Arab–Israeli conflict: A Visual History

The Arab-Israeli conflict began with the 1948 war that followed Israel's declaration of independence on 14 May 1948, in which Israel defeated Arab armies, expanded beyond the UN partition lines and 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled (the Nakba). Israel took Sinai briefly in 1956, and in the Six-Day War of June 1967 seized the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai and Golan; Egypt and Syria attacked in the Yom Kippur War of 1973; Egypt made peace at Camp David (1979) and Jordan in 1994. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and fought Hezbollah in 2006; the Palestinian intifadas (1987, 2000) bracketed the Oslo accords, which failed to produce a state. Hamas's attack of 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis, led to a war that killed over 60,000 in Gaza, spread to Lebanon and Iran, and, despite a 2025 ceasefire, remains unresolved.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Arab-Israeli conflict. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Deaths in the major wars

Timeline of the Arab-Israeli conflict

1. 1948
   Israel declared; Arab-Israeli war; Nakba
2. 1956
   Suez crisis
3. 1967
   Six-Day War
4. 1973
   Yom Kippur War
5. 1979
   Egypt-Israel peace treaty
6. 1982
   Lebanon invasion; Sabra and Shatila
7. 1987
   First intifada
8. 1993
   Oslo accords
9. 2000
   Second intifada
10. 2007
    Hamas takes Gaza
11. 2023
    7 October attack; Gaza war
12. 2025
    Israel-Iran war; Gaza ceasefire

1948-1973: the interstate wars

The UN's 1947 partition plan was accepted by the Zionists and rejected by Arabs; civil war in Mandate Palestine became a regional war on 15 May 1948 when Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon invaded. Israel won and held 78 percent of Palestine; Jordan took the West Bank and Egypt Gaza; 700,000 Palestinians became refugees. The Suez war of 1956 (Britain, France, Israel against Nasser) was reversed by US pressure. In June 1967 Israel destroyed the Egyptian air force pre-emptively and in six days took Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan; a million Palestinians came under occupation and settlements began. Egypt and Syria's surprise attack on Yom Kippur 1973 nearly broke through before Israel counter-attacked across the canal; the oil embargo followed.

1974-2000: Lebanon, intifada and Oslo

Sadat flew to Jerusalem in 1977 and the Camp David accords returned Sinai for peace in 1979; he was assassinated in 1981. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to destroy the PLO, besieging Beirut; the Sabra and Shatila massacre by Israel's Phalangist allies killed hundreds; Hezbollah was born and Israel held a southern zone until 2000. The first intifada of stones and strikes (1987-1993) led to the Oslo accords of 1993 between Rabin and Arafat, mutual recognition and a Palestinian Authority in parts of the territories; Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995, settlements doubled, and Camp David in 2000 failed. Jordan signed peace in 1994.

2000 to present: intifada, Gaza and the 2023 war

The second intifada (2000-2005) brought suicide bombings and Israeli reoccupation of West Bank cities and the separation barrier; Sharon withdrew settlers from Gaza in 2005, Hamas won the 2006 election and seized Gaza in 2007, and Israel and Egypt blockaded it through wars in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021. Israel fought Hezbollah in 2006; the Abraham Accords normalised ties with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020. On 7 October 2023 Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 250 hostages; Israel's invasion of Gaza killed over 60,000, displaced nearly all its 2.3 million people and left the strip in ruins amid famine warnings and ICJ genocide proceedings; the war widened to Hezbollah (killed leader Nasrallah, 2024), the Houthis and direct Israeli-Iranian strikes in 2024 and a twelve-day war in June 2025. A ceasefire and hostage release in October 2025 left Gaza's future, and any two-state solution, in doubt.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• British Empire (1583 to 1997)
• Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1922)
• United States (1776 to present)
• Second French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)
• Qajar Empire (1789 to 1925)

Wars of the same era and region

• Jewish-Roman wars (66 to 136)
• Lebanese Civil War (1975 to 1990)
• Syrian Civil War (2011 to 2024)
• Yemeni Civil War (2014 to present)
• Cold War (1947 to 1991)
• World War II (1939 to 1945)
• Iran-Iraq War (1980 to 1988)

8 surprising things about the Arab-Israeli conflict

1. Israel's 1967 victory took six days and tripled the territory it controlled.
2. The 1973 war triggered the OPEC oil embargo that quadrupled oil prices.
3. Egypt's Sadat, Israel's Begin and later Rabin, Peres and Arafat all won Nobel Peace Prizes for agreements that did not end the conflict.
4. The West Bank settler population grew from about 100,000 at Oslo to over 500,000 today, excluding East Jerusalem.
5. The 7 October 2023 attack was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
6. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and by 2025 most of its buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
7. Israel and Iran exchanged direct missile strikes for the first time in 2024 and fought a twelve-day war in June 2025 in which the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
8. UN Resolution 242 of 1967, 'land for peace', remains the reference point for every peace plan.

Sources

• Arab-Israeli wars Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Arab-Israeli conflict Wikipedia
• Israel-Gaza war: History of the conflict explained BBC News
• Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2000) Allen Lane

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