and to the time between July 12 and July 17, when the decision to move into war was taken.
June 13	The Knesset elected Shimon Peres to serve as the Ninth President of Israel, after Moshe Katsaz resigned amid impending charges of sexual harassment of female subordinates.
June 15	Hamas forces attack Fatah in Gaza and drive them out of the Gaza strip in brutal attacks. President Mahmoud Abbas dissolves the unity government, but Prime MinisterHaniyeh insists that the government is still in power. A summit in Sharm El Sheikh attended by Egypt, Jordan and Palestinians pledges support to the Abbas government, but Egypt calls for reunification with Hamas.
June 17	President Abbas forms a new Palestinian emergency cabinet to replace the unity government which he dissolved after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. Abbas selected Salam Fayyad as the new Palestinian prime minister.
June 18	Former prime minister Ehud Barak was sworn in as Israel's defense minister. Barak received a vote of approval from parliament to replace Amir Peretz, who lost to Barak in last week's Labour Party leadership election.
June 18	The U.S. lifts its embargo on the Palestinian government in an effort to boost the strength of President Abbas and his Fatah party's struggle against Hamas.
June 19	Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush meet in Washington to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
June 24	Israel transfers hundreds of millions of dollars to Abbas' emergency government in theWest Bank.
June 25	Olmert, Abbas, Egyptian President Mubarak, and Jordanian King Abdullah II meet in at Sharm al-Shayk, Egypt.
June 25	Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem calls on Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was kidnpapped one year ago today.
June 26	Olmert, Abbas, and special envoys from the European Union, Russia, the United Nations, and the United States meet today in Jerusalem at the U.S. Consulate.
June 27	The Quartet ( Russia, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations) names Tony Blair as its new Middle East envoy.
July 1	Olmert transfers $118 million to the PA.
July 16	President Bush calls for a Middle East peace conference in the fall to be led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and to include Palestinians, Israelis and regional neighbors who support creation of a Palestinian state, as well as new aid measures to support the West Bank-based government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
July 20	Israel releases 256 prisoners, grants clemency to 178 members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, and scales back its troop operations aimed at other militants in the West Bank.
July 25	The Arab League sends is first formal delegation to Israel to officially present the Arab League peace offer that would see full recognition of Israel in exchange for withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the creation of a Palestininian state. The deal was first offered in 2002.
July 27	Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad presents his government's program. It seeks to establish a Palestinian state on all lands occupied by Israel in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution for Palestinian refugees.
August 6	Olmert and Abbas meet in pre-conference discussions.
October 9	Syria refuses to attend after Israel declines to put issue of Golan Heights as topic of discussion at the upcoming conference.
November 6	Conference set for last week of November. Expected to produce a joint declaration to pave the way for negotiations on core issues, including Jerusalem and the refugees.
November 12	The United States promises Syria that the issue of the Golan Heights will be brought to the agenda of the upcoming regional peace conference.
November 21	Announcement of Annapolis Conference, to be held at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
November 27	Annapolis Conference is held at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
December 12	Israeli and Palestinian negotiators begin formal talks to launch the U.S.-brokered peace process initiated at the Annapolis Conference.

2008

	Iran continues to threaten the annihilation of Israel as efforts to stop it trying to make nuclear weapons fail.
	Israeli schools are closed for a recond 65 days due to a teachers' strike.
	Rubashkin kosher meat company faces allegations of worker abuse, inhumane practices, and hiring illegals at its slaughterhouse and meat packing facility in Postville, Iowa, forcing the plant to close.
	A haredi rabbinic court in Israel calls into question the legitimacy of thousands of conversions by a prominent Israeli Orthodox halachic authority.
January - present	Qassam rockets from Gaza rain down on the surrounding Israeli communities.
January 3	Palestinian militants fire a Katyusha rocket with longer range than usual from Gaza into northern Ashkelon.
January 17	In an effort to pressure Hamas to stop rocket fire at Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak orders the closing of border crossings from Israel into Gaza.
January 23	Tens of thousands of Palestinians pour into Egypt from Gaza after Hamas militants blow holes into a border wall.
January 24	Approximately 700 Palestinian security forces go to Jordan to begin U.S. training for a new gendarmerie that is projected to eventually be 50,000 strong.
February 3	Egypt refuses to cede control of border to Hamas and reseals the damaged border crossing.
February 4	Hamas military wing carries out a suicide bombing in the Israeli town Dimona, killing one and injuring 23.
February 12	Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mugniyeh is assassinated in Damascus.
March 6	Eight yeshiva students are shot dead by an Arab resident of East Jerusalem in a terror attack at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva.
April	An Israeli air strike on a Syrian target in September 2007 is reported to be a nuclear facility.
April 9	Palestinian gunmen kill two Israeli civilian employees at the Nahal Oz fuel depot which pumps fuel into Gaza.
April 16	Hamas ambushes and kills three Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip and fires more than 20 rockets into Southern Israel.
April 19	A suicide car bombing and mortar ambush carried out by Hamas' military wing at Kerem Shalom crossing injures 13 Israeli soldiers. Israel retaliates with three airstrikes, killing seven Hamas militants.
April 25	Five Palestinian groups claim responsibility for killing two Israeli security guards in Tulkarem in the West Bank.
May 14	As President Bush arrives in Israel to celebrate it's 60th anniversary, a rocket landed on a shopping mall in Ashkelon, wounding 30. PIJ and Popular Resistance Committeesboth claimed responsibility.
May 31	Hezbollah returned the remains of five Israeli soldiers killed in the summer war of 2006. Israel released an Israeli of Lebanese descent who had been convicted of spying for Hezbollah.
June 4	President Mahmoud Abbas calls on Hamas to join a "national and comprehensive dialogue" and offered early presidential and parliamentary elections if the talks succeeded.
June 19	Egypt-brokered temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas goes into effect.
June 24	PIJ breaks temporary truce and fires three rockets into Israel after Israeli troops killed a PIJ leader in Nablus.
August 25	Israel releases 199 Palestinian security prisoners in a gesture of goodwill to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
September 23	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at the UN.
October 22	Israel and the PA reach an agreement to deloy about 550 U.S.-trained Palestinian police to Hebron.
October 26	Foreign Minister, and Olmert's replacement as leader of the Kadima party, Tzipi Livniannounces that she was unable to form a new coalition government, thereby triggering early elections in Israel on February 10, 2009.
November 4	Democrat Barack Obama decisively wins the United States Presidential election with 78% of the Jewish vote.
November 26	Muslim terrorists attack a Chabad House in Mumbai, India in a series of coordinated attacks on India's largest city and financial capital, killing at least 173 people and injuring over 300.
December 18	Egypt-brokered "State of Calm" agreement between Israel and Hamas officially ends.
December 27, 2008- January 16, 2009	Israeli Defense Forces launch Operation Cast Lead to halt Hamas rocket fire on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

2009

January 17	Israel declares ceasefire to end Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Hamas rejects Israel's call for a ceasefire, but its leadership announces their own ceasefire 12 hours later.
January 18	Israeli government opens an emergency clinic at the Erez Crossing in an effort to provide humanitarian assistance and medical care to the Palestinian civilian population of Gaza.
January 22	George Mitchell is named special envoy to the Middle East by President Obama.
January 27	Palestinian Arab militants detonate a bomb at the Kissufim crossing, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding three.
February 10	Elections for the 18th Knesset are held.
March 5	A Palestinian Arab resident of east Jerusalem attacks an Israeli police car and a bus on the Menachem Begin Expressway in Jerusalem using a bulldozer, injuring two police officers before being shot to death.
March 15	Two Israeli police officers are killed in a shooting attack near Massua in the northern Jordan Valley.
March 31	Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as Israeli prime minister and head of new coalition government.
April 2	A 13 year old Israeli is killed by a local Palestinian Arab in the Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin. A 7 year old Israeli is also injured and treated for serious wounds. Islamic Jihad and Imad Mughniyeh claim responsibility for the attack.
April 3	United Nations establishes a fact-finding mission on the Gaza war, headed by Richard Goldstone, an international jurist from South Africa.
May 9	An Israeli resident of Ashdod is kidnapped and killed by three West Bank Palestinians near Gan Yavne.
May 18	PM Netanyahu and President Obama meet at the White House.
June 4	President Obama calls for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims" in a historic speech in Cairo.
June 14	PM Netanyahu's speech at the Begin-Sadat Center. For the first time, Netanyahu endorses the principle of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
June 16	10 Palestinian Arab gunmen belonging to an al-Qaida-cell launch an attack at the Karni crossing using horses strapped with explosives. Four terrorists and the horses are killed in the ensuing firefight with the IDF. No IDF soldiers were wounded.
August 1	Two are killed and at least 15 are wounded at a shooting at Bar-Noar, the Tel Aviv branch of the Israeli GLBT Association. Police rule out the possibility that shooting was a terror attack.
September 15	Goldstone releases his report, accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.
September 22	White House hosts a trilateral meeting with PM Netanyahu and PA President Abbas.
September 30	Israel announces it will release twenty female Palestinian detainees and prisoners in exchange for a video proving Gilad Shalit was still alive.
November 3	The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passes a resolution denouncing the Goldstone report as "irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy."
November 25	PM Netanyahu announces Israel will impose a 10-month freeze on construction in West Bank settlements in a bid to restart stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
December 24	Rabbi Meir Avshalom of Shavei Shomron is killed in a drive-by shooting near his home.

Timeline of Jewish History:
Modern Israel & the Diaspora

(2010 - Present)

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Click on a Year: 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015
Other Periods: 1940's | 1950's | 1960's | 1970's | 1980's | 1990's | 2000's

2010

January 11	IAF airstrike killed four Islamic Jihad operatives, including Awad Abu Nasir, one of the terror organization's senior field commanders known to be behind dozens of IED and gunfire attacks.
February 1	The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip with close ties to Hamas, tries to carry out an attack on Israel by placing bombs in barrels and sending them into the Mediterranean Sea from the Gaza coast.
February 10	NCO Sgt 1st Class Ihab Khatib, 28, of the Arab-Druze village of Kfar Maghar, is knifed to death at the Tapuach junction in the West Bank by a senior Palestinian police officer.
March 18	A Thai greenhouse worker is killed when a Kassam rocket fired by Gaza terrorists explodes in the Netiv Ha’asara area. Ansar al-Sunna and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade both claim responsibility for the attack.
March 26	A team of IDF soldiers from the Golani Brigade is ambushed and attacked with mortar shells and gunfire after crossing the border into the Gaza Strip when several people are seen placing explosive devices near the Israeli security fence. Two soldiers are killed and three are injured. Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for the attack.
May 27	Israel joins the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
May 31	Israeli naval forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the naval blockade of theGaza Strip. During the boarding of the Mavi Marmara, the demonstrators onboard attacked the IDF naval personnel. As a result of the violence, seven soldiers were wounded and there were nine activist casualties.
June 11	A Palestinian militant attempts to run over two Israeli border policemen in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz. Other members of the border police force at the scene shoot and critically injure the driver as he tries to escape. The two policemen are lightly injured and receive medical treatment on the spot
June 14	One Israeli policeman is killed and three policemen are injured when Palestinian militants open fire on a their vehicle on Highway 60, south of Hebron.
June 20	The Israeli Security Cabinet votes to further ease the land blockade on the Gaza Strip to allow in all food items and additional humanitarian aid.
July 7	The IDF releases images of declassified intelligence maps that show how Hizballah, in the four years following the Second Lebanon War, has turned over 100 villages in South Lebanon into military bases.
July 26	Six Israeli soldiers and one Romanian soldier die in an Israel Air Force helicopter crash, during a joint Israeli-Romanian aviation exercise in northern Romania.
July 30	A series of Israeli airstrikes killed a senior commander of the Hamas military wing, Issa Batran.
August 5	Elena Kagan is sworn as a Supreme Court Justice.
September 1	Direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, hosted by the U.S., resume.
November 4	The Shin Bet and the Israeli Air Force successfully carried out an operation to kill Mohammed Namnam, a senior al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist, by a car bomb in Gaza City. Namnam was a top operative with the Army of Islam, a radical Palestinian terror group affiliated with al-Qaida and involved in the 2006 abduction of Gilad Shalit.

2011

January	Meir Dagan replaced by Tamir Pardo as Director of the Mossad.
January 11	Islamic Jihad operative Mohammed Najar, who was involved in the planning of a terror attack in Israel, was killed in an IAF targeted airstrike while riding a motorcycle in theGaza Strip.
January 17	Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announces he will leave the Labor Party to establish a new faction with other legislators called Atzmaut (Independence).
January 23	Al Jazeera releases The Palestine Papers, revealing a trove of documents, e-mails and minutes of meetings, shedding light on 10 years of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
March 11	Udi Fogel, 36, and Ruth Fogel, 35, along with three of their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and 3-month-old Hadas were stabbed to death by terrorists in their home in Itamar, in northern Samaria, on Friday night.
March 15	IDF Navy fighters intercepted the cargo vessel "Victoria" loaded with various weaponry. The vessel, flying under a Liberian flag, was intercepted some 200 miles west of Israel's coast. The Victoria carried as much as 50 tons of weapons along with a large amount of 60 and 120 mm mortar shells.
March 23	One woman, identified by the police as a 56-year-old British tourist, was killed and about 50 wounded when a bomb exploded across from the Jerusalem Convention Center, near the Central Bus Station. The bomb had been placed near a telephone booth at a crowded bus stop next to Egged city bus #74.
March 27	Israel and Russia signed a framework agreement for cooperation between the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Israel space agency. The agreement, which was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, enhances cooperation between the Israeli and Russian space agencies in the fields of space research, observation, navigation, medicine and biology in space, research in advanced materials and launchings.
March 28	IDF Home Front Command and Medical Corps aid delegation to Japan arrived at Minami Sanriku in the Miyagi prefecture, a city handling many displaced persons. The following day, they opened an advanced medical clinic featuring pediatrics, surgical, maternity and gynecological, and otolaryngology wards, an optometry department, a laboratory, a pharmacy and an intensive care unit.
March 30	IAF aircraft struck a terrorist cell in the southern Gaza Strip, killing member of Islamic Jihad. According to the IDF the cell was responsible for firing rockets into Israel.
April 1	Justice Richard Goldstone published an article in the Washington Post refuting his "Goldstone Report" issued in the aftemath of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gazaduring the winter of 2008-9. The report had originally claimed that Israel intentionally attacked civilian targets among other war crimes; Justice Goldstone said that after more evidence came to light he now understands that Israel did not knowingly attack Palestinian civilians.
April 2	IAF aircraft killed three Palestinian terrorists and critically wounded one in the southern Gaza Strip in a strike aimed at the terrorist squad planning to kidnap Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula and Israel during the upcoming Passover holiday.
April 7	Daniel Viflic, 16, of Bet Shemesh, died (April 17) of mortal wounds suffered when an anti-tank missile was fired at a school bus in the Negev near Kibbutz Sa'ad just moments after it had dropped off the rest of the school children.
April 8	The Israeli developed Iron Dome anti-missile system successfully shoots down its first two rockets fired by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. The rockets, aimed towards Israeli communities in the south, were immediately destroyed on impact by Iron Dome missiles which were released mere seconds after the initial launches. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the incident a first in military history.
April 24	Ben-Yosef Livnat, 24, of Jerusalem was killed by a Palestinian policeman at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
April 27	Fatah, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, rulers of the Gaza Strip, signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo to reform a unity government that had been split since the two parties violently broke awat from the government in 2007.
April 29	Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh urged the PLO Friday to rescind its recognition of Israel in response to the Jewish state's objection to the Palestinian unity agreement. Haniyeh said that there was no justification for recognizing the ‘Israeli entity’ in wake of Israel's objection to Palestinian rights and unity.
May 12	John Demjanjuk was found guilty of being an accessory to the murders of tens of thousands of Jews while he served as Nazi guard at Sobibor death camp in Poland during World War II. The German court charged Demjanjuk for his involvement in 27,900 murders and sentenced the 91-year-old to five years in prison.
May 24	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in front of a joint session of the U.S. Congress to outline his desires for peace in the region and his calls to the Palestinian Authority to sit down for negotiations without preconditions. He also called on PA President Abbas to recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. Netanyahu received a very warm welcome and the congressmen gave standing ovations throughout the speech.
June 3	For the fourth time during his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama delayed for six months the moving of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the capital,Jerusalem. Ever since 1995, when the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act was passed by Congress ordering the transfer of the U.S. embassy, every president has routinely delayed the move.
June 23	The IDF welcomed its ever female major general, as Orna Barbivai was promoted as commander of the Manpower Directorate. Her rank is the IDF’s second-highest, directly reporting to Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, IDF chief of staff. Barbivai has served in the IDF for 30 years, devoting her entire army career to the directorate.
July 19	Israeli naval forces intercepted the vessel Al-Karama which had attempted to break Israel's blockade and reach the Hamas-controlled territory of the Gaza Strip. Unlike the flotilla that attempted the same provocation in the summer of 2010, the passengers on the vessel did not attack IDF forces who boarded the ship and, without incident, they were transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod for medical examinations and to be sent home. There were no humanitarian supplies on the boat.
August 6	Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians marched in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, among other places throughout the country, to demand government assistance in lowering the cost of living and to help subsidize housing. The cost to own or rent homes in these major cities has skyrocketed over the past few years to a level far above that seen almost anywhere in the world, including the United States, Germany and France. The demonstrations, led mainly by students and young professionals, were started days earlier when protesters began living in tents along major roadways to show their discontent with the policies of the government
August 18	Eight Israelis were killed and more than forty (40) wounded in coordinated terrorist attacks against multiple civilian and military targets on desert Highway 12, just north of the coastal city of Eilat. Terrorists killed six civilians after firing automatic weapons at a passenger bus headed from Be'er Sheva to Eilat and after attacking an empty bus with suicide bombs. One IDF soldier was killed when his jeep struck an IED on the same highway as his unit was responding to the attacks. The eighth victim, a veteran member of the Israeli police special SWAT unit, was killed during intense fighting with the retreating terrorists. Hamas terrorists in Gaza launched mortar rounds and shot Qassam rockets towards Israel immediately after the terrorist attacks and continued firing rockets into the next day. At least two rockets were intercepted and destroyed by an Iron Dome battery stationed outside the Gaza Strip.
August 29	Eight people were wounded in south Tel Aviv when a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Nablus rammed a stolen car into a group of policemen and teenagers outside a popular night club and then proceeded to stab people before being apprehended. Tel Aviv District Police Commander Aharon Eksol said the attack was "definitely an act of terror".
September 23	Asher Palmer, 25, and his year old son Yonatan, of Kiryat Arba in the West Bank were killed when their car crashed on Route 60 near Hebron after being struck by stones thrown by Palestinians from a nearby village. Though the Israeli security services orignally said it was a routine car accident, they later changed the story when they concluded they were indeed killed in a terrorist attack.
September 23	Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the opening plenary of the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly directly following a plea fromPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the United Nations to recognize the State of Palestine. Netanyahu pledges that he will continue to work towards peace and two-state solution with the Palestinians but that unilateral actions such as Abbas' request from the UN are only detrimental to the peace process.
October 11	Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announces that the Israeli Cabinet and Hamas haveagreed in signing to a deal that will secure the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for the freeing of more than 1,000 Palestinians prisoners in Israeli jails.
October 18	In the early afternoon hours, IDF Sergeant First-Class Gilad Shalit crosses the border into Israel and is officially free from his captivity of more than five years in the Gaza Strip. Simultaneously, Israel permits the release of 477 Palestinian prisoners in the first stage of an exchange that will eventually see 1,027 prisoners freed. The majority of those freed today are exiled out of the area, around 150 are sent to the Gaza Strip and less than 100 back to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
October 29	Moshe Ami, a 56 year old resident of Ashkelon, dies from shrapnel wounds incurred after his car was struck by a GRAD rocket launched by terrorists in the Gaza Strip. He is survived by his mother Zvia and sister Zehava, four children, Nira, Shlomi, Rachel and Yossi, and five grandchildren.

2012

May 8	Israeli Prime Minister, and head of the Likud party,Benjamin Netanyahu forms a coalition government with Shaul Mofaz, head of Kadima opposition party.  With 94 Knesset members supporting the merger, the coalition becomes Israel's largest sinec 1984.
May 8	Jewish American author Maurice Sendak, most famous for his book Where the Wild Things Are, dies at the age of 83.
May 22	Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli named Maxim Magazine's "Most Beautiful Woman on Earth" for 2012.
May 23	A 2,700-year-old clay shard with an ancient Hebrew inscription mentioning the city ofBethlehem was found in an archaeological dig in Jerusalem, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The shard, measuring less than one inch across, was found by crews sifting through debris removed from the excavation site known as the City of David, just outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.  Head archaeologist Eli Shukron said the inscriptions on the shard are significant because they are the first archaeological evidence that Bethlehem existed as a city during the period generally referred to by biblical archaeologists as the First Temple era.
May 30	Israeli chess Grandmaster Boris Gelfand places second in 2012 Chess World Championsip after falling short in the rapid playoff rounds.
June 1	IDF Staff Sergeant Netanal Moshiashvili, a 20 year old resident of Ashkelon who served as a paramedic in the Golani Infantry Brigade, was killed in an exchanged of gunfire between IDF soldiers and Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip.  During the fight, the attacking terrorist, from the Hamas organization, was killed.

2013

February 1	Ed Koch dies at age 88.The former army sergeant, lawyer, political commentator, and congressmen served as mayor of New York City from 1978 until 1979.  He was the first New York mayor to win both the Republican and Democratic tickets.
February 27	Jack Lew, 57, is confirmed as the 76th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
February 28	Yitiyish Aynaw, 22, becomes the first black and first Ethiopian-Israeli Miss Israel. She was invited to attend Shimon Peres gala as a guest of President Obama.
February 28	Dr. Alasdair Conn, Chief of Emergency Services at Massachusetts General Hospital, says in a report that it was Israeli expertise and techniques that helped set up triage in the hours after the bombings at the Boston marathon finish line.
June 28	Andrew Driscoll Pochter, a 21-year old student at Kenyon College, from Chevy Chase, Maryland was fatally stabbed in Alexandria, Egypt during clashes between the Muslim Brotherhood and ant-President Morsi protestors.
July 28	Ester Levanon resigns as CEO of the Tel Aviv stock exchange. She was the first woman appointed to the position..
October 28	Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Shas party founder and spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef dies at age 93.
November 6	Former Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman is acquitted of fraud.
December 4	Israeli actress Gal Gadot is announced as Wonder Woman in Warner Brother’s “Batman vs. Superman” starring Ben Affleck. The film is set to be released summer 2016.
December 10	The Knesset passes the “Law to Advance Competition and Limit Monopolization” in response to anti-trust fervor among Israelis.

2014

January 7	Elan Carr, district attorney prosecutor in Los Angeles, announces his candidacy for Congress in California's 33rd district.
January 30	Henry Waxman, Congressman from California's 33rd district, announces he will not seek reelection to a twenty-first term in 2014.
March 2	Between 300,000 and 500,000 people gather in Jerusalem to protest proposed legislation requiring orthodox Yeshiva students to serve in the IDF for the first time since 1977. Adjunct protests were held around the world, including 50,000 protestors in New York City on March 9.
June 10	Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor loses Republican primary election in the seventh district.  Cantor announced his resignation as House Majority leader, effective July 31. He is the only currently-serving Jewish Republican member of Congress.
June 12	Three Israeli teenagers (Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, Eyal Yifrah) are kidnapped from Gush Etzion, later to be found dead.
July 28	In response to a surge in rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, the IDF announces Operation Protective Edge to eliminate rocket fire from Gaza.
August 5	After 50 days, the IDF announces the end of the ground offensive portion of Operation Protective Edge.
December 2	Netanyahu fires Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid after disagreements over new settlements and a controversial Israeli Jewish nationalism bill.
December 8	The Knesset voted to disolve itself following problems within Netanyahu's cabinet.  Netanyahu called for new elections, which will be held on March 17 2015.

2015

January	Israel sends a relief team to provide aid and assistance to the Philipino victims of Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby), which devastated the islands during December 2014.
January	The IDF launched 14 new programs during 2014.
January	The Fouad Debbas photo collection is added to the Jewish Virtual Library.
January	The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and and Canadian Department of Trade, Foreign Affairs, and Development, sign a Memorandum of Understanding.
January 28	The oldest human remains ever found outside of Africa are unearthed in the Cave of Manot in Northern Israel.
January 31	The OPCW announces that the destruction of the first of Syria's chemical weapons facilities has been completed.
February	Israel is ranked fourth in the world on Bloomberg Business' Global Innovation Index.
February	Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon made the first official visit of an Israeli Defense Minister to India.
March	Ben-Gurion University and the University of Arizona sign a collaborative research agreement.
March	Israel suspends plans to construct approximately 1,000 settlements in Har Homa.
March 18	Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party are victorious during the election, winning 30 seats in the Knesset.
April 20	The British Royal Society and the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities sign a major joint research agreement.
April 20	The organization Women of the Wall read a full-sized torah at the Western Wall for the first time ever. Women are not allowed to pray with Torahs at the Wall, and Orthodox men attacked the women.
April 30	Director Steve Tisch (Forest Gump, The Equalizer), an alumnus of Tel Aviv University, donated $10 million to the university's film program.
April-May	The IDF sent relief and assistance to Nepal, after the country was rocked by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake. Magen David Adom participated in the efforts.
May	Israel sent an observer representative to the UN month-long nuclear non-proliferation conference for the first time in 20 years.
May 14	The Knesset approves Netanyahu's cabinet list.
July	Israel provides Jordan with a fleet of Cobra helicopters to improve border security.
August 5	An ancient Mikveh, or ritual bathhouse, was uncovered while constructing a pre-school in Jerusalem.
August 17	100 year anniversary of the lynching of Leo Frank.
August	The Eye From Zion organization travelled to Kyrgyzstan and performed restorative optical procedures on 90 individuals.
September 9	Zambia opens their embassy in Israel.
September 9	The Israeli embassy in Egypt opens for the first time in four years, following closure due to instability during the Arab Spring.

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