7 January – Operation Horev ends. On the same day, the Israeli Air Force and ground forces shoot down five Royal Air Force fighter planes and severely damage another in two incidents over the Sinai Peninsula, after mistaking them for Egyptian planes. Two pilots are killed during the incident.[1]
24 January – The British begin sending the final group of 11,000 illegal Jewish immigrants who were still being held in internment camps on Cyprus, mainly men of military age, to Israel.
5 March – Israel launches Operation Ovda with the objective of capturing the southern Negev desert.
10 March – The Israel Defense Forces reach Umm Rashrash, west of Aqaba (the biblical Elath), and capture it without a battle. The Negev Brigade and Golani Brigade takes part in the operation. To symbolize their victory, they raise the Ink Flag, a makeshift flag created from a white sheet and a bottle of ink.[2]
26 April – Austerity is introduced to cope with a lack of foreign currency reserves and a mass influx of Jewish immigrants.
27 April – Opening of the Lausanne Conference, established by the United Nations with the aim of reaching a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Arab countries.
11 May – Israel is admitted to the United Nations as its 59th member.
20 July – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their 19-month war.
4 October – The Israeli government decides to incorporate Jaffa into Tel Aviv, although actual unification would be delayed for months due to opposition from Tel Aviv's mayor Israel Rokach.[3]
13 December – The Mossad is established as the "Central Institute for Coordination".[5] On the same day, the Knesset votes to transfer the seat of government to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.[6]
26 December – The first Knesset meeting in Jerusalem is held, inside the Jewish Agency building.[7]
Honor guard stands beside Herzl's coffin in Israel, August 1949
Yemenite immigrants in Rosh HaAyin camp, 1 October 1949
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2011)
Morris, Benny (1993) Israel's Border Wars, 1949 – 1956. Arab infiltration, Israeli retaliation, and the countdown to the Suez War. Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-827850-0. Page 142.