Chronology of Palestinian History

Following is a compiled chronology of Palestinian history from early stages till the beginning of the current occupation.

B.C.

600,000 - 10,000
Paleolithic and Mesolithic period. Earliest human remains in the area (found south of the Lake of Tabariyya), date back to ca. 600,000 BC.

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.
 
 

A.D.

70
Destruction of the second temple by the Roman Emperor Titus.

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.