STATE OF ISRAEL
1948
End of British Mandate (14 May)
State of Israel proclaimed (14 May).
Israel invaded by five Arab states (15 May).
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established.
War of Independence (May 1948-July 1949).
1949
Armistice agreements signed with
Egypt,
Jordan,
Syria,
Lebanon.
Jerusalem divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule.
First Knesset (parliament) elected.
Israel admitted to United Nations as 59th member.
1948-52 Mass immigration from Europe and Arab countries.
1956 Sinai Campaign
1962 Adolf Eichmann tried and executed in Israel for his part in the Holocaust.
1964 National Water Carrier completed, bringing water from Lake Kinneret in the north to the semi-arid south.
1967 Six-Day War; Jerusalem reunited.
1968-70 Egypt's War of Attrition against Israel
1973 Yom Kippur War
1975 Israel becomes an associate member of the European Common Market.
1977 Likud forms government after Knesset elections, end of 30 years of Labor rule.
Visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem.
1978
Camp David Accords include framework for comprehensive peace in the Middle East and proposal for Palestinian self-government.
1979
Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty signed.
Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1981 Israel Air Force destroys Iraqi nuclear reactor just before it is to become operative.
1982 Israel's three-stage withdrawal from Sinai Peninsula completed.
Operation Peace for Galilee removes Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists from Lebanon.
1984 National unity government (Likud and Labor) formed after elections.
Operation Moses, immigration of Jews from Ethiopia.