interactive encyclopedia of the palestine question – palquest | search

Sections

About

Use quotation marks “…” to search for an exact phrase.

Events

Establishment of European and American Consulates in Jerusalem

International Intervention against Egyptian Rule in the Levant

Great Britain Invades and Occupies Egypt

European Powers Press the Ottomans on Jewish Immigration

2 March 1888 - 4 October 1888

Building of the Jaffa-Jerusalem Railroad Line

31 March 1890 - 26 September 1892

Palestinian Members of the Ottoman Parliament Express Opposition to Zionist Objectives

June 1909 - 2 November 1909

Hussein-McMahon Correspondence: Territorial Issues and Prelude to the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans

14 July 1915 - 30 March 1916

Jemal Pasha Orders the Public Hanging of Arab Nationalists from the Levant

21 August 1915 - 6 May 1916

Start of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans

The Russian Revolution; Sykes-Picot Agreement Is Published

8 March 1917 - 23 November 1917

British Failed Attempts to Conquer Transjordan

21 March 1918 - 4 May 1918

Conquest of Damascus; Faisal Enters Liberated City

26 September 1918 - 3 October 1918

General Allenby Issues Guidelines for the Military Occupation of the Levant

23 October 1918

Opening of the Paris Peace Conference

18 January 1919

1st Palestinian National Congress Is Held in Jerusalem

27 January 1919 - 10 February 1919

Appointment of the King-Crane Commission

20 March 1919 - 21 July 1919

The General Syrian Congress and the King-Crane Commission

2 July 1919 - 3 July 1919

The General Syrian National Congress Proclaims the Independence of the Arab Syrian Kingdom

7 March 1920 - 8 March 1920

San Remo Conference: Distribution of Mandates

French Occupy Damascus; Arab Syrian Kingdom Nominally Reduced to Transjordan

14 July 1920 - 31 August 1920

The Issue of the Administration of Transjordan

25 July 1920 - 31 December 1920

Churchill and Abdullah Reach Preliminary Understanding over Transjordan

2 March 1921 - 30 March 1921

Hybrid Status for Transjordan; Prince Abdullah Becomes Its Emir

12th Zionist Congress Is Held in Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary)

1 September 1921 - 14 September 1921

The League of Nations Confirms Britain’s Mandate over Palestine

League of Nations Approves Exclusion of Transjordan Territory from the Jewish National Home

14 September 1922 - 16 September 1922

British-French Demarcation of Line Between Palestine (Including Transjordan) and Syria (Including Lebanon)

British Formal and Conditional Assurance to Transjordan's Abdullah

25 April 1923 - 25 May 1923

Treaty of Lausanne Is Signed with Ataturk's Turkey

Agreement between Great Britain and Transjordan Emirate

20 February 1928

Islamic Conference in Defense of al-Buraq and Muslim Holy Places in Jerusalem

1 November 1928

16th Zionist Congress Is Held in Zurich

28 July 1929 - 11 August 1929

MacDonald's Reassurance to Weizmann

13 February 1931

Enactment of the Palestine Order in Council Related to al-Buraq / Western Wall

Great Britain Issues the Palestine (Defence) Order in Council, 1931

Establishment of the National Defense Party

2 December 1934

The Arab Higher Committee is Formed

Great Britain Issues the Palestine Martial Law (Defence) Order in Council, 1936

30 September 1936

Great Britain Issues the Palestine (Defence) Order in Council, 1937

18 March 1937 - 24 March 1937

Peel Commission Report Proposes Partition of Palestine

Arab Higher Committee Is Banned

October 1937 - November 1937

London Round Table Conference Convenes

7 February 1939 - 27 March 1939

Formation of a British-Arab Committee on Hussein-McMahon Correspondence at the London Round Table Conference

15 February 1939 - 16 March 1939

Outbreak of World War II

1 September 1939

Five-year Limit on Jewish Immigration Extended

British Recommend Partition

Labor Victory in Great Britain

Arab Office (AO) Is Opened in Washington

September 1945 - December 1947

Attempt to Reconstitute the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine

22 November 1945 - 29 May 1946

Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and Transjordan

League of Nations Passes on Supervision over Mandates to the UN; Acknowledges Transjordan's Independence

Independence of the Emirate of Transjordan; a New Constitution for the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan

25 May 1946 - 7 December 1946

Formation of the (Palestinian) Arab Higher Front in Opposition to the Palestine Arab Party

Arab League Meets in Bludan and Reacts to the Recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry

8 June 1946 - 12 June 1946

Arab League Supervises the Establishment of a Unified Palestinian Arab Higher Committee

Transjordan's Application for UN Membership Fails to Obtain Security Council Approval

26 June 1946 - 29 August 1946

Anglo-American Conference Meets in London and Proposes the Morrison-Grady Federal Plan

Great Britain Refers the question of Palestine to the UN

British to Terminate Palestine Mandate

26 September 1947

Great Britain Announces Termination Date of its Mandate over Palestine

11 December 1947

Transjordan and Great Britain Agree on Jordanian Military Intervention in Palestine

7 February 1948

Fate of Diplomatic Representations in Jerusalem

11 February 1948 - 1 May 1948

A New Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and Transjordan

Zionist Leadership Decides to Proclaim Jewish State on 16 May

Great Britain Issues the Termination of Jurisdiction in Palestine (Transitional Provisions) Order in Council of 1948

Great Britain Issues the Palestine (Revocations) Order in Council, 1948

Great Britain Recognizes Israel on a de facto Basis

30 January 1949

The US Recognizes Transjordan on a de jure Basis

31 January 1949

Jordan Undertakes Legislative Steps Aiming at Integrating the West Bank

16 March 1949 - 1 December 1949

Official Name of Jordan as an Issue

Great Britain Announces Formal Recognition of Extended Kingdom of Jordan and de jure Recognition of Israel Simultaneously

Tripartite Declaration

The Knesset Adopts the Law of State Education

Israel and the Lavon Affair

July 1954 - 17 February 1955

24 February 1955

Egyptian-Czech Arms Deal

27 September 1955

Nationalization of the Suez Canal

London Conference on Suez

16 August 1956 - 23 August 1956

Britain, France, and Israel Sign the Protocol of Sèvres

22 October 1956 - 24 October 1956

The 1956 War - The Tripartite Aggression

29 October 1956 - 12 March 1957

Britain and France Join the War

31 October 1956

Soviet Union Threatens Intervention

5 November 1956

UNGA 1002 (ES-1): Calling for Withdrawal of Israeli Forces Behind Armistice Lines and of British and French Forces from Egypt

7 November 1956

Israel Addresses the Future of Sinai

7 November 1956 - 8 November 1956

Assassination of Adel Awadallah and Imad Awadallah in Khirbat al-Taybeh

11 September 1998

Arab and International Support of Palestinian Uprising

30 September 2000 - 7 October 2000

Assassination of Nidal Fathi Farhat, Mufid Awad al-Bil, Akram Fahmi Naser, Muhammad Salmi, Ayman Mahanna, and Iyad Faraj Sheldan in Gaza City

16 February 2003

US formally Presents Israel and the PA with the Road Map

Assassination of Rawad Fathi Farahat and Nafez Abu Hussein in Gaza City

24 September 2005

Assassination of Ahmad Awad and Ramzi Shuhaybir in Gaza City

8 November 2006

War on Gaza: Calls for Active Diplomacy

4 January 2009 - 5 January 2009

SC Res. 1860: Calling for a Gaza Ceasefire and Arrangements to Prevent Arms Trafficking

Western Powers Adopt a Program of Action Against Weapons Smuggling into Gaza

Israel Declares Two West Bank Shrines as Part of Its National Heritage Sites

21 February 2010 - 25 February 2010

The Palestinian State: Recognition and Upgrade Drive, Mostly in Latin and Central America and Europe

1 December 2010 - 19 January 2012

Al Jazeera Satellite TV and the Guardian Release the Palestine Papers

23 January 2011

The State of Palestine Becomes Full Member of the UNESCO

5 October 2011 - 31 October 2011

Battir Landscape Is Inscribed in the World Heritage List

Heightened Tension at Haram al-Sharif

30 September 2014 - 22 December 2014

French Efforts in Favor of a Draft UNSC Resolution on Palestinian-Israeli Peace

2 December 2014 - 17 December 2014

Paris Conference for Peace in the Middle East

15 January 2017 - 16 January 2017

Old Cities of Jerusalem and Hebron Inscribed as World Heritage in Danger

4 July 2017 - 7 July 2017

Draft SC Res. S/2018/516 Calling for the Protection of Palestinian Civilians Vetoed by the US

Israel Is Readmitted as an Observer Country to the African Union, Later Suspended

22 July 2021 - 20 February 2023

Great Britain Designates Hamas’s Political Wing as a Terrorist Organization

19 November 2021 - 26 November 2021

UNESCO Adds Palestinian Tatreez to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage

15 December 2021

Biographies

1859 - 21 July 1921

Freih Abu Middein

Abdallah Mukhlis

27 December 1878 - 16 December 1947

Izzeddin al-Qassam

1882 - 20 November 1935

1882 - 22 April 1942

24 September 1882 - 15 January 1964

Abd al-Latif Salah

1884 - 8 November 1952

Isaaf al-Nashashibi

1885 - 22 January 1948

Wadi‘ Faris al-Bustani

1888 - 20 January 1954

Abd al-Hamid Shuman

1888 - 9 September 1974

Awni Abd al-Hadi

1889 - 15 March 1970

Iskandar al-Khoury al-Beitjali

1889 - 7 July 1973

George Antonius

Jamal al-Husseini

1892 - 5 July 1982

Omar al-Saleh al-Barghouti

1894 - 22 June 1965

27 July 1894 - 6 August 1993

Subhi al-Khadra

1895 - 4 July 1954

Muhammad Amin al-Husseini

1895 - 4 July 1974

4 April 1895 - 26 August 1971

Ahmad Samih al-Khalidi

1896 - 27 September 1951

Muhammad Ali al-Taher

1896 - 22 August 1974

Mustafa al-Dabbagh

1897 - 1 October 1989

8 May 1897 - 8 June 1984

Zulaykha al-Shihabi

1903 - 13 May 1992

Ishaq Musa al-Husseini

1904 - 17 December 1990

1905 - 21 May 1985

26 June 1905 - 21 May 1997

1907 - 27 July 2006

Ahmad al-Shuqairi

1908 - 25 February 1980

Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani

Abd al-Karim al-Karmi (Abu Salma)

1909 - 11 October 1980

1910 - 26 February 1971

Sami Taha Hamran

1911 - 11 September 1947

Hind al-Husseini

25 April 1916 - 13 September 1994

Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

28 August 1919 - 12 December 1994

2 December 1920 - 29 July 2003

20 April 1923 - 26 February 1999

1925 - 10 April 1973

Salma Khadra Jayyusi

16 April 1925 - 20 April 2023

1 August 1925 - 26 January 2008

1926 - 23 January 1984

13 September 1927 - 8 August 1967

Hanna Abu Hanna

16 October 1928 - 2 February 2022

Ibrahim Abu-Lughod

15 February 1929 - 23 May 2001

7 May 1929 - 5 July 1994

3 November 1929 - 30 August 2012

Bassam Shak’a

1930 - 22 July 2019

13 January 1932 - 2 August 2009

1934 - 14 September 2021

9 May 1935 - 10 April 1973

1936 - 3 August 1978

Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout

1937 - 12 July 2025

Historical Texts

Letter from Sir Henry McMahon to Sharif Hussein

25 October 1915

Sykes-Picot Agreement

Message of the General Syrian Congress To the King-Crane Commission

Recommendations of the King-Crane Commission

Proclamation of the Independence of Syria

San Remo Conference Resolutions: Syria, Mesopotamia [Iraq], Palestine Mandates

Palin Commission Report

Report by the Haycraft Commission of Inquiry into the May 1921 Jaffa Riots

The Supreme Islamic Shari'a Council Order

20 December 1921

League of Nations - Mandate for Palestine

The Palestine Order in Council (Palestine Constitution)

Agreement between Great Britain and Transjordan Emirate

20 February 1928

Passfield White Paper

20 October 1930

Charter of the Arab Youth Congress

Memorandum Submitted by Arab Senior Government Officials to the High Commissioner

Peel Commission Report

Memorandum of the Arab Higher Committee: On the Peel Commission Report

London Round Table Conference on McMahon-Husain Correspondence

Reply of Arab Higher Committee on MacDonald White Paper

Report of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry

Israel: Law and Administration Ordinance

UNSC Resolution 69

UNGA Resolution 302 (IV)

8 December 1949

UNGA Resolution 393 (V)

2 December 1950

UNGA Resolution 997 (ES-I)

2 November 1956

Proclamation of the Constitutional Statute of Gaza, 1962

Draft of UNSC Resolution 5407

Draft of UNSC Resolution 7575/Rev.1

3 November 1966

Programme of the Palestine National Front in the Occupied Territory

Palestine National Council, 11th Session: Political Program

12 December 1973

Speech of Yasir Arafat at the UNGA

13 November 1974

UNGA Resolution 3376 (XXX)

10 November 1975

UNGA Resolution 3375 (XXX)

10 November 1975

Security Council Decision Inviting the PLO to Participate in its Debate on the Situation in the Middle East

4 December 1975

Draft of UNSC Resolution 11898

5 December 1975

Draft of UNSC Resolution 11940

23 January 1976

Draft of UNSC Resolution 12119

Address by President Anwar Sadat to the Knesset

20 November 1977

UNSC Resolution 446

Tenth Arab Summit: Final Statement

20 November 1979 - 22 November 1979

Draft of UNSC Resolution 14832/Rev.1

19 January 1982

Draft of UNSC Resolution 14943

Draft of UNSC Resolution 14985

Draft of UNSC Resolution 15185

Draft of UNSC Resolution 15255/Rev.2

Draft of UNSC Resolution 15895

Draft of UNSC Resolution 17459

12 September 1985

Draft of UNSC Resolution 17769

29 January 1986

UNGA Resolution 42/210

17 December 1987

Draft of UNSC Resolution 19466

29 January 1988

UNGA Resolution 42/229

UNGA Resolution 42/230

Draft of UNSC Resolution 19780

Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)

Palestinian Declaration of Independence

15 November 1988

Palestine National Council (19th Session) Political Communiqué

15 November 1988

UNGA Resolution 43/160

9 December 1988

Yasir Arafat’s Speech Before the Forty-Third Session of the United Nations General Assembly

13 December 1988

UNGA Resolution 43/177

15 December 1988

Draft of UNSC Resolution 20463

17 February 1989

Draft of UNSC Resolution 20677

Draft of UNSC Resolution 20945/Rev.1

6 November 1989

Draft of UNGA Resolution A/44/L.50

29 November 1989

Draft of UNSC Resolution 21326

Fundamental Agreement Between The Holy See And The State Of Israel

30 December 1993

Draft of UNSC Resolution 1995/394

Yitzhak Rabin’s Address to Knesset after Israeli-Palestinian Agreement

Draft of UNSC Resolution 1997/199

Draft of UNSC Resolution 1997/241

Basic Agreement Between the Holy See and the Palestine Liberation Organization

15 February 2000

Yasir Arafat's Speech at the Palestinian Legislative Council

Law of 2003 Amending the Basic Law

The Geneva Accord

12 October 2003 - 1 December 2003

Draft of UNSC Resolution 2011/24

18 February 2011

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas): Document of General Principles and Policies

Mahmoud Abbas’s Op-Ed in The Guardian: Britain Must Atone for the Balfour Declaration – and 100 years of Suffering

1 November 2017

Basic Law: Israel - the Nation-State of the Jewish People

HRC Res. S-30/1: Establishing an Ongoing Commission of Inquiry on Palestine

Historical Media

Arrival in Palestine of Sir Hebert Samuel, High Commissioner

Caricature: Balfour and the Woes His Ill-Fated Promise Brought to Palestine (Filastin Newspaper)

2 November 1932

Arab Higher Committee Members

Highlights

Palestine Police During the British Mandate

Law Enforcement in Service of Zionist Goals

IV. The Palestine War And The Nakba

Jaramana Refugee Camp

Khan Dunoun Refugee Camp

Palestinian Youth in Conflict

A Childhood Denied

Balata Refugee Camp

Baqa‘a Refugee Camp

Fawwar Refugee Camp

Husseiniyeh Refugee (Gathering) Camp

Burj al-Barajneh Refugee Camp

Sayida Zeinab (Qabr Essit) Refugee Camp

Criminal Law in Mandate Palestine

A Repressive System with a Long-Lasting Impact

Beddawi Refugee Camp

The March 1955 Outburst in the Gaza Strip

Thwarting Resettlement Schemes

Palestinian Culture and Expressions of Identity

Preservation of Heritage in Palestine

A Rising Awareness of an Imperiled Treasure

Architecture and Urban Planning in Palestine

Caught Between Domination, Devastation and Mismanagement

Palestinian Embroidery

A Rich and Diverse National Heritage

The Palestinian Novel

Literature of the Oppressed in a Dispersed Geography

Palestinian Visual Arts (II)

Pathfinders (1955-1965)

Palestinian Cinema

From Serving the Revolution to Creative Expression

Palestinian Theater

The Bumpy History of a Maturing Art

The Palestine Radio, 1936-1948

The Contradictory Effects of a Government-Run Station

Muslim Pilgrimage to Jerusalem

The Religious-Political Ramifications of Israeli Occupation

Palestine-Lebanon Border

A Line Drawn with the Stroke of Foreign Pens

Palestine-Egypt Border

A Line Imposed by the British on the Ottomans

Balfour Declaration, 2 November 1917

Promising Palestine Away

The King-Crane Commission of 1919

Setting a Pattern of Futile 'Peace' Initiatives

The Peel Commission, 1936–1937

Sowing the Seeds of the Partition

The 1946 Anglo-American Committee

Humanitarianism Over Justice

France and the Palestine Question before 1948

Competition with the British, North African Considerations, Lukewarm Support for Zionism

Germany and the Palestine Question Since 1949

Breaking with the Nazi Past, Adapting to Changing Interests

The Palestine Question in German Public Discourse

A Conflation of Zionism, Israel and Judaism

Italy and the Palestine Question

From Supportive Equidistance to Hostility

Mexico and the Palestine Question

Equidistance… in Israel’s Favor

The Political Failure of the Tripartite Aggression

World Zionist Organization

Setting the Stage for a Jewish State in Palestine

The Second Intifada, 2000-2005

Mounting Confrontation, Shattered Aspirations

Israel's Nation-State Law, 2018

Enshrining Discrimination

The Palestine Communist Party

The Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas

The Palestinian National Movement and the Jewish Question (I)

Before the Nakba

The Palestine Exploration Fund

Philanthropy, Exploration and Imperial Scheming

Public Contracts during the Mandate

Colonial Deals in Favor of Zionist Goals

The Bosnians of Palestine

Palestinian Informal Justice

Thriving in the Shadow of Colonialism

Olive Oil Production in the Late Ottoman Rule

Embracing New Technology within a Deeply Rooted Tradition

Nablus Soap Production

The Decline of an Ancient Heritage

The Education of Palestinians in Israel

Struggling to Break Free from a System of Marginalization

Palestinians in Jordan, 1948-1967

The Making of the “Jordanians of Palestinian Origin”

Palestinian Refugees in the Gaza Strip, 1948-1967

The Political and Social Remodeling of a Cramped Palestinian Space

Palestinian Emigration (I)

The Palestinians in Chile

A Large Community, Fully Chilean, Fully Engaged for Palestine

V. Reverberations Of the Palestine War

X. Oslo Process: Towards Failure

Palestinian Music in Exile

Traditions and Resistance

Great Palestinian Rebellion, 1936-1939

A Popular Uprising Facing a Ruthless Repression

Palestinian Declaration of Independence, 15 November 1988

Historic Undertakings For the Sake of Statehood

I. Ottoman Rule

The Palestinians in Sweden

Engaged for Palestine beyond their Diverse Legal Statuses

II. British Occupation and Early Mandate

III. Late Mandate

Exhibition-Making Practices, 1917-1993

Curating the National Identity

A Watershed in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Palestinian Poster

Popularizing National Landmarks and Symbols

UN Partition Plan, 29 November 1947

Paving the Way to the Impending Nakba

The Palestinians in El Salvador

A Prosperous, yet Depoliticized Diaspora

The IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism

Delegitimizing Criticism of Israel

Periods

I. Ottoman Rule

Thematic Chronologies

Thematic Chronology

Palestinian National Congresses

1918 - 1934