Middle East - Anthony Ham [48]
1917 The British government’s Balfour Declaration promises ‘a national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine. Although promising not to prejudice the rights of the previous inhabitants, it gives unstoppable momentum to the Zionist movement.
1922 The League of Nations legitimises colonial rule in the Middle East, granting Syria and Lebanon to the French and Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan to the British. Egypt becomes independent but Britain remains in control.
1923 Kemal Atatürk, the towering figure in 20th-century Turkish history, becomes the first president of Turkey on a mission to modernise the country and create a secular state. Rezā Khān seizes power in Iran.
1920s & 1930s Jewish immigration to Palestine gathers pace. The arrival of the immigrants prompts anger among Palestinian Arabs and the British impose restrictions on the number of arrivals.
1939–45 After decades of anti-Jewish racism in Europe, more than six million Jews are killed by the Nazis and their allies during WWII, giving fresh urgency to the call for a Jewish state.
1947 Britain hands the issue over to the newly formed UN, which decides to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish, the other Palestinian. Arabs reject the plan.
1948 The British withdraw from Palestine, Israel declares independence and the Arab armies of neighbouring countries invade. The new State of Israel wins the war, increases its territory and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees flee.
1951 King Abdullah I, the founder of modern Jordan, is assassinated as recriminations ripple out across the Arab world in the wake of their devastating defeat by Israel.
1952 Gamal Abdel Nasser leads a coup against the monarchy in Egypt and becomes the first Egyptian ruler over Egypt since the days of the pharaohs.
1956 Shortly after becoming Egyptian president, Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal, then successfully stares down Israel, Britain and France who attempt to seize it but are forced to retreat. Nasser’s popularity soars across the Arab world.
1958–61 Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic, a short-lived union that Nasser hopes will spark a pan-Arab mega-state that brings together all the Arab countries of the region.
1961 Kurds in northern Iraq launch a short-lived military campaign for an independent Kurdistan. The move fails and will become an important justification used by Saddam Hussein for later campaigns against the Kurds.
1964 Against the objections of Jordan and, of course, Israel, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), an umbrella group of Palestinian resistance groups, is formed. In the years that follow, Al-Fatah becomes the dominant group.
1967 After Egyptian manoeuvres in Sinai, Israel launches a pre-emptive strike and destroys Egypt’s air force. Israel emerges from the resulting Six-Day War with much of the West Bank, Sinai, the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip.
1968–69 Saddam Hussein emerges as the key powerbroker in Iraq after a coup brings the Baath Party to power. A year later, Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the PLO, a position he will hold until his death in 2005.
1970 Hafez al-Assad assumes power in Syria after what he called ‘The Corrective Revolution’. At the head of the Syrian Baath Party, he ruled Syria until his death in 2000.
1973 Egypt launches a surprise attack on Israel on the holy day of Yom Kippur. After initial gains, Israel recovers to seize yet more territory. Despite the defeat, the war is hailed as a victory in the Arab world.
1975 After years of tension, war breaks out in Lebanon between Palestinians and Christian militias. Other militia groups drawn from Lebanon’s multi-confessional population join the fray. The fighting will last until 1990.
1977 Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s landmark visit to Jerusalem, during which he speaks before the Israeli Knesset, reverberates around the region. Egypt is expelled from the Arab League and Sadat is hailed around the world.
1979 Anwar Sadat and Israel