1. Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

2. Jews Yearn for a Homeland With the end of WWII, the Arab-Israeli conflict became the major political and military problem in the Middle East. After the Holocaust, many of the survivors had no place to go. Many Jews (Zionists) believed that they should have a homeland of their own. They concentrated on the biblical area of Israel 1894 Theodor Herzl leads Zionist movement - a movement dedicated to creating a Jewish State in Palestine.

3. 1947- Palestine Partition After WWI, the area had become the British mandate of Palestine. When Jewish immigration accelerated, friction was created between Jews and Palestinian Arabs After 1945, Zionists and Palestinian Arabs wanted individual nations and both felt they had claim to Palestine. Britain withdrew in 1947 and the U.N. proposed that the country be partitioned 50/50

4. 1948-49 War Most Jews accepted the partition plan but most Islamic countries rejected it. Jordan, Syria, Egypt and the Palestinians immediately attacked Israel in 1948. Israel won the 1948-49 War and seized territory the U.N. had originally designated for the Palestinians. Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip, Jordan took the West Bank. Thousands of Palestinians had to flee out of the areas now under Jewish control and found themselves homeless and living in U.N. sponsored refugee camps. The Palestinian state the U.N. had hoped for never came into being.

5. 1956 Suez Crisis Gamal Nasser overthrew Egypt’s president who many viewed as a puppet of Britain. Angry, Britain cuts off promised funds for a huge dam Egypt was building. In retaliation, Nasser seizes the Suez Canal – which Britain has controlled for nearly a century. The 1956 Arab-Israeli war breaks out over the Suez crisis. Britain and France back an Israeli invasion of the Sinai Egypt was defeated but world pressure forced Israel and its allies to withdraw from Egypt and return the canal.

6. 1967--Six-Day War In 1967, relations between Israel and its neighbors intensified again when Nasser imposed a blockade on Israeli shipping through the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel strikes first against Egypt and several of its Islamic nations. The war ends in a decisive victory for Israel and triples its existing territory. Israel captures the Golan Heights (from Syria), West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem (from Jordan) and the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip (from Egypt).

7. 1973 Yom Kippur War Egypt and Syria attack Israel on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur to regain territories lost in the 1967 War. - Israel again successfully defends itself with no changes in borders. -Middle Eastern countries agree to stop sending oil to Western countries like the United States. - Gas shortages occur Spill over into US and Russia - Russia supplies Arab countries with weapons. - U.S. supplies Israel with weapons. - Tensions rise between U.S. and Russia. Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel, during the Yom Kippur War.

8. 1979 Camp David Accords Israel and Egypt would sign a peace treaty in 1979 with U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter mediating the Camp David Accords Egypt became first Arab state to recognize Israel. Israel returned Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for peace, full diplomatic relations and shipping through the Suez Canal. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat assassinated by Islamic extremists in 1981. U.S. President Jimmy Carter with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (R).

9. 1993- Oslo Accords Palestinians continued to resent Israel’s rule over their lands and they began turning increasingly to the P.L.O. (Palestinian Liberation Organization) - a militant group fighting an armed struggle for the liberation of Palestine from Israel Yasir Arafat was the leader of the P.L.O. from 1969 – 2004. In 1987 Palestinians began the intifada - a widespread “uprising” with acts of civil disobedience – such as attacking Israeli soldiers, rock throwing, boycotts, demonstrations. By 1993 world pressure led to peace talks again. President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (L), and PLO leader Yasir Arafat (R) at the signing ceremony for the Oslo Accord, September 13, 1993.

10. Israel Today