The decades-old Israel-Palestine conflict has yet again flared up with intensive fighting, rocket launches and airstrikes from both sides on May 12. According to the latest figures by the governments of both sides, 35 Palestinians, including nine children and a woman, and five Israelis have been killed in airstrikes.

Israel responded with hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza till May 12 morning in retaliation to the multiple rocket attacks by Islamist groups and other Palestinian militants at Tel Aviv and Beersheba.

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The 'heavy-handed' policing of Arabs in Israel during Ramadan and the subsequent rocket strikes by Hamas, a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, is said to be the main cause of escalation in the hostility between the two nations in the Middle East.

Here is a timeline of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

957 BC: In the early years of the Israelite kingdom, King Solomon got the First Temple constructed.

590 BC: The Temple suffered at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia, who removed the Temple treasures in 604 BCE and 597 BCE and totally destroyed it in 587/586.

538 BC: Cyrus II, founder of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia and conqueror of Babylonia issued an order allowing exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

515 BC: The Second Temple was completed in 515 BCE under the leadership of the last three Jewish Prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

70 BC: The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans.

7th Century: The siege of Jerusalem was part of the Muslim conquest of the Levant and the result of the military efforts of the Rashidun Caliphate against the Byzantine Empire.

15th Century: In 1481 the Inquisition — a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy — started in Spain. Conversos (Secret Jews) and New Christians were targeted because of their close relations to the Jewish community.

19th Century: Theodor Herzl founded the World Zionist Organization in 1897 to serve as the organizational framework for the Zionist movement.

Post World War I: Britain was given the mandate for Palestine and Transjordan (the territories that include the area of present-day Israel, Jordan, West Bank and the Gaza Strip). Jewish immigration to Palestine continued to grow significantly during the period of the British Mandate in Palestine and Palestinian nationalism was the answer to it.

Post World War II: Britain lifted its control over the area in 1948 and the Jews declared the creation of the state of Israel as it couldn’t resolve the issue between the Jews and the Arabs. An armed conflict started between the two sides as Palestinians strongly objected to the creation of Israel as a separate state.

May 15, 1948: First Arab-Israeli War begins

1948-1949: 7,00,000 Palestinians become refugees

1949: Israel Signs Armistice Agreements with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria

July 1956: Second Arab-Israeli War erupts over the Suez Crisis

June 2, 1964: Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) formed

June 5, 1967: ‘Six-Day War’ takes place. As many as 2,50,000 Palestinians become displaced after Six-Day War

Dec. 9, 1987: First Palestinian Intifada begins. The intifada broke out in the heart of Arab Jerusalem itself.

1991: Israel enters first direct negotiations with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians as part of the Madrid Conference.

September 13, 1993: Oslo Peace Accord is signed by Israel and the PLO

May 4, 1994: Cairo Agreement is signed between Israel and the PLO

November 5, 1995: Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin assassinated

August 27, 2001: Israel assassinates the Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

March 27, 2002: Hamas suicide attack kills 30 Israeli civilians during Passover Seder

March 29 - April 21, 2002: Israel launches operation defensive shield and invades and occupies much of the West Bank

July 8, 2014: Israel launches operation protective edge against Hamas militants in Gaza

March 16, 2015: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says no to a two-state solution on eve of the election.

February 5, 2021: International Criminal Court rules it has jurisdiction to investigate alleged war crimes in Israel-occupied territories

(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)

First Published:May 12, 2021 5:34 PM IST