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July 1: At a meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive it is stated that the inhabitants of Moshav Mishmar Ayalon still leave their houses at night "to join 4-5 other families in one room, so that there's a feeling of security."

David Horowitz, former director of the Jewish Agency's economic department, publishes "A State in the Making", which describes the negotiations that led to the establishment of the State of Israel.

Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive: Berl Locker.

Chairman of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization - Jewish Agency, American Section: Nahum Goldmann .

Treasurer of the Jewish Agency: Giora Josephtal.

Chairman Youth Aliyah Department: Moshe Kol.

Chairman Settlement Department: Levi Eshkol.

Chairman of the Immigration Department: Shlomo Zalman Shragai.

Chairman Absorption Department: Giora Josephtal.

1953 witnesses a low point in immigration; only 11,000 newcomers arrive. But nevertheless, immigration continues to be the great challenge.

Kfar Ya'avetz is founded by immigrants from Yemen.

The Ma'abarot are slowly being closed down, and the immigrants are sent to villages set up especially for them.

January: The Asian Socialist Conference takes place in Rangoon. Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett heads the Israeli delegation. Israel is keen to develop good relations with the Asian countries.

January: The security situation along the border with Jordan worsens.

January: Relations between Israel's political parties deteriorate.

February 9 : A bomb explodes outside the Soviet legation in Tel Aviv, injuring three Soviets, including Ambassador Yershov's wife. The Soviet government breaks off diplomatic ties with Israel, which are not restored until July.

February 26: Nahal youth founds a settlement in Ein Gedi.

March 5: Israeli left-wing circles mourn the death of Soviet leader Stalin. Mapam describes him as "a great leader and glorious commander."

March 10: The Knesset passes the Land Acquisition Law.

March: Egypt proposes to Israel adjustments of their border, a land link to Jordan through the southern Negev, and refugee compensation. Israel agrees to negotiate provided the boycott and blockade are ended. Contact is maintained through the efforts of Robert Anderson of the British and U. S. intermediaries.

April 9: Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett meets President Eisenhower in Washington and requests military aid.

April 20: The first Israel Prizes are awarded on Independence Day to distinguished writers, artists and scientists who are residents of Israel.

April 22 : Israel and Jordan exchange gunfire over two hours across the Jerusalem demarcation line.

May 13: U. S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles arrives for a visit.

June 1 : Infiltrators from Lebanon shoot at a truck carrying children, killing one and injuring another seriously.
In June, the situation at the Jordanian border deteriorates further.

June 8: The UN make efforts to calm the situation. Israel and Jordan sign a new agreement to prevent infiltration.

June: U. S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, tours the Middle East and outlines the Eisenhower administration's Middle East policy. The U. S. would adhere to a principle of neutrality so as to win the respect of both the Arabs and Israelis and favor direct negotiations to establish peace; Jerusalem should be internationalized, but there should be "some political status in Jerusalem for Israel and Jordan"; some Arab refugees should be resettled within Israel, but most in Arab countries.

July: Israel moves its Foreign Office to Jerusalem. The U. S. announces it will not transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

July 26 : Robert (born 1941) and Gerald Finaly (born 1942) are finally turned over by the French authorities to Israeli relatives. During the war their parents placed them in a Catholic school to protect them. The parents perished in the Holocaust.

August 12 : The Israeli Knesset passes the State Education Law: a state-controlled network of schools with a separate division for religious schools.

August 19 : The Israeli Knesset adopts a law establishing the Heroes' and Martyrs' Authority (Yad Vashem) to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust and for research and documentation.

August 28 : Five Israeli citizens are murdered by Arabs while hiking to Petra in Jordan.

The IDF forms a secret commando - Unit 101 - under the command of Ariel Sharon for missions across the border.

September 2 : A new dispute breaks out over the channeling of Jordan Waters. Israel starts work on the Jordan River project. Syria complains to the Security Council.

September 4: Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ben Zion Meir Hai Uziel dies at age 73.

October 1: US President Eisenhower appoints Eric Johnston to mediate in the water dispute.

October 13 : An Israeli mother and two infants are murdered by Arabs in Moshav Yahud.

October 15: Unit 101 under the command of Ariel Sharon raids the Jordan village of Qibya in retaliation for several Arab infiltration attacks in which Israelis are murdered. Unit 101 kills 70 Arabs and destroys more than 40 buildings. The U. S., Great Britain, and France condemn the raid and sponsor the UN Security Council Resolution 101 strongly censuring Israel, which is adopted.

October 19: The U. S. suspends aid to Israel at the request of the UN Truce Supervision Organization when Israel refuses to stop work on its hydroelectric project on the upper Jordan River.

October 27: Eric Johnston, President Eisenhower's personal envoy, begins a mission to urge a plan for the joint Arab and Israeli use of the Jordan River water resources.
Israel agrees to temporary suspension and the U. S. resumes aid. Israel presents a Seven-Year-Plan.

November 4: Israeli consultants on the Johnston Proposal.

November 23: The Knesset passes the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Law.

November 27: UN General Assembly Resolution 720.

November 30: Statement by Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett about the Israeli Water Rights.

December 6 : An exhausted Prime Minister David Ben Gurion resigns and is succeeded by Moshe Sharett as prime minister and Pinhas Lavon as defense minister. Moshe Dayan succeeds Mordechai Makleff as chief of staff of the IDF. Shimon Peres becomes Director-General of the Defense Ministry.
Ben Gurion retires to the Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev.

December 17: Statement by UN Ambassador Abba Eban on the Israeli Water Rights.

France secretly opens many of its nuclear installations to Israeli scientists.

Archaeologist Yigael Yadin is involved in an extraordinary mission following the appearance of four more Scrolls from the Dead Sea in the United States. Yadin coordinates the purchase of these scrolls.

There are 25 daily newspapers in Israel, of which 10 are published in a foreign language.

The Israel Knesset adopts the Supreme Institute for the Hebrew Language. The law establishes the Academy of the Hebrew Language, which succeeds the Hebrew Language Committee. Its function is the development of Hebrew. Naphtali Herz Tur-Sinai is chosen as president.

Kibbutz Ein Hod is founded on the initiative of Marcel Janco (1895-1984), a Romanian born painter who belongs to the founders of the Dada movement.

The Bezalel National Museum in Jerusalem exhibits ritual objects from all parts of the Diaspora.

Kariel "Dosh" Gardosh, Israeli cartoonist, joins the staff of "Maariv" as editorial cartoonist. He utilizes a little sabra to portray his comic irony.

Menachem Begin writes "White Nights", an account of his escape from Poland and imprisonment by Soviet authorities in Siberia.

A wave of antisemitism and anti-Zionism spreads through Hungary. Lajos Stoeckler, Communist imposed leader of the Jewish community, and Communist officials of Jewish descent, including Peter Gabor, head of the secret police, are arrested.

January: The Stalin regime arrests nine physicians, seven of whom are Jewish, and accuses them, in what is known as the Doctors' Plot, of murdering Soviet leaders and of being Western espionage agents. About one month after Stalin's death on 5 March 1953, official Soviet organs announce that the charges against them are false, and they are released.

April: The Romanian government continues its persecution of Jews and conducts secret trials.

May: The Czechs try and convict diplomat Richard Slansky, Rudolf's brother, Eduard Goldstücker, minister to Israel, and diplomat Pavel Kavan. They are sentenced lengthy prison terms. In August, Shimon Ornstein, an Israeli citizen, will receive a life sentence. In October, Mordechai Oren, his cousin and a Mapam party leader of the Israeli Knesset, will be sentenced to 15 years in jail.

Fritz Reiner (1888-1963) becomes conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he holds until 1963.

The publication of "The Jewish Quarterly" begins under the editorship of Jacob Sonntag.

Fritz Albert Lipmann, U. S. biochemist, is awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his discovery of enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism.

Sir Hans Krebs, British biochemist, is awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his research on the conversion of food elements into energy.