Chronology of Trial, Triumph and Terror

1878. Founding of Petach Tikva (Gate of Hope), a pioneer village of Jewish immigrants from Russia.

1882. First Aliyah (wave of immigration) of Jews from Russia and East Europe to Palestine begins.

1897. In Basel, Switzerland, the World Zionist Congress elects Theodore Herzl as president and declares its aim: "to create for Jewish people a home in Palestine."

1904-14. Second Aliyah increases Jewish population to 85,000.

1917. Balfour Declaration by British government "favors the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" as long as no harm is done to "non-Jewish communities" there, including 600,000 Arabs.

1920. Palestine placed under British mandate; Arabs riot in protest against surging Jewish immigration.

1936-39. A six-month general strike by Palestinian Arabs is followed by full-scale nationalist rebellion against British authority and Jewish settlers; the revolt is ended by a White Paper restricting Jewish immigration.

NOV. 29, 1947. United Nations General Assembly adopts plan to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.

MAY 14,1948. David Ben-Gurion formally proclaims the state of Israel. Next day six Arab armies invade the new nation, but within weeks are defeated by the Jews on every front. All but 160,000 of the 750,000 Palestinian Arabs flee the fighting to neighboring states.

1950. Law of the Return gives every Jew anywhere the right to Israeli citizenship; the last great wave of immigration is climaxed by a massive airlift of 47,000 Yemenite Jews.

1956. Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal, and Israeli armies, under secret pact with Britain and France, invade the Sinai peninsula.

1957. Despite the threat of U.S. sanctions, Israel delays its withdrawal of troops from the Sinai until a U.N. force is established as a peace-keeping buffer along the Sinai frontier.

1963. David Ben-Gurion, Premier and Defense Minister for most of Israel's first 15 years, resigns and is succeeded by Levi Eshkol.

MAY 1967. At the demand of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the U.N. force withdraws from the Sinai, and Egypt moves in massive armored forces.

JUNE 5-10, 1967. Israel, fearing an Arab attack, decides to strike first. After the Egyptian air force is destroyed on the ground, Israel's armed forces defeat Arab armies in the Six-Day War.

NOV. 22,1967. A U.N. Security Council Resolution calls for a permanent peace settlement, including recognition of Israel's sovereignty and return of Israeli-occupied territories. Amid disagreement over timing and extent of the withdrawal, Israel refuses to move.

1968. Egypt begins artillery and air War of Attrition across the Suez Canal, to wear down Israeli occupiers. Israel starts building first settlements in occupied territories.

DEC. 28, 1968. Israelis retaliate for a terrorist attack on an El Al plane in Athens by bombing and strafing Beirut airport; 13 planes are destroyed.

FEB. 1969. Premier Eshkol dies, and is succeeded by Golda Meir.

AUG. 7, 1970. Ninety-day standstill cease-fire negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers begins along Suez Canal, later is renewed twice, then continued indefinitely.

SEPT. 5, 1972. Black September terrorists kill eleven Israeli athletes at Munich XX Olympiad.

FEB. 21, 1973. Israelis raid Arab refugee camps in northern Lebanon and shoot down a Libyan airliner over Sinai, killing 107 on board.

APRIL 10, 1973. Israeli commandos, in a raid on Beirut, kill three Palestinian guerrilla leaders.

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