Timeline of Modern Israel (2000-2009)

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2000

2000	Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman named first Jewish vice presidential candidate of a major political party - becomes first Jew on a major party ticket.
	Birthright Israel is created with the goal of sending thousands of young Jewish adults on trips to Israel.
January 3-10	Israeli and Syrian leaders convene in Shepardstown, WV to negotiate a peace deal. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara fail to make a deal.
January 5	Israel transfers to the PA 3% of land from Area C to Area B and 2% from Area B to PA-controlled Area A.
January 10	The Israel-Syria talks end after the U.S. proposes a draft agreement.
January 12	Israel and Jordan renew their bilateral trade agreement.
January 17	The U.S. announces freezing of the Israel-Syria talks due to fundamental differences.
January 19	Syria says it will not resume talks with Israel unless Israel pledges to withdraw to the June 5, 1967 lines.
January 25	Israel cancels plans to send experts to Washington, D.C. to discuss a working paper on Syria.
February 1	The Multilateral Steering Committee meets in Moscow.
March 5	Israeli cabinet votes to withdraw from southern Lebanon by July.
March 14	Israel begins the deployment of the Arrow 2 missile system.
March 21	Israel and PA negotiatiors meet at Boiling Air Force Base near Washington, DC. Israel hands over 6.1% of Area B to Area A. The PA now controls 18.2% of the West Bank (Area A), and partially controls 21.8% (Area B).
March 21-26	Visit to Israel of Pope John Paul II.
March 26	President Clinton meets President Assad in Geneva; he later admits that the Israel-Syrian differences cannot be bridged.
March 27	A suicide bombing on No. 6 bus in the French Hill junction of Jerusalem injurs 28 people.
March 28	At a gas station east of Kfar Saba a suicide bombing kills two and injurs four.
April 11	Prime Minister Barak and President Clinton hold talks in the White House on FAPS, withdrawal from Lebanon and the Phalcon deal with China.
April 17	Israel informs the United Nations of its plans to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
April 22	A suicide bombing at a bus stop in Jerusalem leaves one dead and 39 injured.
April 24	Israel is given temporary membership in the UN regional group Western European and Other Groups. Israel is allowed to take part in WEOG activities in New York, but no other UN office.
May 7	Prime Minister Barak and Arafat meet in Ramallah. Barak says that Israel will shortly cede three West Bank villages near Jerusalem to Palestinian control.
May 12	Israel and Jordan sign an agreement to proceed with plans for the construction of the Akaba-Eilat airport. Lebanon anounces to the United Nations that Israeli withdrawal will not be complete until they withdraw from Sheba farms.
May 14	It is revealed that back channel talks between Israel and the PA took place in Stockholm. Israel was represented by Internal Security Minister Ben-Ami.
May 15	The cabinet, and later the Knesset, approve the transfer of Abu Dis, Izariyah and Sawarah al-Sharquiya to Area A.
May 18	Outside a Netanya shopping center a suicide bomber kills five and injurs more than 100.
May 21	Following attacks on Israeli civilians near Jericho, Israel suspends the Stockholm talks and postpones transfer of the three villages near Jerusalem to the PA.
	Election of Jorg Haider, leader of the ultra-right Freedom party, to Austria's parliament.
	Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. academic, is sued by Holocaust denier David Irving in England for libel. The case is ultimately dismissed.
May 23-June 1	Unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan notes that most of the disputed region of Sheba Farms is within United Nations control, and recommends Lebanon to proceed with negotiations.
June 1	President Clinton and PM Barak meet in Lisbon. Clinton says FAPS is within reach.
	Birthright Israel is created by philanthropists Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt with the goal of sending thousands of young adults on a free trip to Israel.
	Federal judges approve $1.25 billion to settle Holocaust claims brought against Swiss banks.
June 10	Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad dies in Damascus. He was quickly suceeded by his son, Bashar Assad.
June 16	UN Secretary-General Annan certifies that Israel completed its withdrawal from Lebanon. This certification is endorsed on June 18 by the Security Council.
June 18	The United Nations officialy recognizes Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
July 10	President Ezer Weizman resigns his office.
July 11-25	Camp David Summit.
July 12	Israel cancels the Phalcon deal with China.
July 25	The Camp David meeting ends in failure. President Clinton and PM Barak blame Arafat for the failure; Clinton says that Barak was much more flexible.
July 29	Arafat begins to visit foreign heads of state in an effort to gain support for the Palestinian position.
July 31	Moshe Katsav is elected Israel's eighth president.
August 5	UNIFIL completes its deployment along the Blue Line (border of Lebanon and Israel).
September 6	Clinton fails to resolve the differences between Barak and Arafat during separate meetings held with each leader during the UN Millenium Summit in New York.
September 10	The PLO Central Committee votes to postpone plans to declare Palestinian statehood.
September 13	Both sides fail to meet the deadline set for reaching a peace agreement.
September 27	An Israeli soldier is killed by a roadside bomb in Gaza.
September 28	Visit of Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, ultimately sparking the Second Intifada.
September 29	Clashes erupt between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.
October 1	Serious clashes in the West Bank and Gaza spread to a number of Israeli cities. 13 Israeli Arabs are killed.
October 4	Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agree to a limited cease-fire during talks in Paris between Prime Minister Ehud Barak, PA President Yasser Arafat and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The cease-fire only lasts a few hours before violence is renewed.
October 7	Destruction of Joseph's Tomb after Israeli forces withdraw. Hezbollah shells northern Israel and captures three Israeli soldiers.
	Three Israeli soldiers (Adi Avitan, Omer Soued and Binyamin Avraham) are kidnapped by Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon line in the Mt. Dov sector.
October 12	Lynching of Israeli reservists in Ramallah.
	Israeli helicopters attack Palestinian targets in Gaza and Ramallah.
	Destruction of the Shalom al Yisrael Synagogue in Jericho.
October 13	Oman closes its trade office in Tel Aviv. Morocco recalls its envoy from Israel.
October 16-17	Sharm El-Sheikh Summit attended by President Clinton, President Mubarak, King Abdullah, EU, and Israeli and Palestinian leaders who agree to cease-fire.
October 17	PM Barak and Arafat reach oral understanding on ending the uprising. President Clinton decided to appoint an international inquiry commission (letter headed by Senator Mitchell).
October 20	Cease-fire ends when new clashes erupt.
October 22	PM Barak suspends the peace process.
	In the wake of an Arab League summit decision, Tunisia demands Israel close its trade office in Tunis.
October 26	A PIJ suicide bomber blows himself up near the Kisufim settlement in Gaza. No Israelis are seriously hurt.
November 7	The U.S. names the Mitchell Commission members.
November 9	Qatar orders the Israel trade mission in Doha to close.
	Hussein Abayat, head of Fatah's armed militias in the southern West Bank, is killed when a missile hits his vehicle.
November 12	PM Barak meets with President Clinton in Washington, D.C.
November 16	Hezbollah militants plant an explosive near an IDF convoy. There are no casualties.
November 21	Egypt recalls its ambassador from Israel.
November 22	Jamal Abdel Razeq, suspected of involvement in a serious of deadly attacks, is ambushed and killed by the IDF, along with three other Palestinians.
November 23	Ibrahim Beni Ouda, leaders of Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, is blown up in a car in Nablus.
November 26	A charge is detonated near an IDF convoy. IDF soldier Khalil Taher is killed and two other soldiers are wounded.
December 9	PM Barak announces that he will resign on December 10 and call elections for the office of prime minister within two months. Former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, not a Knesset member, cannot run against him unless the Knesset dissolves itself, which it does not.
December 10	Prime Minister Ehud Barak resigns hoping to win a mandate in a new election for his peace policies.
	Mahmoud Yusef Moghradi, a Fatah militant accused by Israel of having planted a bomb, is killed on a bypass road.
December 11	Investigation into causes of Palestinian-Israeli violence allegedly sparked by Sharon visit to Temple Mount is initiated under the leadership of former U.S. Senator George Mitchell.
	Anwar Mahmoud Hamran, a member of Islamic Jihad, is shot near an army post in Nablus.
December 12	Fatah militant Yusef Ahmed Abu Suwai is shot while standing outside his West Bank village home near Bethlehem.
December 13	Hamas militant Abbas Osman Awidi is killed outside his home in Hebron.
December 19	The Knesset decides not to dissolve itself, but to allow Netanyahu to run. He decides not to run.
December 22	President Clinton presents the Israeli and PA negotiating teams with a peace plan and demands acceptance by Barak and Arafat within five days.
December 25	Barak says he is prepared to accept the Clinton plan with no reservations as long as the PA does the same.
December 27	Arafat says he cannot accept the Clinton plan without additional clarifications.
December 28	President Clinton says he will not agree to further talks unless Arafat accepts his plan.
December 31	Thabet Thabet, head of Fatah in Tulkarem, is shot and killed.

2001

January 6	CIA Director Tenet holds talks on security issues with Israeli and PA officials.
January 21-27	Peace talks are held at Egyptian town of Taba, but break up after Arafat gives a vitriolic speech to an international forum accusing Israel of being “fascist” and after Palestinian militants kills two Israeli civilians.
January 31	Six mortar bombs are fired in the area of the Sion river outpost near the Lebanese border. There are no casualties.
February 6	Election of Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel, winning 61 percent of the vote.
February 13	Israeli gunships kill Colonel Masoud Ayad, a leader of the Hezbollah and a member of Force-17, Arafat's personal security force.
February 14	A Palestinian terrorist drives a bus into a group of soldiers and civilians at a bus stop near Holon, south of Tel-Aviv, killing eight and injuring 25.
February 16	Fire at an IDF convoy on Mt. Dov near Cheeba Farms. IDF soldier Elad Shneor is killed, and three other soldiers wounded.
February 19	Mahmud el-Madani, a member of Hamas' armed wing, is shot and killed in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.
February 20	Due to domestic political pressure, Barak backs out of a deal to forge a new Israeli government in alliance with Ariel Sharon, declaring that he will not accept the post of Defense Minister in a future partnership.
	U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell states that the Bush Administration believes the Israelis and Palestinians must solve their own security issues, and that the United States' aid cannot substitute continued efforts on both sides.
February 26	The Israeli Labor Party joins a coalition government headed by Ariel Sharon. Shimon Peres is named Foreign Minister and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer assumes the position of Minister of Defense.
March 1	A bomb goes off in a service taxi at the Mei Ami juntion in Wadi Ara, killing one Israeli and injuring nine.
	The IDF and Israeli civilian officials discuss reoccupying Palestinian-controlled territory.
March 4	A suicide bomber kills himself and three Israelis and injures dozens of others at a busy intersection in Netanya. The Izzedin al-Qassam states that this is the first of ten suicide bombers trained by Hamas in response to Ariel Sharon's election.
March 7	Ariel Sharon is sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel.
March 18	An Israeli army base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, next to the Gaza Strip, is fired at with mortar shells by Palestinians. This is the first time Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have attacked Israeli targets within Israel's borders.
March 20	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
	Colin Powell visits the Middle East for the first time as Secretary of State and calls for an end to the violence.
March 21	The IDF shells a Force-17 training base, killing one Palestinian officer.
March 26	In the West Bank town of Hebron, a Palestinian sniper shoots and kills a 10-month-old baby girl, Shalhevet Pass, and wounds her father.
March 27	In the Talpiot industrial/commercial area of Jerusalem, a car bomb goes off, wounding seven bystanders. The PIJ claims responsibility. At the French Hill junction in Jerusalem, the No. 6 bus is bombed, injuring 28 people, two seriously, in an attack Hamas claims to be responsible for.
March 28	A suicide bombing near the Palestinian city of Qalquilyah, two Israeli teenagers are killed. Ariel Sharon, in his first military response since taking office three weeks prior, responds by sending helicopter gunships to bombard Arafat's Force-17 military bases and training camps. One Force-17 member and two other Palestinians are killed. In another incident, a suidice bomber detonates explosives at a gas station near Kfar Saba, killing two and injuring four.
April 1	A 42-year-old Israeli woman is stabbed to death in Haifa. Her murder was the initiation rite of a terrorist cell, whose members were apprehended in July. Six members of a Hezbollah-linked Palestinian terrorist cell responsible for the murder, originally thought to be criminally motivated, were arrested in July. The murder was the initiation rite of one of the terrorists into the organization.
April 2	Israel assassinates Mohammed Abdel Al, a military activist in Islamic Jihad, by shooting rockets from helicopters at his car in Rafah in southern Gaza.
April 5	Iyyad Hardan, the military leader of the Islamic Jihad is killed when a booby-trapped public telephone booth in Jenin explodes.
April 6	Palestinians in Gaza fire three mortar shells at Netiv Haasara, an Israeli village next to Gaza. Israel responds by firing rockets by helicopter at Palestinian police installations north of Gaza City. Four or more rockets are fired, hitting a police headquarters and two other buildings.
April 10	Palestinians continue firing mortar rounds at Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip and within Israel's borders. There are no casualties. Israel's response is to fire antitank missiles at Palestinian police posts in Gaza. At one target, a Palestinian naval post, a lieutenant is killed and seven policement injured. At another target, a police headquarters in a refugee camp, ten are wounded. There incidents are considered daylight attacks, without warning, on occupied buildings, compared to previous nighttime raids.
April 11	Israeli tanks and bulldozers level buildings in a Gaza refugee camp in Khan Younis suspected of being used as lauching pad for mortar attacks. Following the raid, a ground battle ensues as hudreds of armed Palestinians summoned by mosque loudspeakers rush to defend the refugee camp against and “Iraeli invasion.” Two Palestinians are killed and 24 injured; no Israelis are killed. This is the largest and furthest Israeli ground attack into Palestinian-governed territory since the latest series of violence beginning in September.
April 14	Israeli planes hit targets in southern Lebanon in retaliation for an attack by Hezbollah on a group of Israeli soldiers, which killed one soldier.
	Fire at an IDF post in the Mt. Dov sector near Cheeba Farms. IDF soldier Elad Litvak is killed.
	Mohammed Yassin Nasser, a Hamas activist, is killed in an explosion in a house in Gaza City.
April 15	Israeli planes attack Syrian radar sites in the central mountains of Lebanon in response to Hezbollah strikes on stations of IDF soldiers along the northern Israeli border. This is the first Israeli attack against the Syrian military in five years. One Syrian soldier is killed and four other injured.
April 16	Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdullah Khatib presents Israel with an Egyptian-backed proposal for ending Israeli-Palestinian violence and renewing peace negotions. The proposal calls for Israel to end settlement construction in Gaza and the West Bank, pull out of Palestinian towns, and lift the blockade of Palestinian-controlled regions. In return, the Palestinians would stop the violence against Israelis. Israel responds coldly, promising to look over the minister's suggestions further.
	Israel briefly takes over Beit Hanoun, a territory in northern Gaza under full Palestinian control, and bombs Force-17 posts, fatally wounding one Force-17 soldier.
April 17	For the first time since ceding the Gaza Stip to the Palestinian Authority under the 1993 Oslo Agreements, the IDF occupies territory in Gaza in response to the increased attacks from the area. Ariel Sharon states that he will keep forces in the region as long as necessary, but pulls Israeli troops back after public outcries. Yasser Arafat calls the situation an “unforgivable crime”, and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a rare criticism of Israel, calls the military act “excessive and disproportionate.” Powell calls for the Israeli government to vacate the area, but places the blame on a “provocative” Palestinian mortar attack for triggering the move.
April 22	A suicide bomber blows up a bus in Jerusalem, killing one and injuring 39 others.
April 28	A 60-year-old Israeli man is found stabbed to death in Kfar Ba'aneh, near Carmiel in Galilee. The terrorists responsible for the attack were apprehended in July. Six members of a Hezbollah-linked Palestinian terrorist cell responsible for the murder were arrested in July. The murder was the initiation rite of the organization.
	Imad Daud Karake, a Fatah activisit, is shot dead while driving near Bethlehem.
April 30	Mitchell Commission makes recommendations for ending violence.
	Two Hamas militants, Hamdi Madhoun and Mohamed Abu Khaled, are killed by the explosion of a booby-trapped car in a garage in Gaza City.
May 5	Ahmad Khalil Issa, a member of PIJ, is shot outside his ship in the West Bank village of Artas.
May 18	A suicide bomber blows himself up at a shopping mall in Netanya, killing five and injuring over 100.
May 21	The Mitchell Commission issues its report.
March 28	In a suicide bombing near the Palestinian city of Qalquilyah, two Israeli teenagers are killed. Ariel Sharon, in his first military response since taking office three weeks prior, responds by sending helicopter gunships to bombard Arafat's Force-17 military bases and training camps. One Force-17 member and two other Palestinians are killed.
May 25	A Hamas suicide bomber explodes his truck outside an Israeli army post in Gaza. He is killed and no one is injured.
June 1	Hamas and PIJ both claim responsibility for a suicide bombing outside the Tel Aviv discotheque “Pascha” in which 21 Israelis die and 120 are injured.
June 12	U.S. CIA Director George Tenet negotiates a cease-fire, but Palestinians break it within a few hours of its announcement.
June 22	A suicide bombing in Gaza claims the lives of two Israeli soldiers and the bomber.
June 24	Osama Jawabri, a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and on the list of Israel's most wanted terrorists, is killed when a booby-trapped public telephone he often used exploded.
June 26	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
June 29	Hezbollah fighters fire 12 rockets and mortars at an Israeli position in Cheeba Farms. Two IDF soldiers are wounded.
July 1	Hezbollah fires rockets and mortars at Israeli positions in Cheeba Farms. There are no casualties.
July 15	Israel insists on seven days of calm before it will resume peace talks with Palestinians, but violence continues to escalate.
July 16	A PIJ militant blows himself up at a bus stop north of Tel Aviv, killing two Israeli settlers. A second PIJ bomber kills himself and an Israeli woman and injures five others at a train station in Binyamina.
July 17	Helicopter gunships kill four men in Bethlehem, two of who are linked to Hamas. Israeli sources claim the men were planning an attack on the athletes at the Maccabiah games.
July 23	Israel approves construction of a security fence to improve security and prevent terrorism.
July 25	Hamas activist Saleh Darwezeh dies when Israeli antitank missiles strike his car near Nablus.
July 30	Israeli rockets destroy a Hamas office in Nablus, killing Jamal Mansour, a leading Hamas figure in the West Bank.
August 5	Hamas activist Amer Mansour Habiri dies when Israeli missiles strike his car in Tulkarem in the West Bank.
August 9	One of the worst of a serious of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks occurs when a Palestinian blows himself up at a downtown Jerusalem pizzeria, Sbarro, killing 15 and wounding more than 130. Hamas and the PIJ both claim responsibility.
August 10	Israeli forces capture Orient House in East Jerusalem which acted as a base for Palestinian activity.
August 12	A PIJ suicide bombing at a restaurant near Haifa leaves 20 people wounded.
August 15	Israeli troops ambush and kill Palestinian militant Emad Abu Sneineh.
August 27	A shell attack destroys the offices of Abu Ali Mustafa, leader of the PFLP, and kills him.
August 31-September 8	The UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, South Africa.
September 1	Colonel Taiseer Khatab, an aide to the chief of Gaza intelligence, is killed when a bomb ignites under the seat of his car.
September 6	U.S. diplomats walk out of UN conference in Durban when organizers attempt to equate Zionism with racism.
September 9	A suicide bomber in Nahariya kills three and injures 31. Hamas, the PIJ, and Hezbollah claim responsibility.
September 11	Terrorists crash airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Thousands of Palestinians take to the streets to celebrate while most of the world mourns and expresses outrage.
September 18	Arafat declares a cease-fire under pressure from the United States and Israel withdraws forces it had moved into Palestinian-controlled territories.
September 24	Sharon declares his willingness to “give the Palestinians what no one ever gave them before, the possibility of a state.”
October 2	President Buch declares support for a Palestinian state, so long as it does not threaten Israel's right to exist..
October 7	In Beit Shean, a PIJ suicide bomber kills himself and one Israeli.
October 8	A PIJ terrorist blows himself up near Kibbutz Shluhot in nothern Israel.
October 14	Israeli forces shoot and kill Abdel Rahman Hamad, the alleged architect behind the June 1 attack on a Tel Aviv discotheque that killed 22 people.
October 17	Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi is assassinated by Palestinian terrorists from the PFLP. Israel responds by sending troops into six Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
October 18	Atef Abayat of the PFLP is killed along with two other Palestinian gunmen when their car explodes near Bethlehem.
October 22	Hamas bombmaker Hayman Halaweh is killed and three others wounded when his booby-trapped car explodes in Nablus.
	Hezbollah operatives attack Israeli military positions in Cheeba Farms. There are no casualties.
November 1	Hamas officials Yasser Asideh and Fahami Abu Eisha are killed in a missile attack outside Tulkarem in the West Bank.
November 10	President Bush addresses U.N. General Assembly and for the first time an American president formally lays out a vision of a Palestinian state living in peace beside Israel.
November 23	An Israeli helicopter fires two missiles at a van in Nablus, killed Mahmoud Abu Hamoud, a top-tanking Hamas official.
November 26	President Bush sends Anthony Zinni to try to mediate an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire.
November 29	A PIJ militant blows himself up on a passenger bus in northern Israel, killing three Israelis and wounding six.
December 1	Back-to-back suicide bombings in west Jerusalem leave 10 dead and 170 injured.
December 2	A suicide bomber in Haifa kills 16 and wounds 40.
	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
December 10	President Bush becomes the first American president to host a reception celebrating Chanukah in the White House residence.
	Muhammed Sidr, and Islamic Jihad leader, is wounded in a missile attack in Hebron.
December 12	Israeli cabinet declares Arafat “no longer relevant” after a series of horrific Palestinian terrorist attacks.
December 15	U.S. vetoes UN Security Council draft resolution that would have established an international monitoring force in Israel.
December 16	Again under pressure from the United States, Arafat issues a call for a cease-fire, but various Palestinian factions ignore him.
December 22	Israel confines Arafat to his Ramallah office until he arrests the killers of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

2002

	Hamas builds it's first Qassam rockets
January 3	Israel captures Karine-A, a ship laden with 50 tons of weapons from Iran bound for the Palestinian Authority.
January 7	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
January 15	Raed Mahmoud Karmi, a commander of Fatah Tanzim in Tulkarem, is killed.
January 24	A missile strike killes senior Hamas militant Adali Bakr Hamdam and two of his associates.
January 23	Hezbollah militants shell Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. There are no casualties.
January 25	A PIJ terrorist detonates a bomb filled with nails in a Tel Aviv mall, killing himself and injuring 24 shoppers.
January 27	A suicide bomber kills one man and injures more than 100 other people in Jerusalem in the latest of a series of terrorist incidents. This one is distinct because it is the first case of a female suicide bomber.
February 4	Five members of the DFLP are killed when their car explodes in the Gaza Strip.
	Hezbollah anti-aircraft weapons fire on Israeli warplanes conducting a surveillance mission over southern Lebanon. There are no casualties.
February 17	Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah calls for complete Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders in exchange for recognition.
February 18	Israel rejects Saudi peace plan.
March 5	Mohand Dirya (Abu Haliwa), a top Fatah Tanzim operations officer, and two members of Force 17 die in a missile strike on their car near Ramallah.
	A PIJ suicide bus bombing in Afula claims the lives of one Israeli and injures 11 others.
March 9	At Jerusalem's Cafe Moment, a suicide bombing kills 11 Israelis and injures around 54.
	Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Bridages activist Samer Awis is killed in a missile attack on his car near Ramallah.
March 12	Infiltration — In a shooting attack on the Shlomi-Metzuba route, six Israeli civilians are killed, among them IDF officer Lt. German Rojkov.
March 14	Zinni returns for a third attempt to achieve a cease-fire. This follows a decision by Sharon to drop his demand for seven days of quiet before he will enter negotiations and a period of Israeli restraint in reaction to a number of terrorist attacks.
March 20	A PIJ suicide bombing near the town of Umm-al-Fahm claims the lives of seven Israelis and injures 29 others.
March 27	Twenty-eight people are killed and 134 injured when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a Passover seder in a Netanya hotel.
March 28 -April 17	“Operation Defensive Shield” is launched to halt terror attacks from the territories.
March 29	Sharon delcares Arafat an “enemy” of Israel and sends troops to root out the terror infrastructure in the Palestinian Authority. Israeli forces surround Arafat's office and keep him in “isolation.”
March 31	In Haifa a suicide bombing kills at least 15 and wounding over 35. Hamas and the PIJ claim responsibility.
April 2	Terrorists take over St. Mary's Church grounds in Bethlehem and hold the priest and a number of nuns there against their will. The terrorists used the Church as a firing position, from which they shot at IDF soldiers in the area. That same day, Palestinian gunmen entered the Church of the Nativity.
April 5	The military leader of Hamas in the West Bank, Kayes Adnan, is killed along with five other Hamas militants.
April 8	Hezbollah launches a rocket against an Israeli hilltop military position. There are no casualties.
April 10	Hamas bombs a bus near Haifa, killing eight people and injuring 22.
April 19	A PIJ suicide bombing at the Israeli checkpoint at Kisufim injures two soldiers.
April 22	Marwan Zalloum, a commander in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and his bodyguard are killed in Hebron when missiles strike their car.
May 2	The Quartet proposes holding another conference to seek an end to the violence
May 6	Palestinian officials say deal is reached to expel six to nine Palestinian terrorists holed up in the Church of the Nativity to Italy, and transfer more than 30 others to a Gaza prison guarded by American and British jailers.
May 7	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
	In Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, 16 Israelis are killed and more than 57 other injured in a suicide bombing of a crowded hall.
May 9	After another plan falls through, a breakthrough in the Bethlehem siege is announced when Italy and Spain agree to take some of the terrorists, while Austria, Greece, Luxembourg and Ireland taking the rest.
May 10	Palestinians leave the Church of the Nativity, bringing an end to the standoff.
May 14	Khalid Abu Khairan, a Palestinian General Intelligence agent, is shot and killed in the West Bank town of Haloul.
May 19	A suicide bomber dressed as an Israeli soldier blows himself up in a Netanya marketplace, killing 3 people and wounding 59.
May 22	Mohammed Titi, chief of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and two other militants are killed while hiding in a cemetary in the West Bank.
June	“Operation Determined Path” is a new military operation to root out terrorists in the territories following three major terrorist attacks. Israel begins to erect security fence to prevent terrorist infiltration into Israel and major settlements.
June	Nefesh b'Nefesh, a new organization founded to encourage North American aliya (immigration to Israel), launches first chartered flight of 400 North Americans making aliya at one time - a first in Israel's history. Nefesh b'Nefesh flight is also first time in history that Israel's Interior Ministry (Misrad HaPanim) processes olim (immigrants) on the flight to Israel. In 2003, Nefesh b'Nefesh brings approximately 1,000 new immigrants to Israel from North America.
June 5	A PIJ terrorist drives an explosive-laden truck into an Israeli Egged commuter bus at the Megiddo Junction near Afula, killing himself and 17 Israelis.
June 10	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House.
June 17	President Bush chooses to exercise waiver to avoid moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem as called for in the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act. He argues that it would interfere with the president’s authority to formulate foreign policy.
	Walid Na'aman Aliu Sbeh, a senior member of the al-Aqsa Martyry's Bridages, is killed.
June 18	During rush hour, a suicide bomb on a Jerusalem bus kills 19 and injurs 74.
	Yusef Besharat, a member of Islamic Jihad who was accused of killing two European observers from an international force in Hebron, is killed.
June 24	President Bush calls on the Palestinians to elect new leaders, eradicate terrorism and create institutional reforms, with the vision of a Palestinian state by 2005. In the speech, Bush also calls for Israel to withdraw to its September 2000 borders and to end its settlement activity as progress is made toward security.
	Yasser Rizik, Rafah-area Hamas commander, and five other militants are killed when Israeli Apache helicopters destroy the two taxis they were riding in.
June 30	Mohamed Tahir, a senior Hamas leader, is killed in his house near Nablus.
July 4	Jehad al-A'marin, a top leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and another militant are killed in a car bomb.
July 17	Two PIJ suicide bombings in Tel Aviv leave at least three dead and 40 injured.
July 23	An Israeli warplane srops a one-ton bomb on the house of Salah Shehadeh, the head of Hamas' military wing and a close personal aide to the movement's spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, killing him.
July 30	A Hamas suicide bomber blows himself up at a falafel stand in Jerusalem and kills two Israelis.
August 6	Hussaan Hamdam, a leader in Hamas' military wing, is killed.
August 14	Hamas leader Nasr Jarrar is killed when rockets hit his house in the West Bank.
August 29	Fire at an IDF post in the Mt. Dov sector. IDF soldier Ofer Misali is killed, and two other soldiers are lightly wounded.
September 19	A suicide bombing on a Tel Aviv bus leaves five dead and at least 60 injured. Hamas and the PIJ both claim responsibility.
September 26	The bodyguard of Hamas operations chief and bombmaker Mohammed Dief is killed.
September 30	President Bush chooses to exercise waiver to avoid moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem as called for in the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act. He argues that it would interfere with the president’s authority to formulate foreign policy.
October	Drafts of the road map” for Israeli-Palestinian peace, crafted by the Quartet — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — are leaked to the media. The plan calls for a three-staged approach to peace, leading to an interim Palestinian state after elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the creation of a permanent state at the end of the road. Israelis argue that progress on the road map is based on a timeline, rather than measuring compliance with the plan.
October 13	Mohammed Shtewie Abayat, a member of the Fatah Tanzim militia, is killed when a public telephone explodes in his hands.
October 16	President Bush and Ariel Sharon meet in Washington. Sharon agrees to release $400 million in Palestinian tax revenue that had been frozen, and Bush gives Sharon a draft version of the road map. The two leaders also work to coordinate the right to retaliate if attacked by Iraq.
October 21	A PIJ suicide bomber crashes a jeep filled with up to 100 kilograms of explosives into a commuter bus at a bus stop east of Hadera in northern Israel, killing himself and 14 Israelis and wounding 47 others.
November 4	A PIJ militant blows himself up at a shopping mall in Kfar Saba, claiming two lives and wounding at least 30 shoppers.
	Hamad Sadder, a wanted Hamas militant, and one other man are killed in Nablus.
November 9	Iyad Sawalha, a leader of Islamic Jihad, is killed when he is shot dead in his house in Jenin.
November 21	A Hamas suicide bombing on a crowded Egged bus No. 20 driving through the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood of Jerusalem kills 11 and wounds 50.
December 4	Israeli helicopters fire several missiles at a room in the Palestinian Authority Preventive Security headquarters compound in Gaza City where Mustafa Sabah, a bombmaker responsible for destroying three Israeli battle tanks and killing seven soldiers, is employed as a guard. Sabah dies in the assault.

2003

January 5	Double suicide bombings at Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station claim the lives of 20 and leave 100 injured. Hamas and the PIJ claim responsibility.
January 21	Hezbollah fires an estimated 25 rockets and mortars at the Israeli outpost of Roueissat al-Alem in the Cheeba Farms region. There are no casualties.
January 28	Elections for the 16th Knesset.
February 16	A mysterious explosion kills six Hamas members in the Gaza Strip.
February 19	Tha'er Zakarneh, a leader in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Bridages, is killed and four others are wounded when a small bomb detonates within a car in Jenin.
March 8	Ibrahim Makadmed, co-founded of the political wing of Hamas, and three of his bodyguards are killed in a missle strike in Gaza City.
March 10	Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is appointed the new Palestinian prime minister.
March 19	U.S.-led war against Iraq commences.
March 25	Two Hamas militants are killed in Bethlehem.
March 30	A PIJ suicide bombing at a mall in Netanya injures between 30 and 50 people.
April 8	Vice President Cheney visits northern Israel and calls on Syria to restrain Hezbollah.
	Two Hamas leaders, Saad Arabid and Ashraf Halaby, are killed in Gaza City.
April 10	Islamic Jihad military leader Mahmoud Zatme is killed in Gaza City when Israeli missiles destroy his car.
April 14	Israeli emissaries submit 14 reservations to the proposed Roadmap.
April 29	A Hamas suicide bomber with a British passport blows himself up at Mike's Place, a waterfront restaurant in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis and injuring 46 others.
April 30	The road map is officially delivered to Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas.
May 1	Allied military operations in Iraq end.
May 7	Hezbollah attacks IDF positions in the Sheba farms with heavy rocket, mortar, and small arms fire. One Israeli soldier is killed and five others wounded in the attack.
May 8	Hamas militant Iyad al-Beik is killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in Gaza.
May 17	Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas hold first summit meeting.
May 18	A 19-year-old Hamas suicide bomber detonates his explosive-ladden bicycle near an Israeli army jeep in Gaza, killing himself and injuring three soldiers.
May 19	The first PIJ female suicide bomber blows herself up at a shopping mall in Afula, killing three people and injuring dozens of others.
May 23	After White House officials acknowledge Israel’s concerns about the road map in a statement, Ariel Sharon officially accepts it.
May 25	Israeli Cabinet approves road map.
June 3	President Bush meets with Arab leaders in Egypt. He says Israel “must deal with the settlements” and make sure there is a contiguous Palestinian state. Arab leaders endorse the road map and agree to crack down on terrorism and its sources of funding.
June 4	President Bush meets in Aqaba, Jordan, with Ariel Sharon, Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah. Abbas calls for an end to the Palestinian “armed intifada” and Sharon says that he understands the Palestinians’ need for “territorial continuity” in the West Bank. Bush names John Wolf as a new Middle East envoy, charged with monitoring implementation of the road map.
June 10	Chief Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi is wounded and his bodyguard is killed in an Israeli helicopter attack in Gaza City.
June 11	A member of Hamas disguised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew blows himself up on a bus in central Jerusalem, killing himself and 16 others, and injuring 70.
June 12	Yasser Taha, a Hamas militant, is killed in Gaza City.
June 13	Hamas militant Fuad Lidawi is killed in Gaza City,
June 19	The first Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference on anti-Semitism takes place in Vienna.
	A PIJ suicide bombing at a grocery store in Sdeh Trumot near the West Bank kills the bomber and the storeowner.
June 21	Abdullah Qawasmeh, a senior militant commander of Hamas, is killed near Hebron.
June 27	An Israeli soldier and four Palestinian militants are killed in an Israeli commando operation on the house of a Hamas bombmaker in Mughraqa and capture a cell that had launched rocket attacks from Gaza.
July 5	Hezbollah fires 26 anti-aircraft missiles into northern Israel, but there are no casualties.
July 20	Hezbollah snipers fire on an Israeli outpost near Shtula, killing two Israeli soldiers.
July 22	Hezbollah fires anti-aircraft shells as Israeli jets flying over southern Lebanon. Two Israelis in the nearby town of Shlomi are wounded.
July 29	Ariel Sharon meets with President Bush at the White House. Hamas and PIJ suspend attacks against Israel for three months, while Fatah declares six month truce.
August 6	Israel releases 339 Palestinian prisoners.
August 8	Hezbollah militants fire rockets and mortars at three Israeli military positions in Cheeba Farms. Israeli retaliates with airstrikes against suspected Hezbollah positions in the disputed area and Lebanon.
August 10	Haviv Dadon, 16, of Shlomi, was struck in the chest and killed by shrapnel from an antiaircraft shell fired by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Four others are wounded. It is the first killing of an Israeli civilian since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon three years earlier.
August 12	Hamas suicide bomber blows himself up in Ariel in the West Bank, killing one person and wounding two.
August 19	Attack on Jerusalem bus kills 22 and injures at least 100.
September 6	Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) resigns as Palestinian prime minister.
September 7	Ahmed Qureia (Abu Alaa) is named Palestinian prime minister.
October 6	Staff Sgt. David Solomonov is killed when Hezbollah fired at an IDF force south of the Fatma Gate in the eastern sector. In addition, Hezbollah fired missiles and rockets at an IDF post in the Reches Ramim area.
October 15	Bomb explodes in Gaza killing three United States security guards.
November 7	Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Reform Movement's synagogue arm, renames itself the Union for Reform Judaism, after 130 years of being the UAHC.
December 1	Geneva Accords signed, outlining a draft of permanent status agreements.
December 17	President Bush signs the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act of 2003.
December 18	Sharon announces intent of unilateral disengagement.

2004

January 5	Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addresses the central committee of the Likud Party to affirm his “Disengagement Plan” for unilateral withdrawal, which he announced in December 2003 at the Herzliya Conference. Sharon informs the committee that, as Prime Minister of Israel, and head of the Likud party, he plans on going forth with his plan even if the Central Committee refuses to go along with him.
January 19	An antitank missile is fired at IDF D9 while neutralizing explosive charges near Zari't. An IDF soldier, Yan Rotzenski, is killed and another soldier is severely wounded.
January 30	Israel exchanges over 400 prisoners and the remains of close to 60 Lebanese with Hezbollah, for a captured soldier and the remains of 3 other soldiers.
February 13	The White House declares that unilateral diengagement from Gaza may help ease tensions between the two parties, but that a final settlement must be reached through negotiations.
March 18	King Abdullah of Jordan meets with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to discuss Israel's security fence and the pending disengagement from Gaza.
March 22	The IDF kills Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.
March 24	Abd al-Aziz Rantissi chosen as new leader of Hamas.
March 25	U.S. vetoes Security Council Resolution condemning Israel for killing Ahmad Yassin.
April 14	President Bush commends Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's withdrawal plan and recognizes that territorial modifactions will be made to include large settlement blocks.
April 17	Israeli security forces kill Abd al-Aziz Rantisi, the co-founder of Hamas and successor to Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.
April 18	Israeli Army Radio reports that following the assassination of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Mahmoud Zahar becomes the leader of Hamas. Hamas did not publicly announce Rantisi's successor out of fear that Israel would target him.
April 19	Israel gives the U.S. written commitment to dismantle illegal settlements.
April 28-29	The second Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference on anti-Semitism issues declaration to fight anti-Semitism.
April 30	U.S. Court rules John Demjanjuk was a Nazi guard.
May 7	Fire in the Mt. Dov sector. IDF soldier Dennis Leminov is killed, and two other soldiers are severely wounded. The IDF returns fire.
May 11	U.S. imposes sanctions on Syria.
May 19	Marwan Barghouti convicted of murder for his involvement in three terrorist attacks in Israel that killed five people. He was acquitted for 33 other murders due to a lack of evidence of his direct involvement in those crimes.
June 6	Israel's cabinet approves a compromise disengagement plan whereby Israel would evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza Strip and 4 settlements in the northern West Bank.
June 30	Israeli High Court upholds Israel's right to build security fence, but makes slight modifications on its route.
Summer	Windsurfer Gal Fridman wins Israel's first Olympic Gold Medal.
July 9	The International Court of Justice issues non-binding advisory opinion that Israel's security barrier violates international law..
July 20	Hezbollah sniper fires at an IDF post in the western sector of the Israeli-Lebanese border. Two IDF soldiers are killed.
September 2	Security Council declares support for a free and fair presidential election in Lebanon conducted without foreign interference and calls upon all remaining foreign (Syrian) forces to withdraw from Lebanon.
November 11	Yasser Arafat dies in Paris.

2005

January 9	Palestinian Authority election; Mahmoud Abbas chosen as President.
	An explosive device is detonated against an IDF patrol at Nahal Sion. One Israeli solider is killed, and a UN officer is killed.
January 30	Iraq holds first free election in a half century.
February 7	United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visits Israel and the PA.
February 8	Summit at Sharm e-Sheikh attended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubara, and Jordan's King Abdullah during which Sharon and Abbas declare an end to violence. Jordan proposes deploying Palestinian soldiers (Badr Bigade) to the northern part of the West Bank. Israel approves the offer, though the plan is never put into effect. Jordan also deploys ambassador to Israel.
February 16	Knesset approves the Disengagement Implementation Law to compensate Jews who will be evacuated as a result of the disengagement plan.
February 20	Israel's cabinet adopts a revised route for the security fence closer to the pre-1967 borders in some areas.
March 16	Israel transfers control of Jericho to the Palestinians.
March 17	Multiple Palestinian groups agree to informal truce until end of year.
March 20	It is reported that Israel's defense minister approved the building of 3,500 new housing units between the Ma'ale Adumim settlement and East Jerusalem, in the E-1 corridor.
March 21	Israel transfers control of Tulkarem to the PA.
April 2	Pope John Paul II dies.
April 7	Two Israeli Arabs from the village of Rajar on the Israel-Lebanon border are kidnapped by Hezbollah operatives and held in captivity for four days in an attempt to obtain information on Israel.
April 19	Joseph Alois Ratzinger elected Pope and becomes Benedict XVI.
May 26	In a meeting with Abbas, Bush declares that changes to the 1949 armistice line must be mutually agreed upon. Abbas claims that the PA is willing to work with Israel to help plan the diesngagement from Gaza.
June 29	More than 20 mortars are fired from across the border. Cpl. Uzi Peretz of the Golani Brigade is killed and four soldiers wounded, including the unit’s doctor. Fire was exchanged and helicopters and planes attacked five Hezbollah outposts in the Reches Ramim area.
July 12	A Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) suicide bombing kills 5 in Netanya. Israel responds by reentering Tulkarem and Hamas increases rocket attacks in the South.
August 15	Israeli soldiers begin to give notices to settlers in Gaza that they must evacuate their homes within 48 hours or they will be forcibly removed. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announces that Israel intends to hold onto the main settlement block in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
August 17	Forcible evacuation of Jews in Gaza begins.
August 22	Disengagement from the Gaza Strip completed.
August 23	Disengagement from four settlements in northern Samaria completed.
August 29	Sharon declares that there will be no more disengagements, that future territorial concessions will be handled in accordance with the Roadmap, and reiterated that the large settlement blocks would remain in Israel.
September 20	Last army units leave settlements of Ganim and Kadim in northern Samaria.
September 25	Hamas anounces intent to hault operations in Gaza.
September 27	Hamas kidnaps and kills a settler in the West Bank.
October 20	Bush urges Abbas to stand up to armed gangs and bring an end to violence.
October 26	PIJ suicide bomber kills 6 in Hadera. Israel responds by ruling out talks with PA until violence quels.
November 14	Secretary Rice visits Israel to urge Sharon not to interfere with Palestinian elections if Hamas runs for power.
November 15	Agreement on movement and access from the Gaza Strip to Israel reached.
November 21	Sharon asserts he is no longer willing to deal with Likud rebels, so he resigns from the party and creates a new centrist party, Kadima. Asks President Katzav to dissolve Parliament and schedule an early election.
	An attempt to kidnap an IDF soldier was foiled when paratroopers patrolling near Rajar village discerned a Hezbollah unit approaching. Private David Markovitz opened fire, killing all four. In a heavy attack of mortars and Katyusha rockets that ensued, nine soldiers and two civilians were injured.
November 25	Rafah border crossing reopened.
December 5	PIJ kills 5 in Netanya, Israel retalliates by barring Palestinians from entering Israel for a week.
December 27	A branch of a Palestinian organization connected to Al-Qaeda fires six Katyushas, damaging a house in Kiryat Shmona and a house in Metulla. In reponse, the IAF attacks a training base of the Popular Front, south of Beirut.
December 28	Responding to rockets fired from Lebanon to northern Israel, Israeli jets attack a terrorist base south of Beirut.

2006

January 4	Prime Minister Sharon suffers severe stroke and falls into a coma. Ehud Olmert assumes role of Acting Prime Minister and acting Chairman of Kadima.
January 19	PIJ suicide bombing in Tel Aviv wounds 30.
January 25	Hamas wins majority in PA general elections. The US, Israel and several European countries cut off aid to the Palestinians as the Islamist movement rejects Israel's right to exist.
January 30	Quartet calls on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist, and accept all prior agreements.
February 21	Ismail Haniyah sworn in as Palestinian Prime Minister.
March 28	Kadima party wins Israeli elections and Ehud Olmert becomes Prime Minister. Voter turnout was the lowest ever (63.2%).
March 30	The Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in the West Bank killing four. Hamas reacts by applauding their efforts.
March 31	In an interview with the British press, Hamas head Ismail Haniyah calls for an end of requests to recognize Israel's right to exist.
April 9	Israeli security cabinet recommends severing ties with PA.
April 17	PIJ suicide bombing in Tel Aviv kills 11. Hamas applauds efforts while Fatah denounces it.
April 26	Abbas calls for an international peace conference.
May 4	New Israeli government takes office. Vows to strive to shape the permanent borders of the State of Israel as a democratic Jewish state with a Jewish majority.
May 10	Imprisoned Hamas, Fatah, and other officials draft a National Accord Document calling for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, a right of return of all refugees, and the release of all prisoners. Abbas accepts, Hamas rejects because of its implied recognition of Israel.
May 21	Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni meets Abbas at the World Economic Forum in Egypt. Abbas asserts that "permanent" arrangements are impossible without resolving the main issues of conflict - security, borders, Jerusalem, and refugees. Also claims Israeli unilateralism will increase violence and put an end to the two-state solution. Haniya says his government will maintain a cease fire for many years if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders.
May 23	Olmert meets President Bush at the White House. Bush and Olmert reiterate their commitment to a two state solution.
May 27	An IDF soldier is wounded when Katyushas were fired at an army base at Mt. Meron in the upper Galilee.
May 28	Palestinian rockets hit deep into northern Israel. Israel responds by striking terrorist bases in Lebanon.
June 10	Hamas ends 16 month long truce as crossborder violence escalates near Gaza.
June 25	Hamas, Popular Resistance Committees, and Army of Islam militants attacked Israeli forces in Israel, killing two Israeli sodiers, wounding four and kidnapping Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The terrorists had reached Israel through a tunnel from Gaza and demanded the release of an estimated 400 prisoners, mostly women and minors.
June 27	After diplomatic efforts to secure the release of kidnapped soldier are unsuccessful, IDF begins major operation in Gaza to rescue Shalit, deter future Hamas attacks, and weaken the Hamas government.
June 28	Palestinian factions agree on a revised National Accord Document (Prisoner's Document), which states that the PLO and the President of the PA will be responsible for negotiations with Israel to create a state on territories occupied by Israel in 1967. The Popular Resistance Committees announce they had kidnapped a young West Bank settler and would kill him if Israel did not stop the Gaza Operation. (Three alleged perpetrators of this attack were arrested on July 4 in Ramallah) Israeli jets fly over Syrian President Bashar Assad's summer residence in Latakia as a warning to stop supporting terrorism.
June 29	Kidnapped West Bank settler's body found. Israeli forces arrest 64 Hamas cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, and other officials in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
July 2	A Hamas rocket hits Israeli port city of Ashkelon, hitting near a vacant school. This is the farthest north a Palestinian rocket has ever struck. The Israeli government approved prolonged activities against Hamas, institutions and infrastructures used by terrorist organizations, and rocket launching squads in Gaza. Israeli operations in Gaza were expanded.
July 12	Hezbollah kidnaps two Israeli soldiers (Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev) and kills three Israeli soldiers in Israeli territory, sparking the Second Lebanon War. Hezbollah demands the release of three Lebanese and other Arab prisoners in exchange for the return of Goldwasser, Regev, and Shalit. Prime Minister Olmert declares Hezbollah's attack an act of war.
July 16	The G-8 blames Hezbollah and Hamas for the destabilization of the region and calls upon them to halt their attacks. G-8 also calls upon Israel to “be mindful of the strategic and humanitarian consequences of its actions.” Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and several Gulf States blame Hezbollah for the war.
July 17	Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issues calls on Hezbollah to return the kidnapped soldiers, cease terrorist attacks, and allow Lebanese troops to mdeploy along the border.
August 7	London's New West End Synagogue dedicated as a national landmark.
August 8	The Lebanese Government offers to deploy 15,000 troops to the Israel-Lebanon border in exchange for complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
August 11	The United Nations Security Council passes Resolution 1701 calling for an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
August 14	Israel and Hezbollah agree to United Nations ceasefire. The Lebanese Defense Minister declares that Lebanon has no intention of disarming Hezbollah (as required by UNSC Resolution 1701).
August 15	Syrian President Bashar Assad declares that the peace process has failed.
August 19	Israeli forces raid Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon.
September 21	Abbas informs the United Nations General Assembly that all future Palestinian governments will comply with previously signed agreements.
September 30	Last Israeli soldier withdraws from Lebanon
October 31-November 8	Israeli forces enter the northern Gaza town of Beit Chanun in an effort to prevent rocket fire to Israel.
November	The government appoints a commission of inquiry, chaired by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, to investigate and draw lessons from the war in Lebanon.
November 13	Prime Minister Olmert meets with President Bush.
November 16	Milton Friedman, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, passes away.
	Following talks between Hamas and Fatah, both sides agree to form a unity government.
November 23	Jewish entertainer Betty Comden dies at age 89.
November 25	Palestinians and Israelis agree to ceasefire in Gaza.
November 27	Olmert expresses willingness to implement Roadmap and urges Palestinians to uphold the principles outlined by the Quartet.
November 28	United States National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley reiterates Olmert's point that an agreement between Israel and Syria cannot be reached until Syria stops supporting terrorism.
December 6	Iraq Study Group’s Report is released, making the recommendation that Israel transfer the entire Golan Heights to Syria to help stabilize the region.
December 8	Hamas head Ismail Haniyah travels to Iran and publically declares that Hamas will never recognize Israel's right to exist.
December 16	Abbas calls for new elections as a solution to the ongoing crisis.
December 23	Olmert promises to give PA $100 million in tax revenue for humanitarian purposes.

2007

January 14	Abbas rejects Olmert's offer at establishing preliminary borders for a future Palestinian state out of fear that such borders would become permanent.
January 17	Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Defense Minister Amir Peretz resign following criticism of their role in the Lebanon War. Olmert holds on to his office.
January 29	PIJ claims reponsibility for suicide bombing in Eilat which killed three Israeli's.
January 30	Fatah and Hamas reach a ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt after a series of clashes that led to the death of 32 Palestinians. Both sides welcome a Saudi initiative to meet in Mecca.
February 2	Quartet calls on PA unity government to revert to its commitments as outlined in the Roadmap.
February 8	Palestinian Unity Agreement in Mecca. Hamas and Fatah agree to share power, based on vaguely worded agreement. Hamas officials reiterate that they will never recognize Israel. US and Israel insist that the new government must recognize right of Israel to exist, disarm terrorist groups and agree to end violence.
February 9	The Quartet welcomes the role of Saudi Arabia in reaching the agreement to form a Palestinian National Unity government but later reaffirms that it must obey international demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous peace agreements.
February 15	Ismail Haniyah and his cabinet resign. Haniyah is re-appointed by Abbas and begins the process of forming a new Palestinian unity government.
February 19	Secretary Rice meets with Olmert and Abbas in Jerusalem to discuss the Mecca Accord.
March 15	Palestinian unity government formed.
March 28-29	Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia. Reiterates adherence, without changes, to the Arab Peace Initiative and direct negotiations on all tracks.
April 30	The Inquiry Commission into the military campaign held in Lebanon in summer 2006, headed by former Justice Dr. Eliyahu Winograd, submitted to the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense an interim report relating to the time from the IDF's exit from Lebanon to the soldiers' abduction on July 12, 2006 and to the time between July 12 and July 17, when the decision to move into war was taken.
June 13	The Knesset elected Shimon Peres to serve as the Ninth President of Israel, after Moshe Katsaz resigned amid impending charges of sexual harassment of female subordinates.
June 15	Hamas forces attack Fatah in Gaza and drive them out of the Gaza strip in brutal attacks. President Mahmoud Abbas dissolves the unity government, but Prime Minister Haniyeh insists that the government is still in power. A summit in Sharm El Sheikh attended by Egypt, Jordan and Palestinians pledges support to the Abbas government, but Egypt calls for reunification with Hamas.
June 17	President Abbas forms a new Palestinian emergency cabinet to replace the unity government which he dissolved after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. Abbas selected Salam Fayyad as the new Palestinian prime minister.
June 18	Former prime minister Ehud Barak was sworn in as Israel's defense minister. Barak received a vote of approval from parliament to replace Amir Peretz, who lost to Barak in last week's Labour Party leadership election.
June 18	The U.S. lifts its embargo on the Palestinian government in an effort to boost the strength of President Abbas and his Fatah party's struggle against Hamas.
June 19	Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush meet in Washington to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
June 24	Israel transfers hundreds of millions of dollars to Abbas' emergency government in the West Bank.
June 25	Olmert, Abbas, Egyptian President Mubarak, and Jordanian King Abdullah II meet in at Sharm al-Shayk, Egypt.
June 25	Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem calls on Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was kidnpapped one year ago today.
June 26	Olmert, Abbas, and special envoys from the European Union, Russia, the United Nations, and the United States meet today in Jerusalem at the U.S. Consulate.
June 27	The Quartet ( Russia, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations) names Tony Blair as its new Middle East envoy.
July 1	Olmert transfers $118 million to the PA.
July 16	President Bush calls for a Middle East peace conference in the fall to be led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and to include Palestinians, Israelis and regional neighbors who support creation of a Palestinian state, as well as new aid measures to support the West Bank-based government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
July 20	Israel releases 256 prisoners, grants clemency to 178 members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, and scales back its troop operations aimed at other militants in the West Bank.
July 25	The Arab League sends is first formal delegation to Israel to officially present the Arab League peace offer that would see full recognition of Israel in exchange for withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the creation of a Palestininian state. The deal was first offered in 2002.
July 27	Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad presents his government's program. It seeks to establish a Palestinian state on all lands occupied by Israel in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution for Palestinian refugees.
August 6	Olmert and Abbas meet in pre-conference discussions.
October 9	Syria refuses to attend after Israel declines to put issue of Golan Heights as topic of discussion at the upcoming conference.
November 6	Conference set for last week of November. Expected to produce a joint declaration to pave the way for negotiations on core issues, including Jerusalem and the refugees.
November 12	The United States promises Syria that the issue of the Golan Heights will be brought to the agenda of the upcoming regional peace conference.
November 21	Announcement of Annapolis Conference, to be held at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
November 27	Annapolis Conference is held at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
December 12	Israeli and Palestinian negotiators begin formal talks to launch the U.S.-brokered peace process initiated at the Annapolis Conference.

2008

	Iran continues to threaten the annihilation of Israel as efforts to stop it trying to make nuclear weapons fail.
	Israeli schools are closed for a recond 65 days due to a teachers' strike.
	Rubashkin kosher meat company faces allegations of worker abuse, inhumane practices, and hiring illegals at its slaughterhouse and meat packing facility in Postville, Iowa, forcing the plant to close.
	A haredi rabbinic court in Israel calls into question the legitimacy of thousands of conversions by a prominent Israeli Orthodox halachic authority.
January - present	Qassam rockets from Gaza rain down on the surrounding Israeli communities.
January 3	Palestinian militants fire a Katyusha rocket with longer range than usual from Gaza into northern Ashkelon.
January 17	In an effort to pressure Hamas to stop rocket fire at Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak orders the closing of border crossings from Israel into Gaza.
January 23	Tens of thousands of Palestinians pour into Egypt from Gaza after Hamas militants blow holes into a border wall.
January 24	Approximately 700 Palestinian security forces go to Jordan to begin U.S. training for a new gendarmerie that is projected to eventually be 50,000 strong.
February 3	Egypt refuses to cede control of border to Hamas and reseals the damaged border crossing.
February 4	Hamas military wing carries out a suicide bombing in the Israeli town Dimona, killing one and injuring 23.
February 12	Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mugniyeh is assassinated in Damascus.
March 6	Eight yeshiva students are shot dead by an Arab resident of East Jerusalem in a terror attack at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva.
April	An Israeli air strike on a Syrian target in September 2007 is reported to be a nuclear facility.
April 9	Palestinian gunmen kill two Israeli civilian employees at the Nahal Oz fuel depot which pumps fuel into Gaza.
April 16	Hamas ambushes and kills three Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip and fires more than 20 rockets into Southern Israel.
April 19	A suicide car bombing and mortar ambush carried out by Hamas' military wing at Kerem Shalom crossing injures 13 Israeli soldiers. Israel retaliates with three airstrikes, killing seven Hamas militants.
April 25	Five Palestinian groups claim responsibility for killing two Israeli security guards in Tulkarem in the West Bank.
May 14	As President Bush arrives in Israel to celebrate it's 60th anniversary, a rocket landed on a shopping mall in Ashkelon, wounding 30. PIJ and Popular Resistance Committees both claimed responsibility.
May 31	Hezbollah returned the remains of five Israeli soldiers killed in the summer war of 2006. Israel released an Israeli of Lebanese descent who had been convicted of spying for Hezbollah.
June 4	President Mahmoud Abbas calls on Hamas to join a "national and comprehensive dialogue" and offered early presidential and parliamentary elections if the talks succeeded.
June 19	Egypt-brokered temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas goes into effect.
June 24	PIJ breaks temporary truce and fires three rockets into Israel after Israeli troops killed a PIJ leader in Nablus.
August 25	Israel releases 199 Palestinian security prisoners in a gesture of goodwill to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
September 23	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at the UN.
October 22	Israel and the PA reach an agreement to deloy about 550 U.S.-trained Palestinian police to Hebron.
October 26	Foreign Minister, and Olmert's replacement as leader of the Kadima party, Tzipi Livni announces that she was unable to form a new coalition government, thereby triggering early elections in Israel on February 10, 2009.
November 4	Democrat Barack Obama decisively wins the United States Presidential election with 78% of the Jewish vote.
November 26	Muslim terrorists attack a Chabad House in Mumbai, India in a series of coordinated attacks on India's largest city and financial capital, killing at least 173 people and injuring over 300.
December 18	Egypt-brokered "State of Calm" agreement between Israel and Hamas officially ends.
December 27, 2008- January 16, 2009	Israeli Defense Forces launch Operation Cast Lead to halt Hamas rocket fire on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

2009

January 17	Israel declares ceasefire to end Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Hamas rejects Israel's call for a ceasefire, but its leadership announces their own ceasefire 12 hours later.
January 18	Israeli government opens an emergency clinic at the Erez Crossing in an effort to provide humanitarian assistance and medical care to the Palestinian civilian population of Gaza.
January 22	George Mitchell is named special envoy to the Middle East by President Obama.
January 27	Palestinian Arab militants detonate a bomb at the Kissufim crossing, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding three.
February 10	Elections for the 18th Knesset are held.
March 5	A Palestinian Arab resident of east Jerusalem attacks an Israeli police car and a bus on the Menachem Begin Expressway in Jerusalem using a bulldozer, injuring two police officers before being shot to death.
March 15	Two Israeli police officers are killed in a shooting attack near Massua in the northern Jordan Valley.
March 31	Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as Israeli prime minister and head of new coalition government.
April 2	A 13 year old Israeli is killed by a local Palestinian Arab in the Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin. A 7 year old Israeli is also injured and treated for serious wounds. Islamic Jihad and Imad Mughniyeh claim responsibility for the attack.
April 3	United Nations establishes a fact-finding mission on the Gaza war, headed by Richard Goldstone, an international jurist from South Africa.
May 9	An Israeli resident of Ashdod is kidnapped and killed by three West Bank Palestinians near Gan Yavne.
May 18	PM Netanyahu and President Obama meet at the White House.
June 4	President Obama calls for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims" in a historic speech in Cairo.
June 14	PM Netanyahu's speech at the Begin-Sadat Center. For the first time, Netanyahu endorses the principle of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
June 16	10 Palestinian Arab gunmen belonging to an al-Qaida-cell launch an attack at the Karni crossing using horses strapped with explosives. Four terrorists and the horses are killed in the ensuing firefight with the IDF. No IDF soldiers were wounded.
August 1	Two are killed and at least 15 are wounded at a shooting at Bar-Noar, the Tel Aviv branch of the Israeli GLBT Association. Police rule out the possibility that shooting was a terror attack.
September 15	Goldstone releases his report, accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.
September 22	White House hosts a trilateral meeting with PM Netanyahu and PA President Abbas.
September 30	Israel announces it will release twenty female Palestinian detainees and prisoners in exchange for a video proving Gilad Shalit was still alive.
November 3	The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passes a resolution denouncing the Goldstone report as "irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy."
November 25	PM Netanyahu announces Israel will impose a 10-month freeze on construction in West Bank settlements in a bid to restart stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
December 24	Rabbi Meir Avshalom of Shavei Shomron is killed in a drive-by shooting near his home.

Timeline of Jewish History: Modern Israel & the Diaspora

(2000 - 2009)