5 September 1972 Palestinian gunmen kill 11 Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics. Israel seizes Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian territory in a pre-emptive attack that became known as the Six Day War. The Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip are captured from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan. Israel's successes doubled the size of the territory it controlled. Britain, France conspire to recapture the canal with Israeli help.
British troops leave.
Fighting breaks out with Arab neighbours, ending in October 1949. Some 700,000 Palestinians flee or are driven from what had been British-mandate Palestine. Israel annexes large tracts of land. Jordan and Egypt hold onto the West Bank and Gaza Strip respectively. Control of Jerusalem is split between Israel in the west and Jordan in the east.