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The UN form the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
At the end of the 1948 war, 700,000 Arabs fled from their homes in Palestine. Today the UN reckons there are about 5 million Palestinian refugees. The UNRWA set up camps for them and provided food, shelter and education. Israel refused to allow them to return to their lands and instead continued to take over Arab villages and confiscate the property of Palestinians -
Israel had absorbed 300,000 Jewish people from Arab countries
They insisted that those same Arab countries should find homes for the Palestinian refugees. Jordan allowed them in but other Arab states kept them in refugee camps near the borders with Israel -
The Suez Crisis
Israel (along with Britain and France) invaded Egypt in response to Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal. Nasser's victory boosted Egyptian nationalism and increased tensions with Israel, eventually leading to the 1967 six day war -
Fatah set up
This was led by Yasser Arafat and its goal was to create a Palestinian state -
Formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO)
It was set up by Arab leaders who met in Cairo. The aim of the PLO was to unite all Palestinians in the struggle to win back their land. The largest group within the PLO was Fatah and from 1965 to 1967 Fatah carried out an increasing number of guerrilla attacks on Israel and was supported by the Arab states that bordered Israel, especially Syria. However the Six Day War was a turning point for them -
The Six Day War
This had a big impact on the PLO and the Palestinian issue as Syria, Jordan and Egypt, who all provided vital support for the PLO were weakened by their heavy losses. Many Palestinians were now convinced they had to fight for their homeland on their own -
300,000 Palestinians flee the West Bank after it's captured by Israel
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Half the population of Jordan, which was 2 million, was Palestinian
Fatah and other groups within the PLO now concentrated their forces in Jordan and began to recruit far more volunteers from the refugee camps -
An increase in Palestinian terrorism
From late 1968 onwards there were many hijackings, kidnappings and bombings in Europe and elsewhere -
Arafat became chairman of the PLO
Palestinian fighters, led by Fatah, gained control of the PLO and Yasser Arafat became chairman. He wanted to limit the raids and bombings in Israeli territory as he believed that the Palestinian military aim was strictly war on Israel -
A Swiss plane is blown up on its way to Israel
Israel usually responded to these attacks by bombing Palestinian bases in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Often these bases were near refugee camps meaning that hundred of innocent Palestinians were killed -
PLO expelled from Jordan
king Hussein of Jordan feared the Israeli reprisals which followed Palestinian attacks from his country so he decided he did not want any more raids to be launched on Israel from inside Jordan. The PLO were acting like they governed Jordan themselves so he told them to obey him and his army. The Palestinians resisted army removal and over the next 10 days more than 3000 were killed. PLO bases were eliminated and the remaining fighters went to Syria and Lebanon. Their newspapers were also banned. -
The Muslim population overtakes the Christian population
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Assasination of Jordanian Prime Minister, Wasif al-Tel
Wasif al-Tel was visiting Egypt on his way to attend an Arab League meeting. The killers were members of a group called Black September, named after after the month in which the Palestinian bases in Jordan were wiped out -
Israeli athletes killed at the Olympic Games
The Black September group attacked the Israeli athletes who were competing in Germany. They killed two and demanded the release of 200 Palestinians in Israel. The Palestinians got massive publicity but not the release of hostages that they wanted. A few days later Israel got their revenge and carried out reprisal raids on Syria and Lebanon, in which over 200 refugees were killed. World opinion was divided over this event, some branded the PLO as terrorists. Although, Arafat was invited by UN. -
The Lebanese government ordered its army to regain control of the south
The Palestinians resisted this and were helped by Lebanese Muslims. Most of the Lebanese army were Christian and soon there was a civil war between Christians and Muslims -
Israeli invasion of Lebanon
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A PLO suicide squad went further south and attacked a bus near Tel Aviv
This killed 37 passengers -
Israeli troops invade Lebanon
They seized the south of the country but the PLO forces melted away. The Israeli fighters withdrew under pressure from the USA and UN troops were sent to keep peace on the Lebanese-Israeli border. Over the next 4 years, the Palestinian armed forces grew in strength. Lebanon had became the main focus of their military operations against Israel and the received a constant stream of recruit from the 400,000 Palestinians in the refugee camps in Lebanon -
War in Lebanon
In June Israel invaded Lebanon with 170,000 troops, 3500 tanks and 600 fighter planes. The UN peacekeeping forces were powerless to stop them. Thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese citizens were killed and hundreds and thousands were made homeless -
A group of Palestinian extremists attempted to murder the Israeli ambassador in London
This was the excuse Israel needed to invade Lebanon -
The 'Battle of Beirut'
Over 20,000 were killed and many more were wounded when Israel launched 127 air raids on Beirut. They had already cut off supplies of food and water to the city and had control of the sky and the coastline. -
Period: to
Israel planned another invasion of Lebanon
This was called 'Operation Peace for Galilee' and simply needed a pre-text -
The USA intervened with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon
They persuaded Israel to stop shelling the city in return for an agreement that the PLO fighters would be evacuated. Over 14,000 fighters left Beirut to travel to other Arab states. Yasser Arafat was the last to leave and moved his headquarters to Tunisia -
The newly elected Christian president of Lebanon was killed
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Massacre of 2000 Palestinians
In response to the assassination of the Lebanese president, his armed supporters invaded the refugee camps and carried out a massacre of men, women and children. The Israeli troops just stood by, the rest of the world was horrified. In Israel a crowd of 400,000 protested against the actions of their armed forces. Sharon, as defence minister, was blamed and he was forced to resign -
The Israelis withdraw
Israel withdraw its troops from the capital but stayed in the south of Lebanon. Could not be sure that they had removed every Palestinian armed forces member as they could easily hide in the refugee camps. Furthermore, Israel had made many enemies among the Lebanese people, especially the Muslims in the south. Over the next two years, Israeli troops in the south of Lebanon were regularly attacked and decided to withdraw (triggered by suicide of M'Heidli). This was regarded as its first defeat -
Sana M'Heidli kills herself and 2 Israelis in a suicide mission
She believed this was her national duty -
Palestinian Intifada
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The number of Jewish people living in settlements in and around Jerusalem reached over 80,000
There were another 20,000 living in parts of the West Bank and in Gaza. The Intifada may have been triggered by a single incident but years of living under Israeli occupation had brought the increasing hatred and tension to a boiling point -
The outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada
This took everyone by surprise: Israel, the PLO, the Arab states, and the rest of the world. It was spontaneous and unplanned. It reached the form of huge demonstrations and striked involving adults, children, women, men, labourers, business people, villagers, townspeople, refugees and shopkeepers. It became a national uprising -
An Israeli army vehicle in Gaza crashed into a lorry, killing 4 Palestinians on board
Rumours spread that it had been a deliberate act of revenge for the killing of an Israeli 2 days before. The funerals of the Palestinians became huge demonstrations. At one a youth was shot by an Israeli soldier. As tension mounted thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza and the West Bank. This was known as the 'Palestinian Intifada' -
The number of the Palestinians who had been killed in the Intifada reaching 346
Many of these were under 16. At first, Israel had insisted on using an 'iron fist' technique with guns, tear gas and water cannons but these could not halt the momentum of the uprising. This led the Israeli government to announce that it would no longer use bullets and instead would use mass arrests and detention camps. The worldwide consensus was that a powerful modern army had been set loose against civilians who were fighting for their human rights. Even in Israel itself, opinion was divided -
The USA recognises that the PLO should be part of the peace process
This was a result of the Intifada and was a big turning point as it was the first time they had done this (late 1988, not necessarily November) -
Israel withdrew their last troops from Lebanon
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War in Lebanon
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Hezbollah fighters crossed the border with Israel
They killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. They demanded the release of hundreds of Hezbollah fighters and Palestinian prisoners but Israel refused to do a swap. They launched attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon and Beirut. Hezbollah hit back by launching hundreds of missiles from the south of Lebanon to the north of Israel. Within a month the death toll in Lebanon reached 1000 with 1 million made homeless. Nearly 100 Israelis were killed. -
A ceasefire was arranged at the UN and fighting stopped
A UN peacekeeping force was sent to the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Israelis had failed to destroy Hezbollah or to recover their captured soldiers. In the Arab world. Hezbollah's victory was seen as proof that a small guerrilla force could defeat the most heavily armed state in the Middle East. The Israel-Lebanon border remained a flashpoint