Israel State Archives, Six-Day War Files, 1967CIE+
The Israel State Archives’ “The Six Day War Files” includes Cabinet and Security Cabinet meeting transcripts that were classified for 50 years.
San Remo Conference Agreement, 1920: Borders Set for Postwar Middle Eastern MandatesCIE+
The post-WWI San Remo Conference allocates former Ottoman territories to Britain and France and recognizes Jewish self-determination in Palestine by adopting the language of the Balfour Declaration, decisions the League of Nations confirms two years later.
Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916CIE+
Britain and France secretly divide the Arab provinces of the reeling Ottoman Empire to meet their own geopolitical interests. They offer no concern for the political aspirations of indigenous populations.
1914-1915 Hussein-McMahon CorrespondenceCIE+
The Sharif of Mecca and Sir Henry McMahon, a British official in Cairo speaking for the Foreign Office, exchange letters about the current war effort against the Turks and the future political status of specific Arab lands in the Ottoman Empire. McMahon says, as he repeats in 1937, that the area of Palestine is excluded from any area to be provided to an Arab leader after World War I. The British instead allow the area of Palestine to develop as a “national home for the Jewish people.”
Israel Expands Second Lebanon WarCIE+
August 9, 2006 Israel’s Security Cabinet approves an expansion of the military offensive in southern Lebanon nearly a month after the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War. Also known as the Israel-Hezbollah War, the conflict…
Second Lebanon War BeginsCIE+
July 12, 2006 The Second Lebanon War begins when Hezbollah launches Katyusha rockets and mortars at Israeli border towns and Israel Defense Forces positions, a diversion for a raid across the border to ambush an…
106 Lebanese Civilians Killed at Qana
April 18, 1996 Israeli artillery fire strikes a U.N. compound where at least 800 Lebanese civilians are sheltering in the village of Qana in southern Lebanon. At least 13 shells hit the compound, killing 106…
TWA Flight 847 HijackedCIE+
June 14, 1985 Two Lebanese Shiite terrorists armed with grenades and handguns hijack TWA Flight 847, a 727 traveling from Cairo to San Diego with scheduled stops in Athens, Rome, Boston and Los Angeles, shortly…
Abu Musa Declares a Palestinian Revolt Against ArafatCIE+
Palestinian militant factions unsuccessfully challenge Arafat’s control during the First Lebanon War.
Knesset Votes in Favor of Golan Heights LawCIE+
In a quickly organized and somewhat surprising move, the Knesset votes to annex the Golan Heights by a vote of 63-21.
76 U.S. Senators Urge President Ford to Stand With IsraelCIE+
After a breakdown in diplomatic talks between Gerald Ford and PM Yitzhak Rabin, seventy-six Senators sign a letter to the President stressing the importance of both military and economic assistance to Israel.
Kissinger Delivers List of Syria’s Israeli POWsCIE+
February 27, 1974 U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger arrives in Tel Aviv from Damascus with a list of 65 Israeli prisoners held by Syria since the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, along with…
12 Killed in School Bus AmbushCIE+
May 22, 1970 Palestinian terrorists ambush an Egged school bus on the road from Moshav Avivim, near the Lebanese border, to Dovev and kill eight children and four adults. The ambush takes place at a…
Fourth Arab League Summit ConvenesCIE+
The Fourth Arab League Summit convenes in Khartoum, Sudan. Participants agree that all measures should be taken to regain lands controlled by Israel after the War, and that the oil-rich countries would finance an increased Arab military presence in the region.
Israel Downs 6 Syrian MiGs in Air Battle
After unarmored Israeli tractors were fired upon in the demilitarized zone, Israeli forces began to return fire. The event soon escalated.
Syria, Egypt Sign Defense TreatyCIE+
November 4, 1966 Egypt and Syria sign a mutual defense treaty and create a joint military command. The move comes amid constant low-level violence on the Israeli-Syrian border, characterized by Syrian guerrilla raids and shelling…
Army Officers Seize Power in SyriaCIE+
February 23, 1966 Saleh Jadid launches a coup of young army officers against a Syrian government of old-guard members of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party who themselves seized power in a coup in 1963. The…
Spy Eli Cohen ExecutedCIE+
May 18, 1965 Eli Cohen is hanged in Marjeh Square in Damascus after being convicted of spying for Israel and being sentenced to death March 31, 1965. Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1924…
Eli Cohen Is Arrested for EspionageCIE+
Syrian police raid the home of Damascus businessman Kamel Amin Tha’abet, who is in fact a Mossad Spy named Eli Cohen, and arrest him on charges of espionage.
Israel Begins Jordan River ProjectCIE+
September 2, 1953 Israel starts work on a project to divert some of the water of the Jordan River at the B’not Yaakov (Daughters of Jacob) Bridge in the north of the state for use…
Dulles Travels to Middle EastCIE+
May 11, 1953 U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles arrives in Cairo at the start of a 2½-week fact-finding trip to Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Libya. Dulles emphasizes…
9 Jews Freed After Damascus Blood LibelCIE+
September 6, 1840 The nine surviving Damascus Jews accused of killing a Franciscan Capuchin friar and his servant to harvest the blood are freed by order of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman pasha who controls an…
