• The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel by Ben Gurion
• 'I was at Israel's founding' When the State of Israel was declared on 14 May 1948, some 200 dignitaries were invited to the ceremony, held at the Museum of Art in Tel Aviv. Of those present, only one, Arieh Handler, now 93, is known to still be alive. Here he recounts his personal recollections of that historic day. BBC report.
• History of Israel: Key events BBC page of images, each linked to a key stage in the history of Israel. Click on a link to watch and read key events in Israels history since its creation in 1948.
• Arab-Israeli conflict Simple but clear visual history shown through a series of moving maps from UK's Guardian
• Problems of the New State from History of Israel by US Library of Congress Outline Country Study from Helen Chapin Metz, 1988.
  • Prelude to Statehood  
  • 1948-67 Etatism
  • Ingathering of the Exiles
  • Israeli Arabs, Arab Land, and Arab Refugees
  • The IDF
• Israeli Statehood From Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site. Click to read a balance of important topic documents/sources on the Question to provide material to help come to a conclusion. Questions include:
  • Does Israel have a right to exist?
  • Did the Holocaust justify the creation of a Jewish state?
  • Should the state of Israel have been created elsewhere?
• Background to the Israel-Palestine Crisis Useful Q & A approach from a Palestinian, Stephen R. Shalom who teaches political science at William Paterson University. But remember, like all printed Q&A's, the responses are being (pre)selected by the author for you. §

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4.  Wars of 1956 and 1967   

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• The 1956 Suez War Useful overview article from Aljazeera
• 1956 Suez War Background information using a variety of historians from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site.
• Egypt 1956 War Overview article describing Egypts role in the 1956 War. From GlobalSecurity.org
• 1956 second Arab-Israeli war Outline history cross linked to other site information from History of the Middle East Database

• 1956 Olympic Boycott Over Suez Crisis About.com article on how Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, over Israel's invasion of the Sinai and Gaza Strip.

Six Day War of 1967

• The 1967 Six Day War from US NPR's The Mideast: A Century of Conflict. A straightforward account with an audio programme to listen to. Good links to maps, timelines, basic bios, expert views. A good place to start.
• 1967 "Six Day" War Background information/reference from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site. Includes Questions:
  • Was Israel the aggressor in the 1967 War?
  • What effect did the 1967 War have on the Palestinians?

  • What was the Arab World's reaction to the 1967 War?

• 1967 Third Arab-Israeli War Outline history cross linked to other site information from History of the Middle East Database
• How 1967 defined the Middle East BBC page with excellent links to maps, further articles and analysis.
• Six Days that Changed the Middle East audio download in which The BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen explores the causes, the events and the unfinished business of the 1967 War
• Mapping the war Chart how the conflict progressed on a day-by-day basis from the BBC
• Israel's Decision to Go to War: June 2, 1967  Shows the conflict and divide between the Israeli political and military groups and the army's mistrust of the civilian leadership. 2007 Ami Gluska academic article from Middle East Review.
• The 1967 War and the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Uses a Q & A approach taking extracts from already published works/documents to provide the responses. Interesting as it is a non Zionist Jewish interpretation more sympathetic to the Palestinian perspective of events. But remember, like all printed Q&A's, the responses are being (pre)selected by the author for you.
• 1967 UN Resolution 242 From Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site. Click to read a balance of important topic documents/sources on the Question to provide material to help come to a conclusion. Questions:
  • What is the 1967 UN Resolution 242, and who accepted it?
  • Does the 1967 UN Resolution require Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders?

Six Day War to Yom Kippur

• Israel, Occupation and Violence, 1967-76  Overview essay by Frank E. Smitha as part of his World History site describing the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, Yon Kipper War & terror.
• 1970 War of Attrition Background information using a variety of historians from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site.
• 1967 and afterward from History of Israel by US Library of Congress Outline Country Study from Helen Chapin Metz, 1988. See also:
  • The War of Attrition

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5. Consequences of wars and the growth of the Israeli state    

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• Immigrants Official Israeli immigration statistics by country & decade, 1948 - 2006 (this is an excel file)
• Aliyah Official immigration history from Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Gives a concise overview of reasons why immigrants came and who came
• The Historic Significance of American Aliya Yossi Klein Halevi looks back at the reasons why his family left the USA for Israel and what it was like to make the move. Article in Jerusalem Post.

• Flashback: Palestine's catastrophe BBC overview item looking at the displacement & dispossession of Palestinians after 1948
• Nakba An extensive Palestinian site which has survivors testimonies Listings of destroyed villages, chronology and a photo gallery. Not all links are active but this is a good resource for the Palestinian viewpoint. Designed in several languages by the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre Foundation, a non-governmental, non-profit organization located in Ramallah.
• Inside a Palestinian refugee camp BBC special report with interviews, maps pictures examining the creation & setting up of the refugee camps in 1948 and what life was/is like in them
• The Palestine Nakba Controversy Comes from Zionist site but is useful as it attempts to place arguments in a broad, more balanced context.
• The Land Question in Palestine Concluding Chapter from 1984 work by historian Kenneth W. Stein
• Critical Analysis Of The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem Worthwhile presentation of history of the land issue and argument by Benny Morris. Posted on the PalestineRemembered.com site
• The Land Question after 1948. Useful, as it takes the Mandate period as a comparison and illustrates land before and after 1948. By Dr. Michal Oren, PASSIA, (The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, Jerusalem)
• Embarrassing history by UPI Editor at large, Arnaud de Borchgrave (2007). Looks at Ilan Pappe's (Israeli historian), history book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” which documents how Israel was born during/after the Mandate with lands forcibly seized from its Palestinian inhabitants who had lived there for hundreds of years. See also:
• The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine: George Galloway Interviews Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe. 25 minute interview by the British (openly pro Palestine) politician in a wide ranging discussion with anti-Zionist Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and Includes many callers. From George Galloway's weekend talkshow on UK's TalkSport, (15-10-06)
• About Refugees from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site. Click to read a balance of important topic documents/sources on the Question to provide material to help come to a conclusion. Question:
  • Who are the Palestinian Refugees?
  • How many Palestinians became refugees as a result of the 1948 War, and where did they go?
  • Were Palestinian refugees forcibly expelled from Israel during the 1948 war?

• Statehood and Expulsion Uses a Q & A approach taking extracts from already published works/documents to provide the responses. Interesting as it is a non Zionist Jewish interpretation more sympathetic to the Palestinian perspective of events.  But remember, like all printed Q&A's, the responses are being (pre)selected by the author for you.
• Early U.S. Policy toward Palestinian Refugees: the Syria Option Reviews and assesses early Western efforts to solve the Palestine question by resettling refugees in Syria. Academic article (but not too long or difficult) by Joshua M Landis, Univ of Oklahoma.

• Jews Flee Arabic Homelands Overview essay by Frank E. Smitha as part of his World History site describing the attacks on Jews outside Israel in the Arab world and the disappearance of their ancient communities.
• The Middle East's Forgotten Refugees by Semha Alwaya, an attorney in the Bay Area and a founding member of Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. Born in Iraq and raised in Turkey, Iran, Israel and the U.S.A., Alwaya was among 125,000 Iraqi refugees whose citizenship was revoked and their property confiscated by the Iraqi government in the middle of the 20th century. 
• Operation Magic Carpet Article by Alaska Airlines(!) on their role in airlifting thousands of Yemenite Jews to the newly created nation of Israel in 1949

• Muslims and Israelis to the 1967 War Overview essay by Frank E. Smitha as part of his World History site describing the Muslim Brotherhood, anti-Western intellectuals, Nasser & crises.
• Terrorism deaths in Israel - 1920-1999 Table issued by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Terrorist Attacks in Israel GlobalSecurity.org article on terror in the 60's, 70's and 80's
• Black September and the Murder of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics descriptive account with links to realted areas by Pierre Tristam on About.com
• 1970 Black September Background information to this Jordanian - Palestinian conflict using a variety of historians from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site on the origins, events and outcomes.
• Israel’s Sacred Terrorism by Edward Herman. looks at the extent of less publicised Israeli Terrorism in the Middle East and Europe. Excerpt from The Real Terror Network (1982). Includes a table of Israeli versus PLO terrorist killings. 

• Basic background information/reference from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site:
  • Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
  • Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
  • Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command (PFLP-GC)

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6. October war of 1973: causes, course and consequences  

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• From the 1973 Yom Kippur War to Peace with Egypt from US NPR's The Mideast: A Century of Conflict. A straightforward account with an audio programme to listen to. Good links to maps, timelines, basic bios, expert views. A good place to start.
• 1973 "Yom Kippur" War Background information using a variety of historians from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site on the origins, events and outcomes
• The October 1973 War from History of Israel by US Library of Congress Outline Country Study from Helen Chapin Metz, 1988.
• The reasons of the war Looks in detail at the causes of the war. Paper presented by Major Ebrahim Al-Jowder, Bahrain Armed Forces, 1997. GlobalSecurity.org
• Yom Kippur War: Sacrificial Stand in the Golan Heights article decribing the Syrian front which shattered the myth of Israeli invincibility helped Syria regain much of the honor it had lost in the debacle of 1967. By Gary Rashba, 1998 Military History magazine.
• The October War supplement produced by Cairo's Al Ahram Includes Egyptian witness accounts, images and articles by Egyptian historians
• The 1973 Arab-Israeli War (Executive summary) by US Major Steven J. Piccirilli, for a military evaluation of the war (1989) GlobalSecurity.org

• A Cry From The Bunkers Authentic recordings by Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldier Avi Yaffe from inside the IDF position on the Suez canal, under attack at the outbreak of the war.

• The October War and U.S. Policy Very thorough set of documents presented by the US National Security Archive for US policy at a time when the ongoing Watergate crisis intersected with the October War. Nixon was distracted and while his political prestige was collapsing, Kissinger's was growing even more. With Nixon embattled, Henry Kissinger emerged as the key U.S. decisionmaker during the October War.
• Soviet Policy in the October 1973 war. This is a 39 sided report commissioned by the Rand Corp for the US government in. However go to page 35 for the useful conclusion. (written 1976)
• The Egyptian-Israeli Disengagement Treaties of 1974 and 1975 Article shows how Kissinger's Shuttle Diplomacy ended hostilities. By Pierre Tristam, About.com. Links to actual texts of the agreements

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7. Camp David and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Agreement  

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• US position to new Israeli state Links to earlier section above.
• The Middle East and the West: The U.S. Role Grows A straightforward, basic account 1945 to 1970's, but based on a radio programme to listen to. A good place to start.
• The US-Israeli Relationship Basic overview article by Keith Porter of About.com Focus is on the 60's - 80's.
• United States From Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site. Click to read a balance of important topic documents/sources on the Question to provide material to help come to a conclusion. Questions:
  • What is the relationship between the United States and Israel?
  • What is the relationship between the United States and the Palestinians?
  • Is the United States an "honest broker" in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict? 
  • What is the position of the United States on the dispute over Jerusalem?
• America's Pro-Israel Bias: Why the United States Takes Israel's Side Focus is on post Camp David period, but still of value in helping to understand the US position, and the problems this creates for an eventual solution. By Pierre Tristam on About.com

Camp David Agreements

• 1978 Camp David Accords Background information using a variety of historians from Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site on the origins, events and outcomes.
• The Camp David Accords the actual agreements from the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum.
• Camp David Case Study This Princeton Case Study makes for an interesting way to view the process - more as a participant rather than observer. Good, clearly presented detail of background, issues and personalities.
• The Begin Era from History of Israel by US Library of Congress Outline Country Study from Helen Chapin Metz, 1988. See also:
  • The Peace Process
  • The Occupied Territories
• Menachem Begin, Guerrilla Leader Who Became Peacemaker 1992 obituary article in New York Times looks at his life
• Time Person of the Year 1977: Anwar Sadat Time magazine's article accompanying the award tells the life story of Egypt's president from the viewpoint of January 1978
• Anwar el-Sadat, the Daring Arab Pioneer of Peace with Israel New York Times obituary by Eric Pace from 1981

• Muslims and Israelis, 1976-88 Overview essay by Frank E. Smitha as part of his World History site describing Camp David, the U.S. in Lebanon, war in Afghanistan & intifada  

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8. Key Resources 

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• Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org Site which attempts to present a simple, nonpartisan for and against approach to the conflict. Uses an interesting approach: Asks a key question then uses (a balance of) documents/sources to provide material to come to a conclusion. This link takes you to the overall theme index. Click on a theme for the "questions". Excellent resource.
• History of the Middle East Database Use this teaching resource by to place Palestine in a geographical and cultural  context. Contains histories and bibliographies of the countries in the region.
• Israel and Palestine: Middle East Historical and Peace Process Source Documents  Extensive listing of key documents from MidEastWeb. Good easy reference once you know where to look - below the "Trivia Quiz"..... Site also has linked timelines, brief outline histories, but the documents are the key resource. However, also worth looking at is:
• Brief History of Israelis and Palestinians A capsule history of Palestine/Israel since early times. Use this for a grand overview.
• Internet Modern History Sourcebook Documentary Resources on the emergence of Israel from the British mandate
• Avalon Project. Extensive collection of Middle East documents

• Aljazeera Middle East Aljazeera's English service keeps an updated page dedicated to the Middle East. Has a Twitter service...
• BBC Middle East crisis Updated constantly. links to special sections/stories/eye witness accounts and analysis
• CNN Middle East CNN's updated page is much more sparse than the others in terms of layout, and I think coverage....
• France 24 Middle East Probably the best laid out and easiest to navigate given the many tension areas in the middle east today. Appears to make good integrated use of video reports. Also, perhaps they have less of an axe to grind....