10,000 - 5,000
Neolithic period. Establishment of settled
agricultural communities.
5,000 - 3,000
Chalcolithic period. Copper and stone
tools and artifacts from this period found near Jericho, Bi'r As-Sabi'
and the Dead Sea.
3,000 - 2,000
Early Bronze Age.Arrival and settlement
of the Canaanites (3,000 - 2,500 BC)
1,250
Israelite conquest of Canaan.
965 - 928
King Solomon (Sulayman), construction
of the temple in Jerusalem.
928
Division of the Israelite state into the
kingdom of Israel and Judah.
721
Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel.
586
Judah defeated by Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar,
deportation of its population to Babylon and destruction of the temple.
539
Persians conquer Babylonia, allowance
of deportees to return and construction of a new temple.
333
Alexander the Great conquers Persia and
Palestine comes under the Greek rule.
323
Alexander the Great dies, alternate rule
by Ptolemies of Egypt and Seleucids of Syria.
165
Maccabees revolt against the Seleucid
ruler (Antiochus Epiphanes) and establish an independent state.
63
Incorporation of Palestine into the Roman
Empire.
132-135
Suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt.
Jews barred from Jerusalem and Emperor Hadrian builds a pagan city on its
ruins.
330-638
Palestine under Byzantine rule, Christianity
spreads.
638
Omar ibn al-Khattaab enters Jerusalem
and ends the Byzantine rule.
661-750
Palestine administered by the Umayyad
chaliphs from Damascus and construct the Dome of the Rock ('Abd al-Malik,
685-705) and Al-Aqsa in its current shape (al-Walid, 705-715).
750-1258
Palestine administered from Baghdad by
the'Abbasid caliphs.
969
Palestine administered by the Fatimids
from Egypt as rivals to Baghdad.
1071
Saljuqs (originally from Isfahan) rule
Jerusalem and parts of Palestine (officially still under the 'Abbasids).
1099-1187
The Crusaders arrive and establish the
"Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem".
1187
Salah al-Diin al-Ayyoubi (from Kurdistan)
conquers the crusaders in the battle of Hittin, kicks them back to Europe
and frees Jerusalem. Plaestine administered from Cairo.
1260
The Mamluks succeed the Ayyubis, continue
to administer Palestine from Cairo and kick the Mongols in thebattle of
'Ayn Jaluut near An-Nasira.
1291
The Mamluks (Khalil bin Qalawuun) conquer
the last crusader stronghold in Akka and Qisariya.
1516-1917
Palestine incorporated into the Ottoman
state and administered from Istanbul.
1832-1840
Moh'd Ali Basha (Egypt) rules Palestine,
Ottomans take over afterwards.
1876-1877
First Palestinian deputies from Jerusalem
attend the first Ottoman parliament.
1878
First Zionist settlement (Petach Tiqva)
established under the guise of agricultural community.
1882-1903
First wave of Zionists (25000 strong)
enters Palestine as illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe.
1882
French Baron E. de Rothschild starts backing
Zionists activities in Palestine financially.
1887-1888
Ottomans divide Palestine into three districts:
Jerusalem (follows Istanbul) , Akka and Nablus (follow the 'wilaya' of
Beirut).
1896
Theodor Hertzl, a journalist from an Austro-Hungarian
origin published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) advocating the establishment
of a Jewish state in Palestine or elsewhere.
1896
JCA (Jewish Coloniation Association) starts
aiding Zionist settlements in Palestine.
1897
First Zionist congress in Switzerland
issues the Basle Program "calling for a home for the Jewish people in Palestine"
and establishes the WZO (World Zionist Organization to that end.
1901
JNF (Jewish National Fund) set up by the
5th Zionist congress to acquire land (in Palestine) and 'make it Jewish'.
1904-1914
Second wave (around 40000 strong) of Zionist
illegal immigrants arrive in Palestine and increase the Jewish percentage
to 6% of the total population.
1909
First Zionist Kibbutz (collective farm),
establishment of Tel Aviv north of Yaafa.
1914
Until the end of World War I Palestine
was part of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire stretched from
North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula through the Fertile Crescent around
the Black Sea and to the Adriatic Sea. The Ottoman Empire for centuries
was the most tolerant state in the world and was a haven for the persecuted
religious minorities of Europe especially, but not exclusively,the Jews.
Such toleration was due to the fact that it based its laws and legislation
on the Qur'an and Sunnah. Within the large Islamic state there were no
clearly defined borders; however, the general area in which Palestine is
now located was recognized as being part of Southern Belad al-Sham. After
World War I, Palestine was separated from the general area that included
what is known today as Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon by the British colonizers.
For the first time in its history Palestine become a country with defined
borders nd a defined area estimated at 10,429 square miles. Its borders
become: to the East the Jordan River, to the West the Mediterranean Sea,
to the North Lebanon and to the South the Sinai Desert and the Gulf of
Aqabah.