Prelude to Peace

The path to peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors began after a serious clash with Egypt and Syria from which Israel emerged victorious but shaken.

Although tensions with its neighbors eased, Israel soon faced another type of dispute as Palestinians rose up to fight for their own place to call home.

Following are events that planted the seeds of one peace but led to the battles for a wider solution.

Oct. 24, 1973: Cease-fire signed. Though Israel wins the war, it sustains heavy losses of troops and equipment, and the government is severely criticized for its handling of the conflict.

April 1974: As a result of criticism, Golda Meir resigns as prime minister.

June 1974: Yitzhak Rabin succeeds Meir.

1977: Parliamentary elections transfer control of the country to the Likud Party. Menachem Begin succeeds Rabin as prime minister in June.

November 1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Israel to spur search for first Arab-Israeli peace treaty.

1978: Sadat and Begin meet with President Jimmy Carter at Camp David and agree to an Israeli withdrawal from Sinai in exchange for full diplomatic relations between the two countries.

March 26, 1979: Sadat and Begin sign peace treaty known as Camp David Accords.

1980: Israel and Egypt exchange diplomats for the first time.

1981: Sadat is ass-assinated at mili-tary parade by Islamic fundamentalists.

1982: Israel withdraws from Sinai.

June 1982: Israel invades Lebanon and succeeds in ousting the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was using the country as a base of operations.

September 1983: Begin resigns as prime minister.

July 1984: Parliamentary elections. Neither party wins a majority, so a coalition government is established. Shimon Peres, leader of the Labor Party, serves for 25 months as prime minister, then Yitzhak Shamir of Likud takes the post.

1987: Palestinian youths in the occupied territories begin a grass-roots uprising known as the intifada, which starts in a Gaza refugee camp and spreads to the West Bank. About 2,000 Palestinians, including collaborators with Israel, and hundreds of Israelis are killed during the ensuing years.

March 1990: Shamir refuses to compromise on peace plans for the occupied territories. The Labor Party leaves the coalition, and the government falls.

June 1990: Likud and small conservative parties form a new coalition government with Shamir as prime minister.

Jan. 17, 1991: Persian Gulf War begins. During the war, Iraq fires missiles at Israel.

August 1991: Middle East peace conference opens in Madrid with Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

June 1992: In parliamentary elections, the Labor Party gains control of the government. In July, Rabin replaces Shamir as prime minister. Rabin agrees to limit construction of new Jewish settlements in the occupied territories as a step toward a peace agreement

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Sources: Times staff and wire reports; Columbia Encyclopedia; CQ Researcher; “The Timetables of Jewish History” by Judah Gribetz; Congressional Quarterly; World Book Encyclopedia; 1998 Information Please Almanac

Researched by JULIA FRANCO / Los Angeles Times