Aqaba, 1917:Troops of the Arab Revolt, "Before Their Diaspora"
* Chronology compiled from sources in the Bibliography section
1876 - 1877
* Ottoman constitution promulgated. Palestinian deputies from Jerusalem attend the first Ottoman parliament in Istanbul, elected under a new Ottoman constitution.
1878
* Petah Tikva, the first modern Zionist agricultural settlement, established in Palestine.
1881
* Ottoman government announces permission for foreign Jews to settle throughout the Ottoman Empire, excluding Palestine.
1882
* First wave of 25,000 Zionist immigrants enters Palestine, coming mainly from Eastern Europe.
* Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Paris begins financial backing of Jewish colonization of Palestine.
* Ottoman government adopts policy allowing Jewish pilgrims and businessmen to visit Palestine but not to settle there.
* Ottoman government informs Jewish leadership in Constantinople that it views Zionist colonization in Palestine as a political problem.
1884
* Ottoman government decides to close Palestine to foreign Jewish businessmen but not to Jewish pilgrims.
1887 - 1888
* Palestine divided by Ottomans into the districts of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre - the first was attached directly to Istanbul, the others to the wilayet of Beirut.
1891
* German Jewish millionaire, Baron Maurice de Hirsh, founds Jewish Colonization Association (JCA).
1892
* Ottoman government forbids sale of state land to Foreign Jews in Palestine.
1893
* European powers pressure Ottoman government to permit Jews legally residents in Palestine to buy land provided they establish no colonies on it.
1896
* Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) begins operations in Palestine.
* Theodore Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and writer, publishes Der Judenstaat, advocating establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine or elsewhere.
* Ottoman Sultan Abd-al Hamid II rejects Herzl's proposal that Palestine be granted to the Jews.
* JCA starts assisting Zionist settlement in Palestine.
1897
* First Zionist Congress in Switzerland issues the Basle Program calling for the establishment of a "home for the Jewish people in Palestine". It also establishes the World Zionist Organization (WZO) to work to that end.
* In response to First Zionist Congress, Abd-al Hamid II initiates policy of sending members of his own Palace staff to govern province of Jerusalem.
* Commission headed by Muhammad Tahir al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem, appointed to scrutinize Zionist land acquisition methods.
1898
* Arabic press reacts to first Zionist Congress: Cairo journal al-Manar warns that Zionism aims to take possession of Palestine.
1899
* Albert Antebi, JCA representative in Jerusalem, observes that program of First Zionist Congress has adversely affected relations between Palestinians and Jewish immigrants.
* Herzl sends letter to Palestinian Mayor of Jerusalem hinting that, if Zionists not welcomed in Palestine, they will go elsewhere.
1900
* Ottoman government sends commission of inquiry to Palestine to study implications of Zionist mass immigration and land acquisition.
1901
* Pressured by European powers, Ottoman government allows foreign Jews to buy land in Northern Palestine.
* Jewish National Fund (JNF) set up by Fifth Zionist Congress in Basle to acquire land for WZO; land acquired by JNF to be inalienably Jewish, and exclusively Jewish labor to be employed on it.
* Ottoman restrictions on Zionist immigration to and land acquisition in Jerusalem district take effect.
* Administrative Council of Jerusalem strongly objects to JCA 's attempts at acquiring in Jerusalem district.
* Palestinian farmers in Tiberias region express alarm at extent of Zionist land acquisition.
1902
* JCA representative Antebi observes that "the ill will of the local population coincides with the creation of Zionism".
1903
* Second wave of Zionist mass immigration to Palestine begins.
1904
* Death of Theodore Herzl.
* Tensions develop between Zionist colonists and Palestinian farmers in Tiberias region.
1907
* First kibbutz, based on exclusively Jewish labor, established.
* Report issued by Ottoman governor of Jerusalem on Zionist evasion of Ottoman immigration and land-transfer regulations.
1908
* Palestinian deputies from Jerusalem, Jaffa, Nablus and Acre elected to Ottoman parliament of 1908 in Constantinople.
* Beginning of "Young Turks" Revolution in Constantinople.
1909
* Tel Aviv founded north of Jaffa.
* Tensions and clashes between Zionist colonists and Palestinian farmers near Nazareth.
* Zionists issue raised for the first time in Ottoman parliament by Palestinian deputy from Jaffa.
1910
* Arabic newspapers in Beirut, Damascus and Haifa express opposition to Zionist land acquisition in Palestine.
1911
* European powers pressure Ottoman government to allow land acquisition in Palestine.
* Palestinian newspaper Filastine begins to appear; addressing its readers as "Palestinians", it warns about consequences of Zionist colonization.
* Two Jerusalem deputies open first full-scale debate in Ottoman parliament on Zionism, charging that Zionist aim is to create Jewish state in Palestine.
1912
* European powers renew pressure on Ottoman government to facilitate Zionist land acquisition in Palestine.
1914
* World War I starts.
1915
* Correspondence between Sharif Hussein of Mecca (leader of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans) and Sir Henry McMahon (British high commissioner of Egypt) begins.
* Jemal Pasha, Ottoman military governor, hangs 11 Arab nationalists in Beirut.
1916
* Hussein - McMahon correspondence ends in agreement for postwar independence and unity of Arab provinces of Ottoman Empire.
* Sykes - Picot Agreement secretly signed, dividing Ottoman Empire between Britain and France. Agreement revealed by Bolsheviks in December 1917.
* Sharif Hussein proclaims Arab independence from Ottoman on basis of his correspondence with Mc Mahon. Arab Revolt against Constantinople begins.
* Sharif Hussein proclaimed "King of the Arab countries".
1917
* Balfour Declaration. British Secretary of State Balfour pledges British support for a "Jewish national home in Palestine".
* Surrender of Ottoman forces in Jerusalem to Allied forces under General Sir Edmund Allenby.
1918
* Palestine occupied by Allied forces under British General Allenby.
End of World War I.
Source: Aalnakba.org/chronology/