Overview: Israel: A Nation is Born

A Brief Summary of Topics Covered in Each Video

Video Number 1

Years 1939 to 1948

Zionist Congress, 1939 ... Hitler, Nazis, Kristallnacht ... fate of the Jews of Europe ... German army drives toward Palestine... Britain trains and arms Palestine Jews ... Battle of El Alamein ... the Jewish Brigade ... the Holocaust and death camps ... Labor Party wins election in Britain, conflicts with Jewish aspirations ... World Zionist Congress (1945) calls for partition ... history of British rule in Palestine ... Balfour Declaration ... 1939 White Paper ... British reject Truman's appeal to open Palestine to Jewish immigration..Jews organize massive illegal immigration to Palestine... Jewish resistance groups, Irgun, Lechi and Haganah fight back... bombing of King David Hotel by Irgun ... Britain decides to withdraw from Palestine ... turns Palestine problem over to U.N ... struggle at U.N. to gain recognition for establishing a Jewish state ... British turn away the refugee ship Exodus ... U.N. General Assembly votes on establishing a Jewish state ... Arab terror attacks on Jews in Palestine... getting Truman to block the State Department and support a Jewish state...British forces evacuate Palestine ... David Ben-Gurion, speaking for the provisional government, declares "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel to be known as the State of Israel"...U.S. recognized the new state ... Arab forces mass for attack.

Video Number 2

Years 1948 to 1953

State of Israel declared ... Five Arab armies invade the new state ... Arab assault on Jerusalem ... Old City falls ... Syrians stopped at Kibbutz Degania in north ... Egyptians stopped temporarily at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai in south ... Jewish defenders run low on ammunition... Arab armies close in on Tel Aviv and cut off Jerusalem... ceasefire called ... rush to build the new Jerusalem road ... siege of Jerusalem lifted... arms, ammunition and airplanes arrive...troops receive strong training ... Irgun ship Altalena sunk on Ben-Gurior’s orders... Arabs renew fighting ... Israeli forces victorious in 10 days of battle ... Arabs call for new ceasefire ... U.N. mediator, Count Bernadotte arrives in Palestine with settlement plan that heavily favored the Arabs ... Bernadotte assassinated by Lechi... Egyptians break ceasefire with attack on Israeli food convoy to isolated Negev settlements ... Israeli armored forces rush into Negev, take Beersheba, advance to Eilat and deep into Sinai ... Egyptians retreat, Negev falls to Israel ... in north, Palestinian-Lebanese attack results in Israeli capture of the Galilee ... new ceasefire and armistice meetings on Rhodes ... beginning of Arab refugee problem ... Jews forced from Arab lands flee to Israel ... massive immigration to Israel builds population ... 1st national election won by Labor ... Ben-Gurion named first Prime Minister, Dr. Chaim Weizmann elected first President ... building an economy... struggle to gain admission of Israel to the United Nations... U.S. agrees to aid ... King Abdullah of Jordan assassinated for discussing cooperation with Israel ... Gamal Nasser comes to power in Egypt ... Weizmann dies ... Ben-Gurion resigns.

Video Number 3

Years 1953 to 1967

Moshe Sharett becomes Prime Minister ... British begin withdrawing troops from Egypt and the Suez Canal... Egypt closes Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran to Israel ... U.S. and Britain try to win favor with Arab states ... Arab terrorists mount multiple attacks on Israel...Egypt makes arms supply deal with Czechoslovakia and Poland ... Nasser takes control of Suez Canal from British ... Britain and France plan to retake Suez Canal -- bring in Israel for joint planning ... Israel seeks to break blockade of Straits of Tiran ... France opens supply of jet fighters and arms to Israel ... the Sinai Campaign... Israel makes lightning strike into Sinai, takes Sharm el Sheik to break Straits of Tiran blockade and advances toward Suez Canal ... Britain and France issue ultimatum ... rejected by Egypt ... Britain and France land troops in Suez ... U.S. President Eisenhower furious over invasion forces Britain and France to withdraw from Egypt ... Israel insists on guarantee of free passage in Gulf of Aqaba before withdrawal ... U.S. threatens economic sanctions against Israel but finally gives guarantee ... Israel withdraws from Sinai ... immigrants continue to arrive in Israel ... Israeli culture becomes more defined ... capture, trial and execution of Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann...agreement with West Germany to supply arms, weapons and improve diplomatic relationships ... Levi Eshkol becomes Prime Minister ... According to Israeli intelligence reports, Arabs are unable to make war at this time.

Video Number 4

Years 1967 to 1973

Syrian air raids ... Nasser sends troops into Sinai... demands removal of U.N. buffer force ... Egypt again blockades Straits of Tiran ... Israel mobilizes forces ... Dayan appointed Defense Minister ... Jordan signs military pact with Egypt ... Israel opens 1967 Six Day War with lightning air attack on Egyptian airfields ... destroys Egyptian airforce on the ground...Israeli armor smashes through Gaza and races toward Sinai mountain passes deep behind Egyptian army ... Israel asks Jordan to refrain from war... Jordan attacks Israeli positions in Jerusalem ... Israeli counterattack takes Old City and entire West Bank .. blocked by Israeli forces at e Sinai passes, the Egyptian army is destroyed trying to breakthrough in retreat to Egypt...in the north, the Golan Heights are stormed in frontal attack .. Syrians defeated ... Golan captured ... U.N. Security Council drafts peace formula: Resolution 242 ... Khartoum Declaration of Arab states ... the War of Attrition launched by Egypt ... death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol ... Golda Meir becomes new Prime Minister ... Yassir Arafat and the PLO flee the West Bank for Jordan ... launch strikes against Israel ... King Hussein attacks PLO, forces them to flee to Syria and Lebanon ... PLO terrorists murder Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics ... Anwar Sadat becomes President of Egypt following death of Nasser ... Sadat makes military pact with Syria ... Israeli intelligence believes massive Egyptian troop build up along Suez Canal is a training exercise.

Video Number 5

Years 1973 to 1992

Egypt launches massive attack across Suez Canal on Yom Yippur ... catches Israel by surprise ... breaks through Bar-lev line of fortresses ... Egyptian forces move 5 miles beyond Canal into Sinai... Israeli counterattacks fail ... hundreds of Israeli tanks and airplanes lost ... Massed Syrian tanks break through light Israeli defense force stationed on Golan Heights, speed toward northern Israel ... Russia rushes war material to Syria and Egypt ... Israel runs short of supplies, appeals to U.S. for resupply of arms and ammunition ... U.S. sends airlift ... Israeli forces in Golan barely hold on -- only 6 tanks remain ... Israeli reinforcements rush north, maul Syrian forces, destroying 1,000 Syrian tanks and saving northern Israel... Egyptian tank attack stopped with Egyptians losing 300 tanks ... Sharon launches Israeli surprise attack, slipping across the Suez Canal and surrounding Egyptian 3rd army on Egyptian side of Canal ... Israeli attack in Golan breaks through old border and stops only 22 miles from Damascus ... Russia threatens to intervene for Arabs ... U.S. puts world-wide forces on nuclear alert ... all sides agree to ceasefire ... Geneva Conference ... critical report forces resignations of Prime Minister Golda Meir and senior military officers.... Yitzhak Rabin new Prime Minister ... Kissinger shuttle diplomacy... armistice with Syria and Egypt ... U.N. passes resolution that "Zionism is a form of racism"...Israeli commandos rescue hostages hijacked to Entebbe Uganda ... Likud Party wins election of 1977 ... Menachem Begin be comes Prime Minister ... Egypt's Sadat flies to Jerusalem, speaks be fore Knesset ... Begin goes to Egypt... U.S. President Carter brings Begin and Sadat to Camp David to hammer out peace agreement ... Formal Israeli-Egyptian treaty signed in Washington D.C ... Sadat assassinated... Israel pulls out of Sinai, returns territory to Egypt ... to end PLO terrorist attacks against Israel, Israeli army invades Lebanon ... advances to Beirut ... Sabra and Shatilla ... cease ... Begin resigns from government, Yitzhak Shamir takes over ... the Intifada breaks out... Russian Jews flee to Israel ... Iraq invades Kuwait ... Gulf War breaks out ... U.S. leads coalition forces against Iraq ... Scud missiles launched by Iraq bombard Israel ... Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel ... Madrid peace conference .... peace talks with Arab states.