24 September 1917 Brandeis cables London that President Wilson is sympathetic to the Zionist project
31 January 1917 Mark Sykes given a redrafted memorandum of Zionist views
28 May 1917 Letter from Lord Rothschild in the Times which responded to anti-Zionism of Claude Montefiore and D. L. Alexander.
30 September 1916 Sokolov is charged by the executive committee of the English Zionist Federation with the writing of a document which will eventually be presented to the British government.
15 March 1916 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov viewed the settlement of the Jews in Palestine with sympathy
Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild dies
Secret agreement between Britain, France, Russia and Italy to divide up the Ottoman Empire
Edwin Montagu, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Herbert Samuel’s cousin writes a detailed critique of Sanuel’s pro-Zionist memo to PM Hebert Asquith
Herbert Samuel revamps his memo now entitled ‘Palestine’ and distributes it to Cabinet members in early March 1915
Chaim Weizmann meets Arthur Balfour who is now a member of the War Council
In January 1918, (Evreiskii Komissariat; EVKOM), the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs is established by Bolsheviks in Russia
League of British Jews founded to protect the interests of British Jews and oppose defining them as a nationality. They opposed the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of the Hebrew University.
Israel’s Declaration cites the Balfour Declaration as the first in a series of international affirmations that underpin the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
October 6, 1917 – War Cabinet Secretariat invites Jewish proponents and opponents to submit memoranda on the declaration draft. Chief Rabbi Hertz, Lord Rothschild, Nahum Sokolow, and Chaim Weizmann write in favor. Leonard Cohen, Philip Magnus, Claude Montefiore, wrote against. Stuart Samuel summarized the views of British Jews but did not take a stance. Opponents did not oppose Palestine as a sanctuary but objected to the “national home” idea.
Chief Rabbi Dr. Hertz writes to the “The Times” to dispel “the misconception” that the anti-Zionist Conjoint speaks for British Jewry
War Cabinet approves final text (Alfred Milner-L.S.Amery version) for Balfour Declaration
Weizmann meets with Gen. Jan Smuts, War Cabinet member, who supported the Zionist cause
In June 1917, Balfour asks Weizmann to submit a draft of a British government declaration on Palestine that would be satisfactory to the Zionists.
First Hebrew-language weekly Ha’Olam under Nahum Sokolow’s editorships is published in Germany
Exiles from Babylon return to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls. Ezra reads the Torah.
<586 BCE- Destruction of Jerusalem and First Temple; Mass deportation to Babylonia
1250 BCE -Conquest of Canaan under Joshua
July 1917 – T. E. Lawrence leads Arab force that capture Aqaba/Eilat from the Ottomans
SLIDE TWO Government-inspired anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia following assassination of Tsar Alexander II
SLIDE TWO Chaim Weizmann, Zionist statements and a driving force for Balfour Declaration, born in Motol, White Russia
SLIDE TWO Theodor Herzl, founder of modern political Zionism, born in Budapest
December 13, 1949 – The Knesset votes to transfer Israel’s capital to Jerusalem, rejecting a UN call for the city’s internationalization
December 1949 – Jordan annexes West Bank
November 1949 – After 18 months of independence there are 1 million Jews in Israel
August 17, 1949 – Theodor Herzl’s remains reinterred in Jerusalem
May 11, 1949 – Israel admitted into UN
January-July 1949 – Armistice Agreements signed with Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan and Syria under UN auspices in Rhodes. The 1967 Six Day War begins from these boundaries
1949 – Irgun chief Menachem Begin creates opposition Herut Party
February 17, 1949 – Weizmann elected president
February 14, 1949 – First Knesset (parliament) opens
January 28, 1949 – Britain recognizes Israel
– First Knesset elections held. Mapai wins first Israel elections; David Ben-Gurion is prime minister
November 8, 1948 – There are 782,000 Jews and 69,000 Arabs in newly declared Jewish state
August 2, 1948 – “Drive the Jews into the sea… and never accept the Jewish state,” exhorts Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, reported by “The New York Times”
May 18, 1948 – Saudi Arabia joins Arabs fighting Israel
May 17, 1948 – The Soviet Union recognizes Israel
May 16, 1948 – Chaim Weizmann elected Chairman of the Provisional State Council of Israel. David Ben-Gurion is prime minister
May 14, 1948 – US grants Israel de-facto recognition
May 14, 1948 – Vatican newspaper editorializes that “modern Zionism is not the true heir of Biblical Israel… Christianity [is] the true Israel”
1948 – Arabs flee fighting; some are expelled. Some 600,000 become permanent refugees. Arab world rejects absorption and resettlement of the refugees. A somewhat larger number of Jews will flee the Arab world for Israel in the years to come
Arabs declare Israel’s creation a “Nakba” or catastrophe
May 14, 1948 – At 5 o’clock in the afternoon, on Shabbat Eve, Zionist leaders led by Ben-Gurion declare in Tel Aviv the establishment of a Jewish state. (Hebrew date: 5 Iyar 5708.) Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon invade and join battle on the side of Palestinian Arab irregulars. Arabs declare Israel’s creation a “Nakba” or catastrophe
May 14, 1948 – British Mandate for Palestine ends. British troops evacuate country
March 22, 1948 – Road to Jerusalem cut by Arab forces. Jewish Jerusalem besieged
“The Palestine Post,” a Zionist newspaper (now “The Jerusalem Post”) is bombed
December 1947 – Massive Arab riots; hundreds of Jews killed
1947 – Discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls in Judean Desert
November 29, 1947 – UN General Assembly votes 33-13, with 10 abstentions (including Britain), to adopt a resolution requiring the establishment of Jewish and Arab states in Palestine. The Jewish Agency accepts the decision; the Palestinian Arab leadership rejects the plan insisting that all of Palestine should be an Arab state
October 1947 – Arab League pledges to finance Palestinian Arab military campaign against creation of Jewish state
September 26, 1947 – Britain announces its intention to end the Mandate
UN Special Committee on Palestine calls for partition into two independent states, one Arab and one Jewish
July 18, 1947 – British seize the “Exodus” carrying 4,000 refugees to Palestine and send them back to Displaced Person camps in Germany
June 11-July 9, 1947 – Arabs and Jews agree on truce
June 29, 1947 – Irgun hangs three British soldiers in retaliation for the hanging of Irgun men. British soldiers in Tel Aviv respond by killing five and wounding many in Tel Aviv shooting spree
May 15, 1947 – UN Special Committee on Palestine set up
May 4, 1946 – Irgun attacks Acre prison; releases dozens of prisoners
April 16, 1947 – Britain hangs four captured Irgun fighters. Two others facing death sentences commit suicide
March 19, 1947 – US backtracks on support for Jewish state
February 18, 1947 – Britain calls on the UN to decide Palestine’s fate. Ben-Gurion returns to Palestine. Clashes with British soldiers continue
December 9, 1946 – 22nd Zionist Congress meets in Basle in the hall where the First Congress was convened in 1897. Ben-Gurion warns it may be necessary to take up arms for statehood
28 May 1946– Egypt’s King Farouk hosts the first Arab summit to create front against establishment of Jewish state
October 4, 1946 – Truman administration calls for allowing 100,000 Jewish refugees to enter Palestine
August 13, 1946 – Britain redirects Holocaust survivors seeking entry to Palestine to Cyprus
July 30, 1946 – Four-day curfew on Tel Aviv as British search for terrorists
July 22, 1946 – Irgun and Stern Gang blow up British military headquarters in wing of King David Hotel. Haganah and Jewish Agency condemn attack
June 29, 1946 – Massive crackdown by British forces on Zionist leadership
June 1946 – Combined Jewish underground destroys bridges connecting Palestine to neighboring countries
March 27, 1946 – Thousands of Tel Aviv residents gather on beach to welcome an “illegal” refugee boat and clash with British security forces
December 2, 1945 – First branch of Muslim Brotherhood formed in Jerusalem
October 1945 – The three Jewish underground branches Haganah, Irgun and Lehi agree to pursue joint military campaign against British
August 25, 1945 – British allow “illegal” Jewish emigrants (Holocaust survivors) who have been held on Mauritius to enter Palestine
1945 – Foreign Secretary Bevin declares immigration of Holocaust survivors to Palestine illegal
May 1945 – There are 554,329 Jews in Palestine (30 percent of the population)
WWII ends in Europe. Death camps liberated. Six million Jews exterminated by Germans and their collaborators
March 22, 1945 – Arab League of States formed in Cairo
Nazi Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads active in Poland
Nazis – Communists sign non-aggression pact
April 19-30, 1943 Bermuda Conference British and American representatives fail to come up with approach to saving European Jews from Hitler
British forces capture Baghdad
In Iraq, pro-Nazi government set up by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani
Lehi assassinates Lord Moyne, responsible for implementing the White Paper policy, in Cairo. A racist, Moyne believed Palestine should go to the Arabs as their race was “purer” than the “mixed” Jewish race
November 4, 1944 – Weizmann meets Churchill, who says he supports creation of Jewish state
October 1944 – Haganah demands Irgun end operations against the British
By September 1944, British agree to create Jewish Brigade, which sees combat briefly in northern Italy in February 1945
March 15, 1944 – Roosevelt administration dissociates from White Paper
“Kill the Jews wherever you find them. It would please God, history and religion,” exhorts Haj Amin al-Husseini in Arabic broadcast on the Nazi Berlin Radio
1944 – Irgun’s Menachem Begin declares Jewish Revolt against the British
1944 – Both Stern Gang and Irgun now attack British targets in Palestine
1943 – Small units of Palestinian Jewish commandos under British command operate behind German lines in occupied Europe
Himmler, Reichsführer and SS chief, to the Grand Mufti on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration proclaiming the Nazi’s admiration and sympathy for the Mufti’s struggle against the Jews. Mufti now based in Berlin
By 1942, Death camps at Auschwitz, Maidanek and Treblinka function at full capacity. Transports from ghettos to death camps run at capacity
By November 1942, Palestinian Jews become increasingly aware of the genocide being committed against the Jews of Europe by the Nazis and their enablers
October 23, 1942 – General Montgomery pushes Rommel back at Battle of El Alamein and removes Nazi threat over Palestine
Summer – Fresh fears that Rommel will advance into Palestine. General call-up of Palestinian Jews to prepare for Nazi invasion
May 11, 1942 – Zionists adopt Biltmore program that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth
February 24, 1942 – “Struma” sunk in Black Sea after Britain refuses to allow its 770 passengers to land in Palestine. All but one passenger killed
February 12, 1942 – British police kill Jewish militant Avraham Stern
Wannsee Conference
November 1941 – Ben-Gurion in US on Zionist business
November 1941 – Weizmann appeals to British to create Jewish fighting force
October 5, 1941 – Louis Brandeis dies in Washington, DC
Italy bombs Haifa and Tel Aviv from air June 10-12, 1941 in campaign that began in 1940
June 8, 1941 – Britain, aided by Haganah, takes Lebanon and Syria from Vichy control
David Raziel, a founder of the Irgun, killed in Iraq
May 1941 – British-led Haganah sabotage team disappears at sea
1941 – Haganah organizes elite Palmach fighting unit to prepare for Nazi invasion
1941 – Germany forbids Jews to emigrate
1941 – Germany invades Russia engulfing millions more Jews in its web of destruction
April 1941 – Fear of Nazis invading Palestine is palpable. German General Rommel at Libyan-Egyptian border
March 1941 – Chaim Weizmann in US for war effort
November 25, 1940 – In an effort to block British from returning ship carrying 1,700 asylum seekers, Haganah sinks ship. More than 200 refugees drown
September 9, 1940 – Italian Fascist planes bomb Tel Aviv; 100 dead
August 4, 1940 – Ze’ev Jabotinsky dies in New York
July 15, 1940 – Italian Fascist planes bomb Haifa; 50 dead
1940 – Western Europe under German occupation. Jews in Poland herded into ghettos
Churchill becomes British Prime Minister
Syria/Lebanon under pro-Nazi French (Vichy) administration.
Imposition of White Paper against Jews buying land and against immigration
Weizmann meets First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill in London
Jewish refugees seek to break British maritime blockade of Palestine
British naval vessel off Palestine coast fires at the “Tiger Hill,” a ship bringing asylum seekers to Palestine. Two refugees on board killed
United Jewish Appeal founded to raise money for Zionist settlement and development
shifts away from Havlagah
Lechi commits to armed struggle against British policies
Palestinian Arabs, led by Mufti of Jerusalem, reject White Paper which promises Arabs control over Jewish immigration
MacDonald White Paper issued
Haganah makes its forces available to the British. Irgun calls halt to revolt against British to concentrate against Nazis
David Ben-Gurion declares: “We shall fight the war against Hitler as if there were no White Paper, and the White Paper as if there were no war.”
Britain and France declare war on Germany
World War II begins when Germany invades Poland
Death of Moses Gaster, Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish congregation in London
21st Zionist Congress held in Geneva. Eve of World War II
In April 1939, Jews double down on “illegal” immigration to Palestine. New settlements created
British try to bring Jews and Arabs together in London. Arabs refuse to negotiate
Militant anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem establish Neturei Karta maintaining that Jews are forbidden to have their own state until the coming of the Messiah
Weizmann sees Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Nazis weigh deporting German Jews to Madagascar
Kristallnacht
In June 1938, British authorities execute Irgun member Shlomo Ben-Yosef
Palestinian Jews construct security barrier in Galilee to deter Arab infiltrators
British forces recapture major Arab population centers in Palestine from Mufti’s men
20th Zionist Congress convenes in Zurich
>July 23, 1937 –Sir Henry McMahon writes in the Times: “It was not intended by me giving this pledge to [the Sharif] to include Palestine in the area in whuch Arab independence was promised.
By April 1937, Nazis troubled about Jewish emigration out of Germany slowing because of Arab riots in Palestine. Rather than leaving, too many German Jews are adjusting to second-class status
In 1937, Orde Wingate trains Jewish self-defence forces
settlements build watchtowers
Mufti flees to Lebanon
Peel Commission proposes partition of eastern Palestine
20th Zionist Congress – Zurich, Switzerland (1937)
In November 1936, Peel Commission arrives in Palestine to examine causes of Arab violence
Haganah continue policy of “Havlagah” or passive defense
In May 1936, Ad-hoc group of Jewish elders tries and fails to reach an accommodation with the Arabs
Arab Revolt riots and strikes in Palestine. Lebanese irregulars join fighting in Palestine. Violence will continue until 1939
British establish Palestine Radio which includes first ever Hebrew-language radio broadcasts heard throughout the region
By 1935, Jews now compromise 30 percent of Palestine’s population
Jabotinsky’s New Zionist Organization meets in Vienna
19th Zionist Congress meets in Lucerne, Switzerland; Weizmann returns as president of WZO
Nuremberg Laws
Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky try unsuccessfully to iron out their differences in London
In 1934, Zionist groups in Palestine organize “illegal” immigration circumventing British policies
18th Zionist Congress in Prague
meetings on future of Palestine between Jewish Agency head David Ben-Gurion and Palestinian Arab leaders Awni Abd al-Hadi, Musa al-Alami and George Antonius, a Lebanese-Egyptian Christian now resident in Jerusalem
Haavara Agreement
Haifa Harbor opened
Arlosoroff assassinated in Tel Aviv
Hitler becomes German Chancellor ;
From 1932 until 1939 the Fifth Aliyah (or immigration wave) brings nearly 250,000 Jews arrive into British-occupied Palestine
Jews now comprise 17 percent of population
In 1931, 17th Zionist Congress
Haganah splits
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Ben-Gurion camp wins 40 percent of seats to Palestinian Jewish assembly against 20 percent for supporters of Jabotinsky
British White Paper on Palestine, issued by Colonial Secretary Lord Passfield, limits the establishment of Jewish agricultural settlement. Weizmann protests
British Hope-Simpson committee proposes moratorium on Jewish immigration and a settlement freeze
Balfour dies
Mapai Labour Party formed
League of Nations forms commission to examine Arab-Jewish violence and rights to Jewish prayer at Western Wall
Lucien Wolf dies
Jerusalem stone
British Shaw Commission sent to study reasons for Arab rioting and violence
Arabs riot throughout Palestine; massacres in Jerusalem, Hebron (67 killed) and Safed
16th Zionist Congress held in Zurich
Arab riots break Yom Kippur
Muslim religious leaders seek to limit Jewish worship at Western Wall in Jerusalem
15th World Zionist Congress meets in Basle
Weizmann and US Jewish non-Zionist leader Louis Marshall of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) meet
Ahad Ha’Am, founder of cultural Zionism, dies
Economic depression
Keren ha-Yesod moves its headquarters to Jerusalem
Max Nordau’s remains reinterred in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv’s population reaches 40,000
14th Zionist Congress meets in Vienna
Jabotinsky establishes Revisionist Zionist opposition party
Balfour arrives in Damascus to protests outside his hotel
Balfour tours Palestine for three days
Hebrew University of Jerusalem officially opened by Lord Balfour
Palestine Jewish Colonization Association founded in 1924
Weizmann opposes urban development in Palestine, apparently referring to places such as ultra-Orthodox B’nei Brak, founded in May
Fourth Aliyah
Betar, the Jabotinsky youth movement, formed in Riga, Latvia
Mandate for Palestine comes into effect
13th Zionist Congress held in Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia. Weizmann re-elected president
Max Nordau dies in Paris
Golan Heights to French Mandate of Syria
Jabotinsky resigns from Executive to protest Weizmann’s soft line vis-a-vis British refusal to formalize Zionist national council in Palestine
census in Palestine
Mandate’s terms finalized and unanimously approved by the League of Nations
Cardinal Gasparri denounces Zionism
Churchill White Paper calls for a limitation of Jewish immigration in order to reduce Arab resentment
Palestinian Arab delegation visits London to protest Balfour Declaration
British establish Supreme Muslim Council with Haj Amin al-Husseini as President
Ben-Gurion returns to Palestine after a year in London on Zionist business
“Hadoar,” the first Hebrew daily newspaper
Brandeis-Weizmann split
The pope laments that the “new civil arrangement” [British Mandate] has weakened Christianity and strengthened Judaism
British declare moratorium on Jewish immigration
>1921 – The British engineer the election of Haj Amin al-Husseini as the Mufti of Jerusalem. He’d been appointed May 8, 1920.
Deadly Arab riots in Jaffa, Petah Tikva, Hadera and Rehovot claim 47 dead between May 1-6, 1921
>April 11, 1921 – Transjordan established under Crown Prince Abdullah after Britain granted the Eastern part of Mandatory Palestine to the Arabs
Albert Einstein visits US with Chaim Weizmann on a fundraising tour for Hebrew University
Disbanding of the Jewish Legion
Treaty of Sevres
Histadrut labor union formed
Sir Herbert Samuel, a British Jewish Zionist, appointed High Commissioner
France demands water supply for Syria
Haganah is founded
Jabotinsky is arrested
The San Remo Conference of the Allied Supreme Council in Italy endorses a Palestine Mandate based on Balfour Declaration
Faisal proclaimed as king of Greater Syria.
Arabs attack Jews in Jerusalem following Islamic religious festival
Arabs attack Tel Hai in Galilee. Joseph Trumpeldor and five other defenders killed
first Arab protests and disturbances
King-Crane did not oppose Jewish settlement in Palestine. It opposed the notion of a Jewish state because it would undermine the rights of the Arab population in Palestine. It reported on 24 August 1919, but the report was not published for several years.
3 February 1919 Zionists present statement to the peace conference.
11 December Weizmann meets Faisal in London
othschild give dinner for Faisal which is attended by senior political figures.
1920 – France tries to torpedo Balfour Declaration saying it never officially approved it
1919 – Balfour, not a member of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference but a consultant, writes memo on sidelines of the Conference: “Rooted in age-old traditions… Zionism… has… far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land”
Lord Curzon succeeds Lord Balfour as Foreign Secretary
August 1919 – Weizmann and Brandeis meet in London. Discuss and disagree about structure and operation of Jewish Agency
Balfour memo: “I do not think Zionism will hurt the Arabs, but they will never say they want it”
Brandeis arrives in Palestine
July 1919 – Christian Arab nationalists are Zionism’s most implacable foes. Syrian Congress in Damascus rejects idea of Jewish commonwealth and Jewish immigration to Palestine
Balfour writes to US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis: “We are consciously seeking to reconstitute a new community and definitely building for a numerical majority in the future”
King-Crane US study group visiting Palestine to gather information for Paris Peace Conference come to anti-Zionist conclusion and advocate Palestine’s incorporation into Greater Syria
Palestine’s temporary British military governor, Major-General Sir Arthur Wigram Money, lobbies government in London against carrying out Balfour Declaration. He is backed by General Clayton
“The Times” reports from Rome the pope saying “It would be for us and all Christians a bitter grief if unbelievers [Zionist Jews] in Palestine were put into a superior or more privileged position”
The pope expresses his growing concern over the Jewish (“infidels”’) role in Palestine
Wilson quoted in newspapers: “I am persuaded that the Allied nations, with the fullest concurrence of our Government and people, are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundations of a Jewish Commonwealth”
“The Tablet” reports Church denying pope ever expressed support for Zionism: He offered good wishes to Jewish home in Palestine, but opposed a state
Feisal writes to US Zionist leader Felix Frankfurter affirming that Arab and Jewish national movements have common interests: “We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home”
March 1919 – Ben-Gurion in Palestine forms Socialist Zionist Achdut Ha’avodah Party, a precursor to today’s Israeli Labor Party
Paris Peace Conference at Versailles
Newspapers report Weizmann meeting Woodrow Wilson on sidelines of the year-long Paris Peace Conference
Weizmann meets Feisal in London prior to Paris Peace Conference. The leaders sign agreement on the development of an Arab state and [Jewish] Palestine. Faisal warns that the arrangement will be nullified if the Arabs are not granted the British-promised state
Jewish Legion participates in the battle of Megiddo 19-25 September 1918
Jewish Legion
Weizmann returns to Cairo to meet Lawrence of Arabia
Weizmann meets Allenby
First meeting of the Zionist Commission in Jaffa
Weizmann meets two Muslim leaders in Jerusalem
20 March 1918 Zionist Commission arrives in Alexandria.
3 March 1918 Trotsky signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which cedes territory to Germany and takes Russia out of the war.
2 March CW has an audience with King George V who appears to be sympathetic to Zionist aims
Zionist Commission out for Paris en route to Palestine
Semion Diamanshtein, first commissar for Jewish Affairs, former Lubavitcher hassid.
26 January 1918 The Zionist Commission is established by the Middle East Committee of the War Cabinet
Jewish opponents of Zionism re-organize
Jaffa settlement
1919 is year of Third Aliya. Russian Revolution and fighting between Reds and Whites between 1919 and 1920 leave 150,000 to as many as 250,000 Jews killed and trigger massive exodus of Jews, many to Palestine
Polish soldiers organize a pogrom against Jews of Galicia, Poland
At eleven o’clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the World War ends as Germany and Allies sign an Armistice
Zionists celebrate first anniversary of Balfour Declaration
Turkey surrenders
All of Palestine liberated from Turks
Wilson expresses satisfaction about Zionism
Hadassah medical relief team arrives in Jerusalem
Cornerstone-laying ceremony at Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem
Reform Rabbis opposes Zionist aims and Jewish nationalism in Palestine
The 38th Battalion (Jewish forces) arrives in Samaria and prepares to confront Turkish forces
Chaim Weizmann meets Feisal in Aqaba
Zionist Commission, led by Chaim Weizmann, arrives in Palestine
Ukrainian mobs massacre the Jews of Seredino Buda
Russian Communist commissar for Jewish Affairs vows to combat Zionism
Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France meets Sokolow and issues communique announcing complete agreement between French and British governments concerning question of a Jewish establishment in Palestine
President Woodrow Wilson declares his 14 points as the path to permanent world peace. Self-determination promised for national minorities
Rabbi Stephen Weiss at Carnegie Hall Rally in New York City
The pro-Zionist American Jewish Congress holds founding elections
Vatican signals Britain its concern that the Jews might gain direct control over Palestine to the detriment of Christian interests
Turks hang Palestinian Jewish NILI spies Naaman Belkind and Joseph Lishansky who’ve been working for the British
SLIDE 2 (B4) General Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot out of respect for the Holy City and quickly posts guards to protect all the sites held sacred by the Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions
British capture Jerusalem from the Turks on Hanukkah eve
Lord Robert Cecil tells House of Commons: “Our wish is that Arabian countries shall be for the Arabs, Armenia for the Armenians and Judaea for the Jews.”
London Opera House for thanksgiving meeting presided over by Lord Rothschild. Lord Robert Cecil declares: “Our wish is that Arabian countries shall be for the Arabs, Armenia for the Armenians, and Judaea for the Jews”
The Manchester “Guardian” publishes text of Sykes-Picot Agreement, leaked by Russian communists
SLIDE 2 (B4) Board of Deputies thanks the Government for their “sympathetic interest in the Jews as manifested by” the Balfour Declaration. Anglo Jewish Association also identifies with Declaration. Jews in Poland and Russia rejoice
>November 11, 1917 – Montagu writes in his diary: “The Government has dealt an irreparable blow at Jewish Britons and they have endeavored to set up a people which does not exist; they have alarmed unnecessarily the whole Moslem world; and in so far as they are successful, they will have a Germanised Palestine on the flank of Egypt. Why we should intern Mahomed Ali in India for Pan-Mohammendanism when we encourage Pan-Judaism I cannot for the life of me understand”
November 1917 – Battle of Jerusalem begins
November 1917 – Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Mounted Division liberates Jaffa
British make still another assault on Gaza Strip.
November 1917 British-led Arab forces advance northwards up the Judean Hills towards Jerusalem defeating Ottomans at Tel el Khuweilfe, Hareira and Sheria, and at Mughar Ridge.
“The Times” reports from Washington on American Jewish enthusiasm for Balfour Declaration. The newspaper says 90 percent of US Jews support Zionism
Newspapers report on Balfour Letter to Rothschild favoring Zionism. ‘A State for the Jews’ (“Daily Express”); ‘Palestine for the Jews’ (“The Times”)
The Communists overthrow Kerensky’s Russian government and install a Communist regime under Lenin
Beer Sheva was captured on 2 November not 7 November
Gaza conquered by the British
Dance for joy
Balfour Declaration issued: Britain promises a national home for the Jews in Palestine
Wickham Steed, head of the Foreign Department of the Times, urges the publication of a decalarion in aleading article
The Times” carries story headlined “Palestine for the Jews” reporting on a manifesto by British Jewish groups in support of Zionism
Lord Curzon opposes the Zionist project
Balfour tells his colleagues that he is in favour of ‘a Jewish national focus in Palestine’
Balfour reads out the Cambon letter to Sokolov to the cabinet
Brandeis cables London that President Wilson is sympathetic to the Zionist project
Brandeis and Stephen Wise meet Colonel House at White House
Sokolow presents ‘Outline of Programme for the Jewish Resettlement of Palestine’ to the English Zionist Federation executive
Weizmann sends a memorandum to Philip Henry Kerr, a member of Lloyd George’s secretariat.
Brandeis meets Balfour twice during his visit to the US
Sokolov meets Pope Benedict XV who expresses his sympathy with the idea of the Jews returning to Palestine
Sokolow meets high ranking French officials in Paris
Mark Sykes begins an initiative due to a more interested government coalition in power, headed by Lloyd George and Balfour
Aaron Aaronson arrives in London and offers the British the services of NILI
Weizmann meets Mark Sykes for the first time
Sykes meet Zionist leaders
Weizmann elected president of the English Zionist Federation.
Mark Sykes given a redrafted memorandum of Zionist views
James de Rothschild meets Sykes.
Sokolov meets Georges-Picot at Mark Sykes’s residence.
Sykes, Sokolow and Weizmann meet at Sykes’s residence to review the situation.
The British fail to take Gaza twice in offensives in March and April 1917.
Tsar Overthrown
The United States declares war on Imperial Germany
French government recognizes historical relationship of Jews to the Land of Israe
Italians non-committal to Sokolow
Lord Rothschild writes the Times regarding Montefiore and Alexander
Board of Deputies of British Jews condemns statement of anti-Zionism in the Times
Weizmann becomes aware of the hitherto secret Sykes-Picot agreement
Weizmann meets Lloyd George for breakfast.
Sub-committee of war cabinet meets to consider British territorial claims at the end of the war. Lord Curzon suggests that Palestine should be included in a British protectorate.
Opening of the all-Russian Zionist Conference in St. Petersberg – the first since the February revolution.
Balfour arrives in the US following its entry into the war.
Balfour meets President Wilson and informs about L-G’s Zionist sympathies.
In a meeting with Chaim Weizmann and Lord Rothschild, Balfour promises a formal declaration of support for the Zionist venture.
Sokolov sends a draft of the declaration to Lord Rothschild, asking that it be sent on to Mark Sykes.
A small group of Zionists meet to consider a shorter version of the declaration sent on 12 July.
Balfour sends his own version of the Declaration based on previous Zionist drafts, to Lord Rothschild
British reinforcements on the way to Palestine
British forces attack Beersheba
Britain declares war on Turkey. Dismemberment of Turkey is a war aim, says PM Asquith
Weizmann tells Sokolow to drop talks with the French
Sokolow has audience with Pope Benedict XV
Sokolow meets Vatican Secretary of State
Sokolow received Vatican
Turks halt British advance in Palestine
Lord Robert Cecil seeks Jewish support for British in Palestine
Balfour raises Zionist hopes in DC
British War Cabinet decides to bring Palestine under British control
Balfour in Washington
Armenian lobbyist James Malcolm writes to Weizmann
Lloyd George: French will have to accept a British protectorate in Palestine
Sokolow writes to Weizmann about his meeting with French representatives
British assault on Gaza repelled
Sokolow seeks Alliance Israelite support
Weizmann writes to Brandeis asks he lobby US government to support Zionism
England wants suzerainty over Palestine, Sykes tells Picot
British troops again fail to capture Gaza
Kerensky government in Russia
Fall of tsar simplifies Big Power contest in Palestine
Lloyd George said to be “emphatic on the point of British Palestine”
Sykes tells Weizmann to prepare diplomatic follow-up after capture of Gaza
Starvation looms in Palestine
PM DAVID LLOYD GEORGE AND CONSERVATIVE PARTY STATESMAN LORD CURZON MEET STRATEGIST AND DIPLOMAT SIR MARK SYKES ON THE EVE OF HIS DEPARTURE TO MIDDLE EAST. INSTRUCT HIM THAT NO PLEDGES SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THE ARABS CONCERNING PALESTINE
Lloyd George on British Army’s advance into Palestine
Battle for Gaza
Daily Chronicle backs Zionism
Turks expel Jews from Jaffa
British fail to capture the Gaza Strip
March 22, 1917 – Weizmann has serious practical talk with now Foreign Minister Arthur James Balfour on Zionism and a possible French or American role in Palestine
Medications in short supply in Palestine
Negotiations with Sykes entering final stage
Pale of Jewish Settlement abolished
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates
Weizmann Meets C.P. Scott
British troops capture Baghdad
British troops capture Sinai
French unwillingness to renounce claims to Palestine
Weizmann and Sokolow discuss Picot meeting
Sykes introduces Sokolow to Picot
Meeting with Sykes at home of Gaster
Moses Gaster diary
Weizmann meets Sykes
Lloyd George establishes a War Cabinet
Asquith resigns; Lloyd-George becomes Prime Minister
London Bombed
Battle of the Somme ends
Ruppin expelled from Palestine
Weizmann meets Wolf
McMahon-Hussein correspondence – Arabia to the Arabs
British disband Zion Mule Corps after the Gallipoli campaign
Sykes-Picot Agreement- France (Francois Georges Picot) and Britain (Sir Mark Sykes) concur on division of Ottoman Empire. Eretz Israel (Palestine) to be divided with France controlling the Galilee and Britain the Haifa area with Jerusalem under international control.
NYC Jewish Fair for war relief nets $75,000
Brandeis to address Zionist meeting
NY Merchants raise $150,000 for Palestine
March 1, 1916 Weizmann sees Balfour
Jews plan a demand for rights after war
Sykes writes to Samuel
Distribution Committee sends $142,000 for Palestine
Shipment of medicines sent to Palestine
Brandeis nominated to the US Supreme Court
US President Woodrow Wilson endorses charity “Jewish Relief Day”
Rabbi Stephen Wise on Zionism
DECEMBER 24, 1915 – THE NEW YORK MORNING JOURNAL REPORTS THAT EIGHT MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH CABINET FAVOR ESTABLISHMENT OF A STRONG JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN PALESTINE AFTER THE WAR
Weizmann critical of munitions ministry
Pro Zionist Manchester “Guardian” leader
locusts has devastated Palestine
October 24, 1915- Sir Henry McMahon writes to Sharif Hussein bin Ali of the Hashemite family of Mecca pledging British government to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs in return for Arab uprising against Ottoman Turks
JUNE 1915 – PRIME MINISTER DAVID LLOYD GEORGE INTERVIEWS CHAIM WEIZMANN AS HEAD OF THE BRITISH ADMIRALTY LABORATORIES FROM 1917 TO 1919, WEIZMANN WAS ENGAGED IN SCIENTIFIC WORK FOR THE WAR EFFORT — INVENTING A PROCESS TO PRODUCE SYNTHETIC ACETONE NEEDED FOR EXPLOSIVES.
Coalition government formed by Asquith
RMS “Lusitania” sunk by German submarines
C.P. Scott’s view is that “events are shaping in favour of a British Palestine”
Jabotinsky joins Trumpeldor to create Jewish Legion
Weizmann meets Balfour
Jews in Palestine perfectly safe
Turkey inciting Arabs to attack Jews
Palestinian Jews flee to Egypt
Weizmann and Samuel breakfast with Lloyd George
Weizmann- Lloyd George breakfast set
Turkey may be willing to sell land to Jews
Trumpeldor, Ben-Gurion and Ben Zvi are forced to leave Palestine
Herbert Samuel presents memorandum British protectorate
Zionist leaders Nahum Sokolow and Jehiel Tschlenow arrive in London and join forces with Weizmann
Chaim Weizmann meets Baron Edmond de Rothschild in Paris
December 14, 1914 – Weizmann writes Ahad Ha’am about interview with Balfour who admired Weizmann’s assertiveness on Zionism
Nahum Sokolow arrives in England
Turkey cracks down on Jews
Weizmann meets Herbert Samuel
“Guardian” editor C.P. Scott writes to Weizmann
Herbert Samuel talks to British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey about Palestine’s fate
SLIDE 3 Turkey entered the war on the axis side on 5 November 1914
Weizmann meets CP Scott
Palestinian Jews fear deportation
Famine in Palestine
Slide 2 (B2) Outbreak of World War I. Britain declares war on Germany. US President Woodrow Wilson declares policy of US neutrality. Jewish world geographically divided among warring parties. Zionist programs paralyzed
Morgenthau in Palestine
rchduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, assassinated in Sarajevo setting off a series of events that will lead to World War I
Dashed Plans for Zionist-Arab Conference
Hebrew education
Arab nationalist opposition to Zionism
Baron Rothschild visits Palestine
Chaim Weizmann, speaking at the eleventh Zionist Congress 2-9 September 1913 in Vienna, announces raising of $100,000 to establish a Hebrew University in Jerusalem
German Jews oppose Zionism
Max Nordau, President of the 10th Zionist Congress
Journalist opposes Zionism
Turkey to grant Palestinian Jews autonomy?
Nathan Straus
Magnes encourages Jews to settle in Palestine
Technion
Hadassah
Nucleus of a Health System
10th Zionist Congress
Jerusalem’s Growing Jewish Population
Ninth Zionist Congress
Young Turks not sympathetic to Zionism
Third visit for Wolffsohn in Constantinople
Young Turk Revolution gives Zionists hope
April 23, 1909 – British Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler: Since destruction of Temple, Jews no longer constitute a nation and are exclusively a religious community
Young Judaea founded
1909 – Tel Aviv is founded on sand dunes near Jaffa
Young Turk Revolution
Joseph Cowen, Zionist leader pleads for aid to found a state in Palestine
MARCH 16, 1908 – VIOLENCE BETWEEN ARABS AND JEWS BREAKS OUT IN JAFFA.
Wolffsohn back in Constantinople
Weizmann visits Palestine
Schiff’s mixed feelings on Zionism
Zionist movement plans bank
Eighth Zionist Congress meets in The Hague. Decides to open Palestine branch in Jaffa led by Arthur Ruppin to facilitate agricultural settlement and development
Wolffsohn in Constantinople
Wolffsohn visits Palestine
HaShomer, organized
First Kibbutz Deganya
Tolstoy Opposes Zionism
All Russian Zionist organizations meets
Bezalel art school
Poale Zion Established
January 9, 1906 – Weizmann holds conversation with Balfour on Zionism.
Jews Flee Russian Persecutions
Herbert Samuel becomes first Jewish cabinet minister
1905 Aliens Act
Zionist Congress rejects Uganda project
First Weizmann-Balfour Meeting
Herzl Dies
Uganda Controversy Rages
Zionists send to Transjordan
Herzl meets with Pope Pius X
Herzl sees Italian King
Herzl meets Vatican Secretary of State
Second Aliyah
Teddy Roosevelt Flag
Uganda Controversy
Sixth Zionist Congress
Herzl Visits Russia
Anglo-Palestine Bank opens in Jaffa
JNF Buys Land
Chamberlain raises Uganda
Kishinev pogrom
El-Arish plan
Debate Over Zionism
N.Y. Shekel Day
Herzl publishes “Altneuland”
Herzl Meets J. Chamberlain
Herzl back in Turkey
Herzl in London
Herzl meets Nathaniel Meyer Rothschild
Mizrachi Orthodox Zionist movement founded in Vilna
December 29, 1901 – The Jewish National Fund is established
Fifth Zionist Congress
Herzl Meets Sultan
Jewish Farms in Palestine
Turkey Maintains Limits on Jewish Visitors
Fourth Zionist Congress
Turkey Limits how Long Jewish Visitors may stay in Palestine
Third Zionist Congress in Basle, August 15-18, 1899
Jewish Colonial Trust incorporated
40,000 Jews in Palestine
Herzl meets Kaiser Wilhelm II in Jerusalem
Herzl greets Kaiser Wilhelm II
Kaiser Wilhelm II visits the Holy Land
Herzl meets Kaiser Wilhelm II in Constantinople on his way to Palestine
Second Zionist Congress held in Basle
Israel Zangwill defends Zionist idea
>September 10, 1897 – Reform Rabbi Isaac M. Wise of Cincinnati, Ohio writes in New York Times that a Jewish state is nowadays “impossible”
First Zionist Congress held in Basle, Switzerland August 29-31, 1897 – urges “a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine” for Jews and establishes the World Zionist Organization. Theodor Herzl elected president
Reform rabbis meeting in Montreal issue strong statement against an independent Jewish state
First issue of Zionist newspaper “Die Welt” (The World) which will serve as Herzl’s platform
Herzl meets with Hovevei Zion representatives
Herzl sees Baron Edmond de Rothschild
Herzl publishes “The Jewish State” (“Der Judenstaat”)
In June 1896, Herzl visits Constantinople for first time. Meets with Grand Vizier Khalil Rifat Pasha and other officials and proposes plan to finance Turkey’s debt in return for turning Palestine over to the Jews. The Grand Vizier is unenthusiastic.
Dreyfus court-martialed
Theodor Herzl covers the Dreyfus Affair in Paris for Viennese newspaper “Neue Freie Presse”
Jewish Colonization Association incorporated in London by Baron Maurice de Hirsch of Paris
First Lord Rothschild
November 6-8, 1884 – Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) hold first international Zionist convention in Kattowitz, Poland; Leon Pinsker voted to head it
Moshava of Gedera founded; Hadera and Rehovot founded in 1890
Joseph Feinberg from Rishon LeZion meets Baron Edmond de Rothschild in Paris
Rishon LeZion founded
Leon Pinsker publishes ‘Auto-Emancipation’
July 6, 1882 – First group of Bilu settlers arrives in Palestine as part of wave that becomes known as the First Aliya. Unlike the Old Yishuv of established Orthodox Palestinian Jews who subsisted on charity, new arrivals are pioneers who want to build a new Jewish society
Eliezer Ben Yehuda, considered the father of Modern Hebrew, arrives in Palestine
1878 – Petah Tikva and Gai Oni, the first two agricultural settlements, founded
Zevi Hirsch Kalischer, ultra-Orthodox German rabbi who advocated resettlement of Eretz Israel, dies. Most rabbis held that full-scale return to the Land of Israel must wait until the Messiah comes
Mikveh Israel, first Jewish agricultural school in Eretz Israel, founded
Moses Hess writes early Zionist polemic ‘Rome and Jerusalem’
First Hebrew newspaper in Russian Empire
Christian Crusaders capture Jerusalem – 1096
Arabs conquer Jerusalem 638
Jews of France emancipated, heralding the possibility of Jews integrating into general community
Romans destroy Second Temple. Beginning of the Exile