Al-Nakba: 1948 Palestinian Exodus: Home

1887: Palestine divided by Ottomans into the districts (sanjaks) of Jerusalem, Nablus, and Acre.

1896: Publication of Der Jundenstat (The Jewish State) by Theodore Herzl.

1897: First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Basel Declaration: calls for the establishment of a home for Jewish in Palestine.

1901: Establishment of Jewish National Fund. Main idea behind it is to fundraising in the purpose of purchasing land.

1914: First World War starts.

1916: Great Arab Revolt. The revolt was against the Ottoman rule and was initiated by Sharif Hussein in June 1916.

1917: Belfour Declaration.

1918: Battle of Meggido: Palestine occupied by allied forces under British General Allenby.

1919: First Palestinian National Congress in Jerusalem send memoranda to Paris Peace Conference rejecting Balfour Declaration and demanding independence.

1920: Treaty of Sevres.

1920: Founding of Histadrust, a trade union which would organize the economic activities of Jewish workers.

1921: Founding of Haganah, the Zionist's illegal underground military organization.

1922:

• Churchill White Papers or British White Papers main purpose was to exclude Trans-Jordan from scopes of Balfour Declaration.
• The Council of the League of Nations approves the British Mandate for Palestine.
• First British Census of Palestine counted 757,182 residents, of whom 83,794 were Jewish.

1933: Adolph Hitler assumes power over Germany.

1936: Beginning of Arab Revolt calling for an end to Jewish immigration and a stop to Jewish ownership of land in Palestine.

1937: Arab Higher Committee rejects the Royal Commission proposal known as Peel Commission.

1938: Palestine Partition Commission (Woodhead Commission)  report declares impracticability of Royal Commission's partition proposal.

1939: World War Two starts.

1942: Biltmore Conference. It recommended an end to British Mandate  and called for the founding of Jewish Commonwealth.

1945:

• Arab League founded in Cairo.
• End of World War Two.

1946:

• Bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. It was organized by Irgun a Jewish militia.
• TransJordan gain independence.
• Anglo-American Committee recommended admitting 100,000 Jewish refugees into Palestine.

1947:

• UN General Assembly establishes a Special Committee on Palestine - UNSCOP.
• UN General Assembly votes to partition Palestine by October 1948, resolution 181. UN Proposes the division of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states allocating 56.6%  of Palestine to Jewish state and 43% to Arab state with international enclave around Jerusalem.

1948:

• Haganah lunches Plan Dalet (March 10).
• British House of Commons votes to end mandate on May 15.
• US proposed the suspension of Partition Plan.
• General Zionist Council decides to establish Jewish independent state in Palestine.
• Deir Yassin Massacre.
• End of the British Mandate for Palestine.
• Declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel.
• May 1948. Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini forms Jaysh al-Jihad al-Mudaddas (Army of the Sacred Jihad).
• Arab Liberation Army (Jaysh al Inqadh al-Arabi) under the command of Fawzi a-Qawuji entered Palestine. Armies of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Transjordan and Syria participated in the war.
• Altalena Affairs.
• Bernadotte Plan proposes new partition of Palestine. Plan was rejected by both Arab League and Israel.
• UN General Assembly establishes Palestine Conciliation Commission.
• Palestinians refugees displacement.
• David Ben-Gurion becomes the first Israeli prime minister.

1949:

• Arab Israeli War of 1948 or Israeli War of Independence ends.
• Admission of Israel to membership in the United Nations, resolution 273.