Arab Raiders Attack Tel Hai

March 1, 1920 A Shi’ite Arab militia, accompanied by local Bedouins, attacks the Jewish agricultural settlement of Tel Hai, which has served as a border outpost in the Upper Galilee between British-controlled Palestine and French-controlled…

Heletz oil field, 1955. Photo: Elazar Beith Yakov

Oil Is Found in Heletz

September 26, 1955 Oil is discovered in Heletz, a moshav in southern Israel that becomes the site of the state’s first successful oil well. The Heletz field, containing an estimated 94.4 million barrels of oil,…

Today in Israeli History|September 26, 1955

Earthquake Destroys Safed

A massive earthquake and subsequent landslide devastate Jewish and Arab communities in Safed (Tz’fat). The mountain town, which had been the long-time home to a thriving Jewish population, suffers thousands of deaths.

Today in Israeli History|January 1, 1837