The U.N. Special Committee on Palestine presented this map for the division of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem given a special international status
Oct. 2, 1947 — Jewish Agency Embraces Partition Plan
David Ben-Gurion, the longtime chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, formally accepts the partition plan proposed by the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine, which a month earlier released its report recommending the division of the British Mandate of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Ben-Gurion orders the priorities of Palestine’s Jews as defense, a Jewish state and a resolution with the Arabs.
Photo credit: Israel Press and Photo Agency, Dan Hadani Collection, National Library of Israel, CC BY 4.0
Jerusalem native Sarah Levy-Tanai won the Israel Prize in 1973
Oct. 3, 2005 — Choreographer Sarah Levy-Tanai Dies
Sarah Levy-Tanai, a choreographer who incorporated Mizrahi and Ashkenazi elements and won the Israel Prize in 1973, dies at age 94 or 95 (the Jerusalem native was never sure whether she was born in 1910 or 1911). The daughter of Yemeni parents, she founded the Inbal Dance Theater in 1949 and directed it into the 1990s. As a teacher, she also wrote plays and composed songs and dances for kindergartners.
A memorial to the Maxim victims now stands next to the rebuilt restaurant in Haifa
Oct. 4, 2003 — Suicide Bomber Strikes Haifa Restaurant
A suicide bombing kills 18 Jews and three Arabs and injures 60 others at Maxim restaurant in Haifa. The beachfront restaurant, co-owned by Jews and Christian Arabs, is known as a symbol of coexistence. Hanadi Jaradat, 28, detonates her explosive belt in the middle of Maxim, and metal fragments spray around the restaurant. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the attack, the sixth female suicide bombing of the Second Intifada.
Photo credit: Dan Hadani Collection, National Library of Israel, CC BY 4.0
Nachum Gutman won prizes for art and for children’s literature
Oct. 5, 1898 — Painter Nachum Gutman Is Born
Painter Nachum Gutman is born in what is now Moldova. At 7, he moves with his family to Ottoman Palestine. Gutman paves the way for a new generation of Israeli artists, writers, painters and sculptors. He pioneers a style that moves away from European influences, and he rejects the lessons of his Bezalel teachers for being too European-centered. He also is a writer and wins the Israel Prize for his contribution to children’s literature.
Photo credit: Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
Army reservists gather at a northern base after being called up during Yom Kippur on Oct. 6, 1973
Oct. 6, 1973 — Yom Kippur War Begins
More than 70,000 Egyptian infantrymen and 1,000 tanks cross the Suez Canal on bridges erected overnight as Syria attacks Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, starting the Yom Kippur War. Egyptian artillery and warplanes bombard Israeli positions in the desert, and troops breach the Bar-Lev Line and secure a bridgehead. Syria follows an artillery bombardment by sending 40,000 men and two armored divisions into the Golan.
The Achille Lauro moors at Port Said, where the hijackers surrender to Egypt
Oct. 7, 1985 — Achille Lauro Is Hijacked
Members of the Palestinian Liberation Front seize the Achille Lauro off the Egyptian coast four days into an 11-day cruise out of Genoa, Italy, with 748 passengers. The terrorists gather the passengers on deck and fatally shoot wheelchair-bound American Jew Leon Klinghoffer. They abandon a plan to attack Israeli soldiers during a scheduled port call in Ashdod and instead surrender Oct. 10 at Port Said, Egypt.
Ottoman Sultan Murad III hoped to spur economic development in Cyprus by forcing Jews from Safed to move there
Oct. 8, 1576 — Sultan Ousts Jews From Safed
Ottoman Sultan Murad III orders 1,000 “rich and prosperous” Jewish residents of Safed to be moved to the city of Famagusta in Cyprus in the hope that they will spur economic development on the island. An additional 500 Jewish families from Safed are forced to move to Cyprus a year later. The Ottomans commonly use the policy of surgun (expulsion) to transfer groups within the empire for strategic purposes.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
