The Road to 9/11: A chronology
1968-1987
1968
17 July: In Iraq, the Ba’athist general Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr (1914-82) becomes president in a bloodless coup. Saddam Hussein is the vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Council.
The organisation Fatah, founded by Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) in 1959, joins the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), taking over its leadership the following year. ‘Fatah’ is a reverse acronym of Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini (‘Palestinian National Liberation Movement’). The reverse acronym means ‘conquest [or ‘victory’] through holy struggle’ in Arabic. The actual acronym ‘Hataf’ means ‘death’.
1970
In Jordan, Palestinian guerrilla activity, which has been increasing, threatens the government. Jordan expels the PLO amid fighting that claims many thousands of lives. The period becomes known as ‘Black September’, and gives rise to a militant Palestinian group by that name.
28 September: President Nasser of Egypt dies and is succeeded by Anwar Sadat (1918-81).
Anwar el-Sadat, the daring Arab pioneer of peace with Israel
www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1225.html
Sadat's obituary from the New York Times.
1972
Palestinian guerrilla activity against Israel continues.
Iraq nationalises the Iraq Petroleum Company.
5 September: At the 1972 Munich Olympics, terrorists calling themselves ‘Black September’ attack the Israeli wrestling team, killing 11.
1973
July: In Afghanistan, a group of young military officers depose the king and proclaim a republic. Former prime minister Lieutenant General Sardar Muhammad Daud Khan, the king's cousin, becomes president and prime minister, and seeks support from the USSR.
6-24 October: Egypt and Syria launch the Yom Kippur War against Israel, temporarily occupying the Sinai and the Golan Heights. The war ends with a UN-negotiated ceasefire.
1974
Mohammed Daud, now at the head of the Afghan government, cracks down on the growing Islamic opposition, calls for the arrest of 70 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, but they flee to Pakistan They eventually become the leaders of the Mujahideen (‘holy warriors’) – the armed opposition to the government of Afghanistan.
1975–76
Civil war in Lebanon. The country has become the base for the PLO and home to large numbers of Palestinian refugees. Fighting breaks out between Lebanese Muslims and the PLO on one side and Lebanese Christian forces on the other. Some 50,000 Lebanese are killed and at least twice that numbered are wounded. In 1976, Syrian troops intervene and a fragile peace is brokered by Saudi Arabia, though severe unrest continues.
1977
19 November: Egyptian President Sadat visits Jerusalem: Egypt and Israel begin peace negotiations.
1978
27 April: In Afghanistan, Daud is assassinated in a Communist coup. The following June, the Mujahideen guerrilla movement is created with the aim of overthrowing the Communists.
5-17 September: US President Jimmy Carter invites Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel to his Camp David retreat in Maryland, where the historic Camp David Accords are signed, ending 30 years of hostility. These culminate in a peace treaty in 1979. Sadat is criticised for this throughout much of the Arab world, including within Egypt itself.
In Iran, popular demonstrations against the shah’s dictatorial rule are ruthlessly suppressed. Hundreds are killed by the police and military.
1979
16 January: The shah of Iran and his family flee the country.
1 February: The hardline Shiite cleric Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran from exile in France. On 1 April, an Islamic republic is established. All Western influences are outlawed; the state even starts to control the way people – especially women – dress.
16 July: Saddam Hussein seizes power in Iraq.
12 November: Militant Iranian students, with Khomeini’s backing, invade the US embassy in Tehran and take 52 American hostages, to protest US support for the shah.
20 November: Underlying popular hostility to the regime in Saudi Arabia is demonstrated when, accusing Saudi rulers of betraying Wahhabi ideals, 200 armed students occupy the Grand Mosque in Mecca during Ramadan. On government instructions, the mosque is flooded and the rebels drowned.
27 December: After nearly two years of turbulence, Soviet troops invade Afghanistan and impose a puppet government, against which Afghans continue to rebel.
1980
25 April: US President Jimmy Carter instigates an attempt
to release the US hostages from Iran. This fails and eight soldiers
are killed. Iranian foreign minister Sadeq Qotbzadeh describes the
attempted rescue as ‘an act of war’.
1980: Tehran hostage rescue mission fails
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/
newsid_2503000/2503899.stm
BBC news story about Jimmy Carter’s failed rescue attempt.
30 July: Israel declares its capital to be the entire, united
city of
Jerusalem. This is controversial as East Jerusalem is widely considered
to
be Palestinian territory. Because of the international uncertainty about
Jerusalem's status, most foreign embassies retain their bases in the
city of
Tel Aviv.
22 September: Iraq invades Iran, and a long war between the two countries ensues, with Arab states split in their support for the combatants. The US allows arms exports to Iraq.
1981
20 January: In Iran, the 52 hostages in the US embassy are released after President Reagan agrees to release previously frozen Iranian assets in US banks.
6 October: President Anwar Sadat of Egypt is assassinated by militant Muslims who are members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. This movement, which has its origins in the Muslim Brotherhood and has garnered significant support among the poor, objects to Sadat’s relationship with the West and his policy on Israel. The new president Hosni Mubarak (1929- ) begins a campaign against Muslim radicals, using imprisonment without trial and torture. Among those jailed is Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (see 1993). Many Egyptian radicals move to Afghanistan.
1981: Egypt’s President Sadat assassination
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/
newsid_2515000/2515841.stm
BBC news report about the events of 6 October.
Why was Anwar Sadat assassinated in 1981?
www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_sadat_assassination.php
An examination of the issues behind the Egyptian president’s murder.
1982
31 January: Israel withdraws from Sinai, as part of the Egyptian–Israeli peace treaty.
5 June: Israel invades Lebanon, intending to wipe out PLO bases. PLO leader Yasser Arafat is forced to leave Lebanon, and his forces are scattered across several Arab countries.
18 September: Lebanese Christian militia massacre Palestinians in the refugee settlements of Sabra and Shatila in west Beirut – an act widely believed to have tacit Israeli support. Estimates of numbers killed range from 700 to 3,500.
1982: Refugees massacred in Beirut camps
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/17/
newsid_2519000/2519637.stm
BBC news story of the massacres at Sabra and Shatila.
In Lebanon, the radical Islamic party Hezbollah (‘Party of God’) is founded, with Syrian support. While it fights against Israel’s occupation of the south of Lebanon, it also has a civilian arm, running schools, hospitals and orphanages.
Hezbollah: A brief history
www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/religion/hezbollah+a+brief+history/167540
A concise account of the religious organisation, from Channel 4 News.
1983
An Israeli commission of inquiry on the massacre at Sabra and Shatila (see 1982) publishes its report. It finds that Israeli defence minister Ariel Sharon bears ‘personal responsibility’ for the killings. Sharon is forced from office, but remains in the Cabinet.
1984
26 November: The US restores diplomatic relations with Iraq.
The US starts sending assistance – albeit indirectly – to the anti-Soviet forces fighting in Afghanistan. Support also comes from various other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Radicals from Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia join the fighters. Osama bin Laden (1957- ), a member of a wealthy Saudi family, establishes Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK, ‘Afghan Services Bureau’) to aid fighters in Afghanistan, largely with Saudi money. (He breaks away from MAK in 1988.) The radical Islamic groups hope for a hardline Islamic government in Afghanistan.
1985
14 June: Hezbollah hijacks TWA flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome, kidnapping and imprisoning 153 passengers (including Greek singer Demis Roussos) and crew. All emerge safely except US navy diver Robert Stethem, who is beaten and shot to death.
1986
17 April: British journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon, who hold him for over five years. He spends most of his captivity with fellow hostage Brian Keenan, an Irish teacher. Keenan is released after four years.
3 November: US President Reagan admits that his government has traded arms to Iran in return for hostages in Lebanon.
25 November: Iran–Contra scandal: US national security adviser John Poindexter resigns and his aide Oliver North is dismissed from the National Security Council after it is revealed that money from arms sales to Iran was channelled to right-wing Contra rebels fighting against the socialist government in Nicaragua.
1987
20 January: The archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Beirut while attempting to negotiate freedom for hostages. He is not released until November 1991.
December: The first Palestinian intifada (‘shaking off’) – a popular uprising against Israel – begins in the West Bank and Gaza. The militant Islamic group Hamas (in Arabic, an acronym for ‘Islamic Resistance Movement’) rises to prominence.
Who are Hamas?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/
israel_and_the_palestinians/profiles/978626.stm
BBC News profile of the radical Palestinian organisation.
