Modern Israel & the Diaspora
(1950 - 1959)
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As American Jews move to
the suburbs, they build new synagogues.
Joining a synagogue becomes the chief
expression of Jewish identity. In 1930,
a mere 20 percent of American Jewish
families belong to a synagogue; by 1960,
nearly 60 percent do. |
January 16 |
Belgium, the Netherlands
and Luxembourg recognize Isael de jure |
January 23 |
Knesset by 60-2 vote, establishes
Jerusalem as Israel's capital |
| April 4 |
UN Trusteeship Council
approves statute for the internationalization
of Jerusalem. |
April 24 |
Jordan annexes
West Bank, including East Jerusalem |
April 28 |
Britain recognizes Israel
de jure |
|
The Knesset moves
from Tel
Aviv to King George St. in Jerusalem. |
May 25 |
U.S., Britain and France
issue Tripartite Declaration on Middle
East |
June 17 |
Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen
initial Collective Security Pact, calling
on them to assist an Arab state under
attack. |
July 5 |
The Law
of Return is enacted |
November 14 |
First nationwide municipal
elections after independence |
|
The West
Bank unites with Jordan. |
May 19 |
Operation
Ezra and Nehemiah brings Iraqi
Jews to Israel |
|
Fifty-fifty deal between
Aramco and Saudi Arabia. |
|
Trans-Arabian Pipeline
completed from Eastern Province oil fields
to Mediterranean coast. |
April 12 |
Holocaust
Martyrs' and Heroes' Rememberence Day established
on 27th of month of Nissan |
May 18 |
Security Council calls
on Israel to halt Huleh drainage
project pending arrangements to be fixed
by the Mixed Armistice Commission. Fighting
erupts between Israel and Syria in demilitarized
zone. |
July 20 |
King Abdullah of Jordan is
assassinated at the al-Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem on
suspicion of planning peace talks with
Israel. |
July 30 |
Elections held for the Second
Knesset |
September 1 |
Security Council calls
on Egypt to end its blockade of Suez
Canal to shipping to and from Israel.
Egypt refuses to comply |
September 13 |
Palestine Conciliation
Commission opens another round of talks
in Paris with Israeli and Arab delegations |
September 28 |
Israel offers non-agression
pacts to Arab states, calls for direct
negotiations and offers compensation
for Arab refugee's property |
|
The Hula
Valley reclamation program begins
turning swamps into arable lands. |
|
Egged bus transport cooperative
is founded. |
October 7 |
David
Ben-Gurion presents his government
to the Knesset |
November 21 |
Palestine Conciliation
Commission announces failure of the talks |
December 24 |
Libya proclaims
independence |
|
Mossadegh nationalizes
Anglo-Iranian in Iran (first postwar
oil crisis) |
|
Safaniya field, world's
largest off shore oil field, discovered
in Saudi Arabia. |
|
Operation Coresh brings Iranian
Jews to Israel. |
|
The Israel Atomic Energy Commission
is established. |
January 1 |
Seven armed terrorists attacked
and killed a 19-year-old girl in her
home in Beit Yisrael in Jerusalem |
January 7 |
Knesset summoned
to approve broader negotiations with
West Germany: Menachem
Begin leads stormy demonstration
against negotiations |
January 9 |
Knesset supports
negotations by 61-50 |
May 13 |
The first graduating class
of physicians is awarded degrees at Hebrew
University. |
July 23 |
Free Officers carry out
Coup d'etat in Egypt;
oust King Farouk |
July 28 |
Egypt proclaimed
Republic |
August 11 |
Hussein proclaimed Crown
Prince following illness of King Talal.
Council of regents appointed |
August 12-13 |
Yiddish writers
and other Jewish cultural figures are
executed in the Soviet Union on “Night
of the Murdered Poets” on orders
from Joseph Stalin in the basement of
the Lubyanka prison in Moscow. |
August 18 |
Ben-Gurion welcomes
Egyptian revolution in Knesset |
September 10 |
Israel and West Germany
sign Reparations Agreement
in Luxembourg |
November 9 |
President Chaim
Weizman dies |
| December 8 |
Yitzchak
Ben-Tzvi sworn in as President,
after Albert Einstein declines a request
from Ben-Gurion to serve. |
|
Israel participates in
its first Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland. |
|
The Academy for Hebrew Language and
the Society for the Protection of Nature
in Israel (SPNI) are founded. |
|
Egyptian republic proclaimed,
Nasser takes over: 1953, 1954 |
|
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Authority
is established. |
February 12 |
USSR breaks diplomatic
relations with Israel |
|
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
are executed for conspiring to deliver
U.S. atomic bomb secrets to the U.S.S.R. |
May 13 |
U.S. Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles visits Israel |
June 7 |
A youngster was killed
and three others were wounded in shooting
attacks on residential areas in southern Jerusalem. |
June 9 |
Terrorists killed
a resident of Lod, after throwing hand
grenades and spraying gunfire in all
directions. On the same night, another
group of terrorists attacked a house
in Hadera. |
June 11 |
Terrorists attacked a young
couple in their home in Kfar Hess and
shot them to death. |
July 20 |
Relations with USSR restored |
August |
Unit 101, an IDF special force unit,
is founded and commanded by Ariel Sharon
to combat ongoing terror attacks by Arab
fedayeen. |
August 19 |
Mossadegh falls, Shah returns in Iran. |
September 2 |
Israel starts work on Jordan
River project. Syria complains to Security
Council |
October 15 |
President Eisenhower appoints
Ambassador Eric Johnston to help establish
regional water development project based
on Jordan River |
October 20-28 |
U.S. halts economic aid
to Israel until it halts
work on the Jordan River project.
Israel complies and aid resumed |
December 7 |
Ben-Gurion resigns
as Prime Minister and is replaced by Moshe
Sharett as Prime Minister and Pinchas
Lavon as Defense Minister |
|
Yad
Vashem Holocaust museum opens. |
|
Stern College for Women,
the first liberal arts women's college
under Jewish auspices, opens in New York
City. |
|
The founding of the Conference
of Major Jewish Organizations indicates
a galvanization of Jewish lobby in the
U.S. |
January 1 |
“Katzner trial” opens
in Jerusalem District Court. (Malkiel
Greenwald was accused of libelling Dr.
Rudolf Kastner regarding his alleged
collaboration with Adolf Eichmann in
Hungary, in 1944). |
January 22 |
USSR vetoes Western draft
resolutions at Security Council permitting
Israel to resume work on River Jordan
project. |
March 17 |
Terrorists ambushed
a bus traveling from Eilat to Tel
Aviv at Maale Akrabim, opening fire
at short range. The terrorists boarded
the bus, and shot each passenger, one
by one, murdering 11. |
March 20 |
USSR vetoes Western draft
resolution at Security Council calling
on Egypt to comply with 1951 resolution
on Suez Canal |
April 17 |
Colonel Nasser becomes
Prime Minister of Egypt |
Summer |
Eleven Jews are arrested in Egypt on
suspicion of planting bombs around Cairo.
Two are hanged. Though Israel denies
involvement, it is later learned Israeli
Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon was
behind the spy ring; Lavon is forced
to resign over the operation, which becomes
known as the “Lavon Affair.” |
September 28 |
Egypt seizes Israeli ship “Bat
Galim” at Port Said. |
October 6 |
Israel offers at the UN
non-aggression pact with Arab states |
|
Soviet bloc begins first
arms sales to Egypt and Syria. |
January 2 |
Two hikers killed by terrorists in
the Judean Desert |
February 17 |
Lavon
resigns as Defense Minister amidst
controvery over espionage scandal involving
Israeli agents who were executed in
Egypt |
February 21 |
Ben-Gurion returns
to government as Defense Minister after
Lavon's resignation. |
February 24 |
Baghdad
Pact signed between Turkey and Iraq. |
|
Development town of Dimona is
founded in the Negev by 36 immigrant
families from Morocco and Tunisia. |
February 28 |
Following intensified raids
into Israel, IDF raids
Egyptian military installations in Gaza |
March 24 |
One
young woman killed and 18 wounded when terrorists threw
hand grenades and opened fire on a
crowded wedding celebration in Patish |
April |
Israel excluded from participation
in Bandung Conference of Asian and African
nations |
May |
Bar Ilan University, with
its emphasis on Jewish heritage studies,
opens in Ramat Gan. |
| June 22 |
Dr. Israel Kastner, a Hungarian
Jew, was found guilty by a district court
of collaboration with the Nazis; the
decision was eventually appealed and
overturned for lack of evidence |
July 26 |
Elections for the Third
Knesset, Ben-Gurion again
becomes Prime Minister |
July 27 |
Bulgarian fighter pilots
down an El Al civilian airline, killing
58 people |
September 27 |
Egyptian-Czechoslovak arms
deal announced |
October 11 |
Arab League rejects Eric
Johnston's Jordan River plan |
October 18 |
Premier Sharett applies
to U.S. for permission to purchase arms |
October 20 |
Egypt and Syria sign mutual
defence treaty |
November 2 |
Ben-Gurion again
becomes Israel's Prime Minister |
|
Nasser objects to terms
of Western offer to finance the building
of the Aswan Dam. |
December 6 |
Israel protests to Security
Council, in note dated 22 November, continued
Egyptian attacks from Gaza Strip |
December 26 |
Cairo announces beginning
of implementation of defence pacts with
Syria and Saudi Arabia |
|
Sudan & Tunisia gain
independence, as well as Pakistan Republic. |
|
Israel begins laying on oil pipeline
from Eilat to Ashkelon. |
|
Oil discovered in Algeria and Nigeria. |
January 18 |
Nasser announces new constitution
for Egypt and pledges to re-conquer Palestine |
January 25 |
Ambassador Eban requests
permission from Secretary Dulles to acquire
arms in the U.S. |
March 12 |
Egypt, Syria and
Saudi Arabia announce plans to coordinate
their defense |
April |
UN Secretary General
tours Middle East in an effort to reestablish
armistice. Cease-fire achieved between
Israel and Egypt on 19 April and with
Jordan on 26 April |
April 7 |
One young woman killed
when terrorists threw
3 hand grenades into her house in Ashkelon. |
|
Two killed when terrorists
opened fire on a car at Kibbutz Givat
Chaim. |
April 11 |
Three children and one
youth worker killed, and five injured,
when terrorists opened fire on a synagogue full
of children and teenagers in Shafrir
(Kfar Chabad). |
April 29 |
Egyptians killed 21-year-old
Ro'i Rottenberg from Nahal Oz |
May 6 |
Jordan and Egypt announce
plans to unify their forces |
May 9 |
Dulles tells NATO in Paris
that the U.S. would not sell arms to
Israel directly in order to avoid U.S.-USSR
confrontation in the Middle East |
May 31 |
Syria and Jordan sign
military agreement |
May-October |
France delivers arms to Israel under
secret agreement with tacit U.S. approval |
June 24 |
Nasser elected
President of Egypt |
July 20 |
U.S. refuses aid and credits
for Egypt Aswan
High Dam, Britain adopts similiar position |
July 26 |
Nasser
nationalizes the Suez Canal. |
September 12 |
Terrorists killed
three Druze guards
in Ein Ofarim. |
September 23 |
Four archaeologists killed
and 16 wounded when terrorists opened
fire from a Jordanian position at Kibbutz
Ramat Rachel. |
September 24 |
Terrorists killed
a girl in the fields of the farming community
of Aminadav, near Jerusalem. |
October 4 |
Five Israeli workers killed
in Sdom. |
October 8 |
Egypt and
USSR reject proposals for international
supervision of Suez Canal |
October 9 |
Two workers were killed
in an orchard of the Neve Hadasah youth
village. |
October 25 |
Egypt, Syria and Jordan announce
establishment of unified military command
for “war of destruction against
Israel.” |
October 29 |
Sinai
Campaign launched with Great Britain
and France |
|
Kfar
Kassem massacre of 47 Arab civilians
violating a curfew |
November 2 |
General Assembly calls
for cease-fire in Egypt, withdrawal of
foreign troops, restoration of freedom
of navigation |
|
Tel Aviv University is
opened. |
November 4-5 |
End of Sinai
Campaign. Gaza
Strip and Sinai occupied. During
the campaign, thousands of Jews are
expelled from Egypt and come to Israel. |
November 5 |
General
Assembly establishes United
Nations Emergency Force |
November 6 |
Israel completes occupation
of Sinai save for strip along Suez Canal |
November 7 |
General
Assembly calls on Britain, France
and Israel to withdraw from Sinai and
Suez Canal zone, President Eisenhower
demands Israeli compliance. Premier
Bulganin threatens Israel |
November 8 |
Terrorists opened fire
on a train, attacked cars and blew up
wells, in the north and center of Israel.
six Israelis were wounded |
December 21 |
Last British and French
troops leave Egypt |
December 24 |
Beginning of Israeli forces
withdrawal from Sinai |
|
France helps Israel create
nuclear research program in Dimona; a
nuclear reactor is constructed. |
|
National telephone dialing between
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa is introduced. |
January 5 |
Eisenhower
Doctrine unveiled “to deter
Communist aggression in the Middle
East area.” |
January 22 |
Israel withdraws to mandatory
border with Egypt,
holds land strip to Sharm el-Sheikh and
Gaza Strip |
February |
U.S. pressure on Israel
to withdraw from Gaza and Sharm el-Sheikh.
General Assembly considers sanctions
against Israel |
February 18 |
Two civilians killed by terrorist landmines
near Nir Yitzhak. |
February 28 |
U.S.-Israel understanding
on freedom of navigation and UN administration
for Gaza Strip |
March 1 |
Foreign Minister Meir announces
to General Assembly Israel's readiness
to withdraw from all Egyptian territories |
March 6 |
Israel
withdraws from Sinai and Gaza.
UN forces (UNEF) along border |
March 8 |
A shepherd from Kibbutz
Beit Govrin was killed by terrorists in
a field near the kibbutz |
March 10 |
IDF withdraws to armistice
lines |
March 11 |
Egypt re-appoints
military governor for Gaza |
March 15 |
Egypt announces
Israel not permitted to navigate through
newly reopened Suez Canal |
April 14 |
Eilat-Beersheba oil pipeline
inaugurated |
April 16 |
Two guards at Kibbutz Mesilot
are killed by terrorists who
infiltrated from Jordan. |
May 20 |
A terrorist opened
fire on a truck in the Arava region,
killing a worker. |
May 29 |
One killed and two wounded
when their vehicle struck a landmine
in Kibbutz Kisufim. |
|
Ben-Gurion announces
in Knesset Israel's acceptance of “Eisenhower's
Doctrine.” |
June |
Serious border clashes
on Israel-Syria border |
|
Arab
boycott of all firms selling goods
in Israel. |
|
United States attains world's
largest Jewish
population. |
August 23 |
Two guards of the Israeli
Mekorot water company killed are killed
in Kibbutz Beit Govrin. |
October 29 |
Mentally deranged man throws
a hand grenade into the Knesset.
Five ministers are injured |
October 31 |
Huleh swamp
drainage project completed |
November |
Israel completes Huleh reclamation
project |
December 21 |
A member of Kibbutz Gadot
was killed in the kibbutz fields. |
|
The first supermarket opens in Tel
Aviv on Ben-Yehuda Street. |
|
The Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew
University opens in Jerusalem. |
|
Immigration from Eastern Europe starts
to grow, primarily from Romania. |
January 15 |
Supreme Court verdict in
Kastner trial |
February 1 |
United Arabic Republic
established through merger of Egypt and
Syria. |
February 11 |
Terrorists killed
a resident of Moshav Yanov near Kfar
Yona. |
February 14 |
Jordan and Iraq form
Arab Federation |
March 8 |
Yemen joins United
Arab Republic |
March 20 |
Syria fires
at Israeli workers engaged in widening
Jordan River bed |
|
The Knesset passes
the first Basic
Law to established and define the
electoral system. |
April 5 |
Terrorists lying
in ambush shot and killed two people
in Tel Lachish. |
May 26 |
Four Israeli police officers
and a UN officer killed in a Jordanian
attack on Mt.
Scopus in Jerusalem. |
July 14 |
Iraqi monarchy is overthrown
in revolution, King killed. Civil war
in Lebanon. Jordan and
Lebanon appeal for U.S. military aid. |
July 15 |
U.S. marines land in Beirut;
British paratroopers land in Jordan |
August 2 |
Arab Federation dissolved
by Hussein |
August 4 |
First International Bible
Quiz held in Jerusalem |
October 25 |
U.S. ends its military
intervention in Lebanon |
November 7 |
Syrian artillery shell
Israeli settlements in Huleh Valley |
November 17 |
Ambassador Eban again proclaims
Israel's readiness to compensate Arab
refugees even before peace settlement. |
|
Syrian terrorists killed
the wife of the British air attache in Israel,
who was staying at the guesthouse of
the Italian Convent on the Mt. of the
Beatitudes. |
December 3 |
A shepherd killed and 31
civilians wounded in an artillery attack
on Kibbutz Gonen. |
|
Heichal Shlomo - seat of
the Chief
Rabbinate - is inaugurated. |
|
The Carmelit subway is inaugurated
in Haifa. |
|
The USSR officially declares it will
not allow Soviet Jews to immigrate to
Israel. |
January |
Fatah is
established by Yasser
Arafat and associates. |
January 23 |
A shepherd from Kibbutz
Lehavot Habashan was killed. |
February 1 |
Three civilians killed
by a terrorist landmine
at Moshav Zavdiel. |
February 26 |
Egypt detains
Liberian Ship Captain Manolis in
Suez Canal with cargo from Israel to
Ceylon and Malaya. |
March 13 |
Egypt detains
German ship Lialot in Suez Canal
with Israeli cargo to Malaya and Phillipines. |
March 24 |
Iraq withdraws from Baghdad
Pact. Pact is re-named CENTO on August
18. |
April 15 |
A guard was killed at Kibbutz
Ramat Rahel. |
April 27 |
Two hikers shot and killed
at close range at Masada. |
May 21 |
Egypt detains
Danish ship Inge Toft, confiscates
cargo destined from Israel to Hong Kong
and Japan |
September 6 |
Bedouin terrorists killed
a paratroop reconnaissance officer near
Nitzana. |
September 8 |
Bedouins opened
fire on an army bivouac in the Negev,
killing an IDF officer,
Captain Yair Peled. |
October 3 |
A shepherd from Kibbutz
Heftziba was killed near Kibbutz Yad
Hana. |
October 5 |
Egypt tells UN that
Israel will be permitted to use Suez
Canal after Palestine
refugee problem is settled |
| November 3 |
Elections for the Fourth
Knesset |
December 19 |
Egypt detains
Greek ship Astypalea in Suez
Canal. Nasser disavows
previous promises to UN Secretary General
to allow passage of Israeli cargo on
non-Israeli ships. |
|
A series of riots with
an ethnic-socio-economic basis takes
places in a Haifa suburb,
Wadi Salib. |
|
The Navy's
first submarine, the Tanin (crocodile),
arrives in Haifa. |
|
Habima is
declared the national theater of Israel. |
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