Independence and Ingathering

TIMELINE 12A

Independence and Ingathering

1948 to 1955

Israel declares independence, wins its first war and doubles its population in three years as Jews pour in from Europe and the Arab world.

TURNING POINTS

1948 May 14 Independence. David Ben-Gurion declares independence and becomes prime minister of the provisional government. Five Arab armies attack on May 15.

1948 May 15 The War of Independence. Five Arab armies invade the day after independence. By the armistices of 1949 Israel holds more land than the partition plan gave it.

1949 Feb 24 to Jul 20 The armistice lines. Armistice agreements with Egypt (Feb 24), Lebanon (Mar 23), Jordan (Apr 3) and Syria (Jul 20) end the War of Independence. Israel holds more land than the partition plan gave it.

1949 to 1950 Operation Magic Carpet. In flights that began in 1949, the Yemenite Jewish airlift brings nearly 49,000 Jews from Yemen and Aden to Israel by September 1950.

1950 to 1952 Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. Airlifts bring about 120,000 Jews from Iraq to Israel.

1950 Jul 5 The Law of Return. Every Jew has the right to immigrate to Israel and take citizenship.

1952 Sep 10 The reparations agreement. Israel and West Germany sign in Luxembourg. Menachem Begin leads a violent protest outside the Knesset in January over the talks.

1954 to 1955 The Lavon Affair. Israeli agents recruit Egyptian Jews for failed bombings in Egypt. Two are executed, and Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon resigns, with Ben-Gurion returning to the post.

ALSO IN THIS PERIOD

1948 The Israel Defense Forces are formed from the Haganah and other groups.

1949 Jan 25 Election: Mapai wins 46 seats.

1949 May Israel joins the United Nations.

1949 Chaim Weizmann is elected the first president.

1950 Apr 24 Territory: Jordan annexes Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem.

1950s to 1960s Jews arrive from Arab countries and Iran and reshape Israeli society.

1951 Jul King Abdullah of Jordan is assassinated in Jerusalem.

1951 Jul 30 Election: Mapai wins 45 seats.

1951 Sep Egypt bars Israeli shipping from the Suez Canal.

1952 Jul The Free Officers coup in Egypt brings Nasser to power.

1952 Nov Chaim Weizmann dies.

1953 Yad Vashem is founded by law to remember the Holocaust.

1953 The Israel Prize is created.

1953 Oct The Qibya raid draws sharp international criticism.

1953 Dec Ben-Gurion resigns and moves to Sde Boker.

1954 Jan 26 Moshe Sharett becomes prime minister while Ben-Gurion rests at Sde Boker.

1954 Mar Gunmen kill 11 Israelis on a bus at Scorpion Pass.

1955 Yehuda Amichai publishes his first poems, Now and in Other Days.

1955 Jul 26 Election: Mapai wins 40 seats.

1955 Sep Egypt announces an arms deal with Czechoslovakia.

1955 Nov 3 Ben-Gurion returns as prime minister.