Oct. 25, 1895 — Levi Eshkol Is Born
Levi Eshkol, Israel’s third prime minister, is born into a Hasidic family near Kyiv. He becomes involved with Zionist youth groups during high school in Vilna and makes aliyah in 1914. After working on a farm, picking olives and grapes, he changes his name to Eshkol, meaning “cluster of grapes.” He becomes prime minister and defense minister in 1963 after nine years as finance minister and leads Israel through the Six-Day War in 1967.
Oct. 26, 1994 — Israel, Jordan Sign Treaty
More than 4,500 people, including President Bill Clinton, witness Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordanian King Hussein sign a peace treaty at the Wadi Araba crossing between Eilat and Aqaba. It is Israel’s second such treaty with an Arab neighbor. Sporadic, secret talks with Jordanian leaders took place as early as pre-state Palestine in the 1930s because both sides saw the value in peaceful relations.
Oct. 27, 1978 — Begin, Sadat Win Nobel Prize
Menachem Begin delivers his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech Dec. 10, 1978. By Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Forty-one days after signing the Camp David Accords, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat are announced as the winners of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, which they receive at a ceremony Dec. 10. Begin says the prize is for all the people of Israel, and he is merely their emissary. He also notes that the negotiations to turn the Camp David agreement into a peace treaty are far from over.
Oct. 28, 1910 — First Kibbutz Is Established
The Hadera Commune arrives at Umm Juni on the banks of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and forms the first kibbutz, Degania Alef (based on the Hebrew word dagan, grain), on land leased from the Jewish National Fund through the head of the Zionist Organization office in Palestine, Arthur Ruppin. The idea of a collective agricultural community has been part of Zionist ideology for decades but has not been successfully enacted.
Oct. 29, 1956 — Arabs Are Massacred at Kfar Kassem
Israeli troops kill 48 Israeli Arabs returning from their fields at dusk in Kfar Kassem. The start of the Sinai campaign that day puts military units in the Arab Triangle on high alert for a possible Jordanian attack. Arab-heavy parts of Israel have been under a curfew since 1948, but Col. Yissachar Shadmi illegally makes it earlier in Kfar Kassem. The villagers are unknowingly violating the curfew when they run into soldiers with shoot-to-kill orders.
Oct. 30, 1991 — Madrid Peace Conference Begins
The Soviet Union and the United States convene a Middle East peace conference in Madrid that uses a two-track approach of bilateral and multilateral talks. The three-day conference includes all Arab states contiguous to Israel, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. It is the first time that Israeli and PLO negotiators come together, and those contacts lead to the secret talks behind the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Oct. 31, 1917 — Australians Capture Beersheba
The Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade surprises the Turkish defenders and captures Beersheba in a single day, breaking the Ottoman defensive line near Gaza and providing the advancing troops under British Gen. Edmund Allenby with needed supplies and water from the city’s wells. The rapid victory, supported by attacks by three British divisions, prevents the Turks from destroying parts of the city in retreat.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.