This document provides a historical overview of the Middle East region from 1000 BC to 2003 AD. It summarizes key events including the establishment of Israel and the Kingdom of Israel, the Jewish diaspora in 135 AD, the Zionist movement in 1896, the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948, and several Arab-Israeli wars. It also discusses the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964 and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians over land and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

1. WORLD AFFAIRS - MIDDLE
EAST NOTES

2. Palestinians live in
Canaan - were they
the Philistines from
the Bible?

3. 1000 B.C. (?)
Moses leads the
Hebrews from
Egypt and
bondage

4. Kingdom of Israel
created
Conquered in turn
by: Assyrians,
Chaldeans,
Persians, Greeks
and finally the
Romans (known as
Roman province of
Palestine)

5. 70 A.D. Jewish
rebels hold off
Roman legion at
Masada: Romans
destroy temple in
Jerusalem. Ark of
the Covenant
disappears

6. 135 A.D. - Jews forced from
Palestine (the diaspora or
dispersement)

7. 1896 - Theodor
Herzl founds
Zionist
movement -
Jews should
create an
independent
homeland in
Palestine

8. 1917 - British issue
“Balfour
Declaration”
supporting a
“national homeland
for the Jewish in
Palestine” in return
for Jewish support of
Britain in WWI
Middle East

9. 1918-1941
Some Jewish
immigration
to Palestine -
Arabs fear
Jewish control
of their
territory.

10. 1930’s - Rise of
Nazi Germany

11. 1942
The Final
Solution

12. The Holocaust - 1942-45

13. Camp
Liberation
April, 1945

14. Post WWII
exodus to
Palestine of
camp survivors
and war
refugees -
tensions
between Arab
and Jew mount

15. 1947 U.N.
Partition Plan -
Rejected by
Palestinian
Arabs

16. 1948 - Israel
declared a state - 5
Arab armies attack
- guess who loses?

17. 1956 Sinai
War - Arabs
lose again

18. 1967 Six-day
war!
Israel takes:
Golan
Heights,
West Bank,
Jerusalem,
Gaza Strip,
Sinai and
Suez Canal

19. Jerusalem in
Jewish hands for
the first time since
135 A.D.!!
Israel Rules!!

20. BEGINNING OF THE “PALESTINIAN
PROBLEM” WHAT TO DO WITH
REFUGEES?
1964 - PLO (PALESTINE
LIBERATION ORGANIZATION)
FORMED - ARAFAT 1ST, ONLY
LEADER
AFTER ‘67 WAR, PLO ADOPTS
TERRORISM AS POLICY TO
REGAIN HOMELAND

21. 1973 Yom
Kippur War -
Israel almost
loses it all

22. 1979 - Camp
David Accords
signed
(Begin, Sadat
and Carter)

23. Egypt’s Sadat assassinated by
Islamic Jihad in 1981 for signing
Camp David

24. 1970 - BLACK SEPTEMBER!!! - JORDAN’S
KING HUSSEIN DRIVES PLO FROM
COUNTRY - PLO AND REFUGEES MOVE
TO LEBANON
1975-92 LEBANESE CIVIL WAR;
1982 - ISRAEL INVADES LEBANON TO
DRIVE OUT PLO
LEBANON BECOMES ISRAEL’S
“VIETNAM”
HEZBOLLAH FORMED TO DESTROY
ISRAEL

25. 1987 - Arab
Intifada
(uprising)
breaks out
in occupied
territories

26. 1980 - Iraq invades
Iran – 10 year war kills
millions
Who does/should U.S.
support?

27. 1990 – Iraq attacks and overrun Kuwait for
its oil (& to help pay cost of war with Iran)
UN sanctions block trade
with Iraq
George Bush (1st
) demands
Iraq leave Kuwait

28. 1991 U.S. launches air war against Iraq with
help of 39 country alliance

29. Four-day ground offensive frees
Kuwait; Saddam torches 500 Kuwaiti
oil wells in retaliation

30. After defeat Iraq agrees to destroy
WMD and allow UN inspections;
Trade sanctions imposed until all
conditions are met
Saddam
remains defiant

31. U.S. SUPPORT FOR ARAB STATES VS.
IRAQ PLUS
PALESTINIAN SUPPORT FOR SADDAM
HUSSEIN GIVE U.S. THE POWER TO
DEMAND ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
MEET FOR PEACE TALKS AIMED AT
RESOLVING THE CONFLICT

32. SUNNI - MAINSTREAM MOSLEM SECT -
MAKES UP 80%
SHIITE - MAIN FUNDAMENTALIST
SECT - 10-20%
ISLAMIC JIHAD(HOLY WAR) - RADICAL
SUNNI GROUP - KILLED SADAT
HEZBOLLAH (PARTY OF GOD) SHIITE
RADICALS IN LEBANON & IRAN

33. 1993
PLO/Israeli
Peace Accords
between Rabin
and Arafat

34. 1995 - Rabin
Assassinated
Peace process
frozen

35. September 2000 -
Ariel Sharon visits
Temple Mount in
Jerusalem, home to
two major Moslem
shrines;
violence breaks out.
Second Intifada!!

36. 2nd Intifada
in Occupied
Territories
over issue of
Jerusalem
November 2000 -
Big three agree to
meet for Peace

37. Winter 2001 -
Sharon defeats
Barak, becoming
new Israeli Prime
Minister

38. 2002 – 2nd
Intifada Intensifies;

40. SPRING 2003; U.S., RUSSIA, U.N.
AND EUROPEAN UNION
ANNOUNCE “ROADMAP FOR
PEACE” PLAN

41. November 12, 2003
Arafat and Qureia (new Palestinian Prime
Minister) announce new cabinet

42. ISRAELI SETTLEMENT BUILDING IN
THE WEST BANK AND BUILDING OF
THE “WALL” BETWEEN PALESTINIANS
AND JEWS ON WEST BANK 2
ADDITIONAL ISSUES FACING 2
WARRING GROUPS