Israel, in chronological order.

Theodor Herzl convened 200 delegates from 17 countries in Basel, Switzerland, founding the World Zionist Organization with the stated goal of establishing 'a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured by public law.'

• Herzl wrote in his diary: 'At Basel I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today I would be answered by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive it.'

British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Walter Rothschild expressing His Majesty's Government's support for 'the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.'

• Later incorporated verbatim into the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

The League of Nations unanimously awarded Britain the Mandate for Palestine, with the explicit legal purpose of putting the Balfour Declaration into effect and recognizing 'the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.'

• Ratified by 51 League member states.
• Encouraged 'close settlement by Jews on the land' and recognized the Jewish Agency as the body representing the Jewish people in matters concerning the national home.

The UN General Assembly voted 33-13 (with 10 abstentions) to partition Mandatory Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an internationally administered Jerusalem.

• The Jewish leadership accepted the plan; the Arab Higher Committee and surrounding Arab states rejected it and announced they would prevent its implementation by force.
• Spontaneous celebrations broke out across the Yishuv that night, dancing in the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as the radio broadcast each vote.

David Ben-Gurion read the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel at the Tel Aviv Museum at 4:00 PM, eight hours before the British Mandate expired. The United States granted de facto recognition within 11 minutes; the Soviet Union followed three days later.

• The Declaration cites 'the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.'
• Signed by 37 representatives of the Yishuv from across the political and religious spectrum, including two rabbis.

Five Arab armies, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, invaded the day after independence was declared, joined by Saudi and Yemeni expeditionary forces and Palestinian Arab irregulars. The IDF held the country and signed armistices with each invader over 1949.

The Knesset passed legislation guaranteeing every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel and acquire citizenship.

• Drafted by PM David Ben-Gurion and FM Moshe Sharett; passed unanimously.
• In its first 75 years, the Law of Return has brought ~3.4 million Jews to Israel, from Yemen, Iraq, Morocco, Ethiopia, the former Soviet Union, France, and dozens of other communities.

Israel, in coordination with Britain and France, struck Egypt after Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.

• In eight days the IDF captured the entire Sinai Peninsula, reaching the Suez Canal.
• Under US-Soviet pressure Israel withdrew by March 1957, but secured freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran and the stationing of a UN Emergency Force in Sinai.

After Egypt expelled the UN force from Sinai, blockaded the Straits of Tiran, signed mutual defense pacts with Jordan and Syria, and massed armies on every Israeli border, Israel launched a preemptive strike on June 5. In six days the IDF defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria simultaneously.

• Defense Minister Moshe Dayan's order on entering the Old City: 'We have returned to all that is holy in our land. We have returned never to be parted from it again.'
• Chief IDF Rabbi Shlomo Goren blew the shofar at the Western Wall on June 7, 1967.

A grinding Egyptian-Soviet artillery and aerial campaign across the Suez Canal aimed at forcing Israel out of Sinai through sustained attrition. Ended in a US-brokered ceasefire August 1970.

Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the highest holy day of the Jewish calendar. Israeli intelligence had not anticipated the attack and Israeli forces were unprepared in the first 72 hours.

• IDF counter-attacks crossed the Suez Canal, encircled Egypt's Third Army on the canal's west bank, and pushed within 40 km of Damascus before US-Soviet pressure halted operations.
• The Agranat Commission investigated the intelligence failure.

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel, landing at Ben-Gurion Airport, praying at Al-Aqsa, and addressing the Knesset.

• Met at the tarmac by PM Menachem Begin, President Ephraim Katzir, and former PMs Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin.
• Addressed the Knesset in Arabic: 'No more war, no more bloodshed.'

PM Menachem Begin, President Anwar Sadat, and President Jimmy Carter negotiated the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978, leading to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty signed in Washington on March 26, 1979, the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state.

• Israel withdrew from the entire Sinai Peninsula (returned in stages, completed April 25, 1982) in exchange for full diplomatic relations, freedom of navigation, and a demilitarized buffer.
• Begin and Sadat shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. Sadat was assassinated by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad three years later.

The IDF entered Lebanon to clear PLO terror infrastructure that had been shelling northern Israeli towns for years from southern Lebanon. The IDF advanced to Beirut, expelled the PLO leadership (which relocated to Tunis), and remained in a southern Lebanese security zone until 2000.

A six-year Palestinian uprising of stone-throwing, firebombing, and stabbing attacks across Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, coordinated by the PLO from Tunis and the newly founded Hamas movement (chartered August 1988).

PM Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn, creating the Palestinian Authority and establishing a framework for staged Israeli withdrawal from parts of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

• Negotiated in secret back-channels in Oslo by Israeli academics Yair Hirschfeld and Ron Pundak with PLO official Ahmed Qurei.
• The handshake between Rabin and Arafat was orchestrated by President Bill Clinton.

PM Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed the Wadi Araba Treaty at the Israel-Jordan border, ending 46 years of formal hostility. Jordan became the second Arab state to make peace with Israel.

• Recognized the Hashemite Kingdom's special role as custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
• Committed Israel to supply Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water per year.
• Established full diplomatic relations, open borders, and intelligence and security cooperation that has subsequently been used to intercept Iranian projectiles transiting Jordanian airspace.

The Oslo II Interim Agreement was signed in Washington on September 28, 1995, dividing the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C. Five weeks later, on November 4, PM Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated at a Tel Aviv peace rally by a Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo process.

PM Ehud Barak, with President Clinton, offered Yasser Arafat a peace package covering ~91% of Judea and Samaria, all of Gaza, a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem, shared sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and a framework for the refugee issue. Arafat did not counter-propose; the Second Intifada began within weeks.

• The first negotiation in which an Israeli PM put division of Jerusalem on the table.
• Clinton publicly attributed the failure of the summit to Arafat.
• Barak's coalition collapsed; he lost the February 2001 election to Ariel Sharon.

Five years of sustained Palestinian terror, including suicide bombings on buses, in cafes, in pizzerias, and at the Passover seder in Netanya.

• The IDF's Operation Defensive Shield (March-May 2002) reasserted Israeli security control across Judea and Samaria.
• Construction of the security barrier, begun in 2002, was followed by a decline of more than 90% in suicide bombings inside Israel.

Triggered by a Hezbollah cross-border raid that killed eight Israeli soldiers and abducted two reservists, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. 34 days of fighting in southern Lebanon and rocket fire on northern Israel.

PM Ehud Olmert presented Mahmoud Abbas with a territorial proposal of roughly 93.7% of Judea and Samaria with 1:1 land swaps, all of Gaza connected by a corridor, a Palestinian capital in parts of eastern Jerusalem, international trusteeship of the holy basin, and a return of 5,000 refugees over five years.

• Olmert presented a sketched-out map that Abbas declined to sign or take with him.
• Abbas did not formally respond; in subsequent interviews he confirmed he had walked away from the table.
• Came at the end of the Annapolis-process negotiations led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and PA negotiator Ahmed Qurei.

Three-week IDF air and ground operation in Gaza in response to Hamas rocket fire on southern Israeli communities, including Sderot, Ashkelon, and the western Negev.

Eight-day IDF air campaign against Hamas in Gaza, opened with the targeted killing of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari.

• Iron Dome's first large-scale operational deployment. Rafael's interceptor brought down ~85% of rockets aimed at populated areas.

50-day war in Gaza after Hamas kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers, Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Shaer, and Naftali Fraenkel, while they were hitchhiking home from yeshiva in Gush Etzion. The IDF destroyed dozens of Hamas cross-border attack tunnels.

Israel signed the Abraham Accords on the White House lawn with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on September 15, 2020, the first new Arab-Israeli peace agreements in 26 years. Morocco normalized December 10, 2020 (with US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara), and Sudan signed an Abraham Accords Declaration in January 2021.

• Negotiated by the Trump administration; led on the US side by Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz.
• Bilateral trade with the UAE alone exceeded $3.2B by 2025.
• Kazakhstan formally joined the framework in early 2026, the first Central Asian state.

11-day IDF operation against Hamas in Gaza after Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem on Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day).

• Iron Dome interception rate exceeded 90% across thousands of incoming rockets.
• IDF struck the 'Metro' Hamas tunnel system in northern Gaza with a massive coordinated air campaign.

On Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah morning, Hamas attackers invaded Israel from Gaza, killing approximately 1,200 people, including 364 attendees of the Nova music festival and residents of the kibbutzim of Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, and Nahal Oz, and abducting 251 hostages into Gaza.

• Ground operations in Gaza dismantled Hamas's military structure and the tunnel network and killed Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh.
• September-October 2024: the Lebanon campaign included the pager and walkie-talkie operations, the killing of Hassan Nasrallah and the Radwan Force command, and the destruction of Hezbollah's missile stockpile.
• A US-brokered ceasefire framework took effect October 2025, securing the release of remaining hostages and establishing post-war Gaza governance that excludes Hamas.

Twelve days of Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program, including the elimination of senior IRGC commanders, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and lead nuclear scientists. Iran retaliated with ballistic missile barrages on Israeli population centers; Jordanian, Saudi, and Gulf air defenses intercepted the vast majority alongside Israeli systems.

• On June 22, 2025, the United States joined with Operation Midnight Hammer, B-2 stealth bombers dropping GBU-57 bunker-busters on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites, severely degrading the Iranian nuclear program.
• Ceasefire mediated by Oman took effect June 25.

A US-brokered ceasefire framework ended the active phase of the Iron Swords War, securing the release of remaining hostages and establishing a post-war Gaza governance structure that excludes Hamas. Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE served as mediators and guarantors.

Kazakhstan formally joined the Abraham Accords framework, the first Central Asian state to do so.

A second major round of Israeli and allied operations against Iran's reconstituted nuclear and missile program, after Tehran rebuilt portions of its program in the year following the June 2025 war.

• Israel deployed an Iron Dome battery, the Iron Beam laser system, and IDF personnel to the United Arab Emirates at the request of Emirati leadership, the first deployment of Iron Dome to any country other than the US, intercepting dozens of Iranian missiles aimed at Emirati targets.
• Jordanian air defenses, coordinating with US, UK, and French forces, shot down 108 of 119 Iranian projectiles crossing the Hashemite Kingdom's airspace en route to Israel and allied targets.