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Balfour Declaration
A letter from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild (a leader of the British Jewish community) that made public the British support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Balfour Declaration led the League of Nations to entrust the United Kingdom with the Palestine Mandate in 1922. -
Palestine Become British Mandate
Great Britain was called upon to participate in the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine-Eretz Israel. Shortly afterwards, the League of Nations & Great Britain decided that the provisions for setting up a Jewish national home would not apply to the area east of the Jordan River, it only applied to 3/4 of the territory included in the Mandate. -
Holocaust
Germany stood for uncompromising war against the Jews. That naturally included active opposition to the Jewish national home in Palestine. Germany would provide positive and practical aid to the Arabs involved in the same objective, which was solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere, including the Holy Land. -
Six Day War
Israel and Arab nations in the Middle East were at war. Israel believed that it was only a matter of time before the three Arab states Syria, Jordan and Egypt planned a massive attack on Israel. So instead of waiting for the attack the Israelis launched a very successful military campaign against Syria, Jordan and Egypt. When the war ended on June 10th Israel gained the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Eastern Jerusalem from Arab nations with the help from the U.S. -
Arab Oil Embargo
After Arab nations lost a large amount of land from the U.S. supporting Israel, the Arab nations in the Middle East stopped all trade with the U.S.,Netherlands, Portugal, and South Africa. This caused an oil shortage in the U.S. Gas stations ran out of gas, speed limits were lowered, gas prices went up, and more. -
Yom Kippur War
On Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar Syria and Egypt attacked Israel. This attack was due to them trying to regain the land they lost during the Six Day War. This attack took the Israeli Defense Forces by surprise. On October 25 1973 a cease fire was put in effect. With the help of the U.S. Israel won the Yom Kippur War. -
Jimmy Carter Becomes President
President Carter facilitated the Camp David Peace Accords between Israel and Egypt, which aided in the strive for new progress in the Middle East and an end to the seemed to be everlasting hostilities between the two sides (Jews and Muslims). -
Alaskan Pipeline
When the U.S. was on a shortage of oil due to the Arab Oil Embargo, it became clear the U.S was dependant on foreign oil and they needed another source of oil. So they began construction of the Alaskan Pipeline. -
Camp David Accords
Peace Treaty signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and U.S. president Jimmy Carter, that called for further meetings to resolve the Palestinian question & include Jordan and a representative for the Palestinian people. A 5-year transition period was called for of Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza. This would include the introduction of Palestinian self-government and would eventually declare an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
66 American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981) in this crisis between Iran & the U.S. after a group of Iranian, muslim student followers took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran that supported the Iranian revolution. The crisis strengthened the political power of those who supported theocracy and opposed any normalization of relations with the West. This concept is what connects the holy land to the event, due to its high population of religious people. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
Contingents of so-called Afghan Arabs (foreign fighters who wished to wage jihad against the atheist communists) were also present during this invasion. Notable among them was a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden, whose Arab group eventually evolved into al-Qaeda. These extremists also felt they had to power within the Holy Land. -
Ronald Reagan Becomes President
Reagan supported anti-communist groups around the world. In a policy which became known as the Reagan Doctrine, his administration funded "freedom fighters" such as the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. The majority of the members in these groups were arab muslims who believed they had rights to have power in the Holy Land. Therefore since we supported them, the U.S. became involved in their desires. -
George H.W. Bush Becomes President
During his presidency the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq took place and became a major concern. President Bush's main objective during the concern with the Middle East was to get as many countries to aid the United States in getting Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. -
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Desert Storm (Gulf War)
The U.S. was worried that Iraq would take over Saudi Arabia after the Iraqi military invaded Kuwait (a major supplier of oil to the U.S). If Iraq took over Saudi Arabia they would control a large part of the U.S. oil supply. So on January 15, 1991, the U.S. invaded Kuwait in order to remove Iraqi troops. -
Bill Clinton Becomes President
Bill Clinton arranged several meetings between Middle Eastern leaders. Bill Clinton hoped the meetings could help create peace in the Middle East. These meetings did help because they led to several peace agreements such as the Oslo Accords and the Wye River Memorandum. -
World Trade Center 1993
A group of terrorists set a truck bomb off at the bottom of the North tower. Their plan was to was to knock the North Tower of the world trade center into the South tower and kill thousands of people. Their plan failed, but they killed six people and injured many other people. Many Americans believed the terrorists were working for Iraqi intelligence. -
U.S.S Cole
A suicide attack from Al- Qaeda (terrorist group) on the U.S. naval ship. This bombing ended up killing 17 American soldiers. A U.S. judge has held Sudan accountable for this event. -
Centrazbat 1997
This was a military exercise that included the US, Turkey and Russia. The purpose of this group was to strenghten the ties with the central asian states. When NATO stopped funding the program it did no longer exiist. But even after the end of centrazbat countries ithat were involved in the group continued peacekeeping forces called CSTO. -
Embassy Bombing In Kenya
A mass killing planned by Al Qaeda where a truck bomb bombed the US Embassies. This event killed hundreds. These bombings were linked back to members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. This was the first time Al Qaeda was seen as a large threat to the United States. -
Embassy Bombing in Tanzania
Eight years after U.S. troops were ordered to Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Osama Bin Laden ordered his followers to bomb several U.S. embassies in Africa with low level security. In Tanzania, 10 tanzanians who worked for the embassy were killed and a total of around 224 people were killed. -
World Trade Center 2001
On September 11, 2001, two planes hijacked by members of al-qaeda were flown into the World Trade Centers. This was an act of terrorism by Osama bin Laden. This event was the reason we sent US troops to the MIddle East. -
Iraq 2001 - Present
After the bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11th the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003. The U.S. went to war to try to avoid more terrorist attacks on America. American troops were brought home from Iraq after almost 9 years at war in 2011. -
George W. Bush Becomes President
After the 9/11 attack took place while George W. Bush was in office, Bush sent US troops to Iraq and Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-qaeda who planned the terrorist attack. -
Barack Obama Becomes President
In most recent news Obama is encouraging a preliminary agreement with Iran to curb the spread of nuclear weapons. Obama also ended the war in Iraq and sent troops home. -
ISIS
The aim of ISIS is to create an Islamic state, referred to as a caliphate, across Sunni areas of Iraq and in Syria. It is known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions as well as other acts. It has taken over large portions of northern and western Iraq. ISIS's strategy for revenue includes oil production and smuggling, ransoms from kidnappings, selling stolen artifacts, extortion and controlling crops. -
U.S relations with Israel - Present
The relations with Israel are very important when it comes to the U.S. policy in the Middle East. Congress has placed importance on the maintenance of this relationship with Israel. Since 1985, the U.S. has provided nearly $3 billion annually to Israel. Israel was the largest recipient of American aid till 2004. Seventy-four percent of funds must be spent purchasing US goods and services. In 2014, the US provided $3.6 billion in foreign military aid to Israel.
