Conflicts In The Middle East

Front 1

Balfour Declaration

Back 1

November 1917; promise by Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild to view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people

Front 2

League of Nations

Back 2

September 1922; created by Woodrow Wilson to prevent another world war through collective security and disarmament; gave British Mandate for Palestine; purpose of assissting the mandated territory to self government

Front 3

Hussein Ibn Ali

Back 3

Sharif of Mecca; introduced the idea of Arab nationalism and unity during WWI

Front 4

Sykes-Picot Agreement

Back 4

May 1916; secret agreement between governments of Britain and France, with the assent of Russia; defined their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East after defeating the Ottoman Empire in WWI

Front 5

National Military Organization

Back 5

1931; believed Hagana's goals were not ambitious enough, considered TransJordan territory; more radical and aggressive

Front 6

Haganah

Back 6

1920; aka the Defense; to protect Jewish farms and kibbutzim and Jewish communities; warn residents and repel attacks by Palestinian Arabs

Front 7

Fighters for Freedom of Israel

Back 7

1940; aka the Stern Gang; militant Zionist group with members from NMO; forcibly evicting the British authorities from Palestine, allowing unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish State; initially sought alliance with Nazi Germany thinking Britain was a greater enemy than Germany

Front 8

San Remo Conference

Back 8

April 1920; international meeting post WWI Allied Supreme council; precise boundaries unspecified until four years later, Turkey rejected the treaty

Front 9

Resolution 181

Back 9

November 1947; the UN's General Assembly adopted a resolution; 1) termination of the Mandate, Partition and Independence, 2) detailed description of proposed boundaries; also called for Economic Union between proposed states, and protection of religious and minority rights; rejected by Arab community

Front 10

Peel Commission

Back 10

1936; Palestine divided into a small Jewish state (about 15%) , much larger Arab state and an international zone; Arab leadership and Jewish Agency rejected the plan

Front 11

David Ben Guriou

Back 11

first prime minister of Israel; declares the establishment of an independent Jewish state in the land of Israel

Front 12

1948 War

Back 12

Al Nakba; Arab armies Egypt, Syria, and Jordan as well as Iraq and Lebanon attack Israel; 800,000 Palestinian refugees, Israel enlarged territory from 14,000 to 21,000 sq km

Front 13

Abdel Nasser

Back 13

led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan; eager to retrieve the lost Arab pride, punish Israel, became second president of Egypt in 1956; asks the US for capital to fund the Aswan Dam but turn to Soviets after US creates conditions of supervision and military presence; plans to national Suez Canal Company and use the profits to finance project

Front 14

The 1956 Suez War

Back 14

fought at Gaza Strip and Egypt (Sinai and Suez Canal zone); main sea route to India and block Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, blocked Israeli's southern naval gates; Britain, France and Israel could not allow Egypt to control Canal/Red Sea; Operation Kadesh and Operation Muscateer

Front 15

Fidayeen

Back 15

Arab guerilla attacks against Israel; since 1950's, Arab intelligence trained fighters to conduct terror

Front 16

Operation Kadesh

Back 16

October 29, 1956; Israeli army entered Gaza and Sinai

Front 17

Operation Muscateer

Back 17

British and French troops sent to occupy Port Said and Fouad

Front 18

United Arab Republic

Back 18

1958-1961; Nasser became so popular, made an alliance with Syrians; union collapsed because beauracratic arguments, Syria felt subordinate

Front 19

1967 War

Back 19

June 5-10; fought between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria; mobilized during the eve of the war; first attack on air bases of Syria, Egypt, Jordan to nullify air power, unchallenged aerial superiority, Israel preempted and opened an offensive against the Egyptian army, Jordan and Syria reluctant to join but guaranteed to be victorious; Jordan lost the West Bank and Jerusalem, Syria lost Golan Heights, Egypt lost Gaza and Sinai

Front 20

UNSC Resolution 242

Back 20

November 22, 1967; aka "land for peace"; international community tried to resolve continuing conflict to dissolve tension in Middle East; demands withdrawal of Israel from occupied territories and cessation of fighting; recognition of all states in the region, including Israel has the right to exist, freedom of navigation in the Suez Canal and Gulf of Agaba

Front 21

Anwar Sadat

Back 21

1970-1981; third president of Egypt; led Egypt in October War of 1973 to re-acquire Egyptian territory lost to Israel in 1967; engaged in negotiations with Israel mkaing him extremely unpopular in the Arab world

Front 22

The Yom Kippur War

Back 22

October 1973; Egyptian and Syrian armies coordinated surprise attack against Israel; Egypt manages to take half of Sinai, initially very successful; 1) Egyptian and Syrian forces able to break through Israeli lines, unprecedented military success, 2) although Israel was ultimate victor, perceived weakness in the army after initial states of hostilities affected national morale and self-confidence and led political leaders to rethink their position vis-a-vis their Arab neighbors; 3) war was attempt to recover territory with Palestinian issue coming a poor second; 4) Gulf states start to use oil prices and boycott as major weapons against West; caused shock to Israeli public who wasn't used to such a high number of casualties; Arabs lost war but regained pride

Front 23

UNSC Resolution 338

Back 23

October 22, 1973; cease fire within 12 hours for Yom Kippur War; opening of negotiations for peace based on resolution 242

Front 24

Sinai 1975 Interim Agreement

Back 24

UN buffer zone in Sinai; joint commitment to resolve conflict by peaceful means; opened the Suez canal to Israeli non-military cargo; between Israel and Egypt

Front 25

Camp David Accords

Back 25

1978 at the summer residence of the US president; Carter succeeded in getting the leaders of Egypt and Israel to sign a peace treaty between their two countries and agree to a framework of negotiation for peace in ME; economic pressures caused Sadat to sideline the Palestinian issue

Front 26

Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty

Back 26

1979; between Sadat and Begin witnessed by Carter; 1) mutual recognition, 2) cessation of the state of war, 3) normalization of relations and complete withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from Sinai peninsual

Front 27

Menachem Begin

Back 27

6th Prime minister of Israel; leader of NMO, more right

Front 28

Palestine Liberation Organization

Back 28

created in 1964 under Nasser in Egypt; operated mostly from Jordan until Black September 1970; organization relocated to southern Lebanon after being expelled from Jordan, conducted guerilla warfare against Israel/Christian targets

Front 29

Black September

Back 29

conflict between Palestinian guerilla organizations and King Hussein of Jordan that begin in September 1970 and ended in 1971 with expulsion of the PLO to Lebanon

Front 30

Operation Litani

Back 30

1978; Israel Defense Forces carried out invasion of Lebanon up to Litani River in response to Coastal Road Massacre to create a security zone; Israel retreated as result of American pressure

Front 31

Operation Peace for Galilee

Back 31

1982; Israeli invasion of Lebanon; establishing a 40 km strip to prevent the PLO from shelling northern Israel settlements

Front 32

Oranim Plan

Back 32

secret plan led by Christian leader Bachir Jumayyil for cleaning Lebanon from PLO forces and establishing an independent state

Front 33

1982 Lebanon War

Back 33

first phase: Israel victory over PLO in Lebanon and Israeli troops massacring 2,000 children, women, and elderly men in refugee camps; 2) Israel's occupation of Southern Lebanon

Front 34

South Lebanon Army (SLA)

Back 34

Christian led ally of Israel

Front 35

Hizballah

Back 35

established as a response to the Israeli invasion and conducted guerilla warfare against Israel; Shia Islamic militant group and political party based in Lebanon

Front 36

2006 Lebanon War

Back 36

August 2006; Hizballah commences an artillery barrage on Israeli targets, meanwhile Hizballah forces ambush Israeli soldiers near border, Israel invades South Lebanon and attack strategic targets in Lebanon; Hizballah launch around 3000 rockets and missiles at Israeli civilian targets