A History of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

The history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is elastic; it changes dramatically depending on who is telling it and where they start the story. Therefore, it is important to note that a historic timeline of events concerning this conflict is always difficult to present in an objective manner. For this reason, as you read through the timeline sections, certain events include both a Palestinian (in green) and an Israeli (in blue) perspective.
View the entire timeline as a PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

View Seth Ackerman's "Losing Ground", on the changing map of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from Harper's Magazine, December, 2001. (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

This timeline was compiled by Negar Katirai while working as a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations. Thanks also to Dr. Mark LeVine, University of California-Irvine, for reviewing this document. Most of the information in this timeline is based on the BBC’s "In Depth: Middle East Peace Process" Web site as well as the "Washington Post’s War and Peace in the Middle East" Web site, the United Nation’s "Question of Palestine Web site," and the U.S. State Department’s Web site on the Middle East Peace Process. The information on the Israeli perspective was put together using the Israeli Government’s official Web site, produced by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Information on the Palestinian perspective was compiled using the Palestinian National Authority’s official Web site and the Palestinian National Authority’s Ministry of Information’s Web site Harper's Magazine Map PDF, Copyright © 2001 by Harper's Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduced from the December issue by special permission.