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Balfour Declaration
The Balfour Declaration was a letter sent to Baron Rothschild, the leader of the British Jewish community, from Arthur James Balfour, the United Kingdom's foreign secretary. The letter stated that the Britain government was in favor of creating the Jewish homeland in Palestine. This lead to the United Kingdom getting authorized (by the League of Nations) to a mandate. -
Palestine Becomes British Mandate
After World War II the League of Nations gave Britain control over Palestine through a mandate. They decided to split Palestine into two sections so the Arabs and Jews would stop fighting over it. Because of World War II and the Holocaust, Jews began to flee to Palestine. -
Holocaust
Lasted until May 8, 1945. During World War II Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Germany. Due to anti-semitism, the hatred of Jews, the Nazi party was given orders to kill any Jews in or around Germany. Around six million people were killed in this genocide. This event soon lead to zionism where a homeland would be created for the Jewish people. -
U.S. relations with Israel-present
We have had close to 50 years of close relations with Israel. We helped set up an Israeli homeland. The U.S. was the first country to recognize Israel's independence. Even though being involved in the middle east has caused the U.S. many problems, we continue to help aid Israel. -
Six Day War
This war is also known as the June war. It is between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. During this war, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, The Golan Heights and Jerusalem. Israel launched a military campaign instead of waiting to be attacked. The U.S. promised to protect Isreal against Egypt and this is why the U.S. was involved. -
Arab Oil Embargo
This was a decision made by the Arabs to influence other countries not to support the Israel Military. This occured one day after the start of the Six Day War. Since the United States received their oil from the middle east, this changed how much gasoline citizens could purchase and when they could purchase it. -
Yom Kippur War
The Muslims name that they gave to the Arab-Israeli conflict, this conflict is also known as the October War or the Ramadan War. This was a surprise attack on Israel by Syria and Egypt. Israel reacted in a way that made the Syrians retreat across the Suez Canal to Egypt. The U.S. had 4 goals in this war. They were: end the war fast, support Israel, preserve relations, and prevent the USSR from entering the war. -
Alaskan Pipeline
The creation of the Alaskan Pipeline was a direct result of the Arab Oil Embargo. The U.S. continued to support Israel becomming their own state, so the Arabs put an oil embargo on them. If the U.S. did not have enough oil coming into the country, they would have to find another source of oil, or create alternate sources. There is a pipeline created from Alaska to the United States to transport oil. -
Jimmy Carter Becomes President
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the U.S., established the Carter Center. This is a center that is currently in support of the civic Ethiopian leaders, and are focused on the social and political issues also. The Center is also working on the democratic development in smaller Palestine territories. -
Camp David Accords
This was a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, it established diplomatic relations. It also said that Israel must return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, and Egypt would recognize Israel as an independent state. Signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
Militiants in Iran seized 66 American citizens at the U.S. embassy in Tehran and kept 52 of them hostage for 444 days. President Carter ordered a rescue mission but it had failed. There was a trade involved that ended the crisis, the Shah of Iran (who was being kept in the United States) for the 52 Americans. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
The Soviet Union had invaded the non-communist Muslims to prevent the spread of anti-communism. They sent troops to Afghanistan to help the communist groups fight for communism. The group of non-communist Muslims were known as the Mujihadeens, backed by the United States. -
Ronald Reagan Becomes President
Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the U.S., established the Reagan Doctrine to provide financial and military aid to some Middle East countries. This assistance was to support Angola, Cambodia, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan. This doctrine was created to help defend democracy because Reagan believed that everyone should be able to live under a democracy with rights as citizens. -
George H.W. Bush becomes president
Bush had involvement in the peace agreement between Palestine and Israel. There was a continued holding of American hostages in Lebanon by Iranian backed Hezbollah that were eventually released. He also supported a policy that tried to build a political and commercial relationship with Iraq, in hopes of moderating its behavior and offsetting Iranian power. He was one of the many presidents that were heavily involved in the middle east. -
Desert Storm
The code name for the operation to free Kuwait from Iraq. The United States went to war on the ground against Iraq for 100 hours. This ended by the United States defeating Iraq. -
Bill Clinton becomes president
Concerning the middle east, Clinton had a part in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, their has been attempts at peace. Clinton supported the creation of a new Palestinian state. He also had to deal with the Persian Gulf war in Iraq and disagreements in Iran. -
World Trade Center 1993
A truck bomb was detonated below the north tower of the World Trade Center and crashed into the south one. This killed 6 people and injured more than a thousand. This was brought out by a terrorist group. Ramzi Yousef, one of the main terrorists in the attack mailed letters to New York newspapers prior to the attack demanding three things: an end to all U.S. aid to Israel, an end to U.S. diplomatic relations with Israel, and a pledge by the U.S. to end any interference with middle east countries -
Centrazbat 1997
Centrazbat stands for the Central Asian Battalion. This Centrazbat was a series of multinational training exercises used to learn tactics of other nations. The overall goal of these exercises was to help the unit become a full-fledged participant in the peacekeeping of the United Nations. -
Embassy Bombing in Tanzania
This was a simultaneous truck bomb explosion. The attack was linked to members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad(Al Qaeda). This was the first time Al Qaeda was brought to attention by the American public. The bombing was believed to be revenge for American involvement in the extradition and alleged torture of 4 members of Al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden had warned that this would not be the last of attacks, foreshadowing to 9/11and other bombings. -
Embassy Bombing in Kenya
This was a series of attacks on the United States embassies done by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in Africa, the embassy in Dar es Salaam and the embassy in Nairobi. The attack started with trucks filled with explosives attempting to pass through a section they were not allowed to be. They then set off the bombs killing hundreds of people and wounding lots more. -
U.S.S. Cole
It is a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer. A suicide attack took place while it was being refueled at a Yemen port. 17 sailors were killed and 39 were injured. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility although some say they couldn't have done it without supporty of the Sudanese government.This was yet another attempt of Al Qaeda to show the U.S. that they weren't messing around when it came to western powers in the middle east helping Israel. -
George W. Bush Becomes President
George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the U.S., founded the Bush Administration which enforced a policy on Iran. This was due to the Arab-Israeli Peace Talks, Iraq invading Kuwait in 1990 and the American hostages held in Lebanon. -
World Trade Center 2001
Commonly known as 9-11, this was an attack in New York City by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The reason for the attack was because the U.S. was supporting Israel and terrorist were in fear of domination. There were four different planes that were hijacked, two of them crashed into the World Trade Center, one meant to hit the Pentagon, and the last one ended up in a field in Pennsylvania. Over 3,000 people died and there was around 10 billion dollars in damage. -
Iraq 2001-present
It all started with the terrorist attack known as 9/11. The Iraq War or Desert Storm was in 2003. In 2006, Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq who was accused of having ties to Al Qaeda was captured and Hanged. The war in Afghanistan is continued and Al Qaeda is growing. Osama bin Laden is killed in 2011. In 2014 ISIL/ISIS spreads. In 2015 the war in Syria is happening. All of this started when the U.S. agreed to be allies with Israel and we invested more time and work in the middle east. -
ISIS
The Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham. This group is made up of Sunni Muslims that formed during the largest part of the Iraq war. This group is made up of the 1% of Muslims that are extremists, who believe that war should be against any non Mulim. The United States has spent over $560 million in air strikes on this group. ISIS has "declared war" on the U.S. -
Barack Obama becomes president
Obama made a big step in our relations with the middle east in 2009 by announcing that combat operations in Iraq would end. Concerning the war in Afghanistan, in 2009 he announced an increase in U.S. troops and kept increasing the number until it was decreased in 2014. Obama has stated that the United States' bond with Israel is unbreakable. He has increased military cooperation with them. Other situations with the middle east is Osama bin Laden was killed under the Obama administration.
