Chronology of the Conflict By Hassan El-Najjar

Chronology of the Conflict

By Hassan El-Najjar

Al-Jazeerah, August 30, 2006

This chronology of the main events of the conflict has been prepared to help authors, activists, and speakers present to their respective audiences the evidence that the current conflict is old in its roots. It actually started with the Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Palestine in 1798-1800.

Arabs and Muslims did not invade Europe or America. They have been under constant attack, invasion, and occupation by the imperialist ruling classes in Europe and North America. The objective is control over resources of the Third World, in general, and the Middle Eastern oil reserves in particular.

The invasion and occupation of Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as the possible invasion and occupation of Iran and Syria should be understood within this context of the global imperialist domination.

Readers are welcome to suggest other events that may be missed in the following list.

Capitalism has passed through three stages so far:

First, Mercantalism: Trade (e.g. Europeans trying to find routes to the East)

Second, Colonialism: Establishing colonies (17th, 18th centuries).

Third, Imperialism: Sending armed forces to extract resources from other nations (19th, 20th, 21st centuries).

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Arabs and Muslims, as part of the Third World, have been at the receiving end of the capitalist-imperialist endeavors (i.e. invasions):

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1798-1800: Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt and Palestine

1807: Failing English Invasion of Egypt

1830-1962: France invaded and occupied Algeria. Then invaded and occupied Morocco and Tunisia

1882: Britain invaded and occupied Egypt and Sudan

1896: The British protection agreement with Mubarak Al-Sabah of Kuwait, after which the Arabian Gulf came under British occupation

1897: The first World Zionist Conference in Basle, Switzerland

1911: Italy invaded and occupied Libya, to be replaced by British and American occupation after WWII

1916: Sikes-Picot agreement between Britain and France to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire

1917: The Balfour Declaration, in which Britain gave the land of Palestine to Zionists. Palestine came under British occupation

1936: The first Palestinian revolution against the British occupation and the Zionist project of colonizing Palestine

1947: UN Resolution 181 for Palestine partition

1948: Establishment of Israel on the ruins of Palestine, the Dair Yassin Massacre

1948: UN Resolution 194 for Repatriation and Compensation of Palestinian Refugees

1949: Armistice borders of Israel recognized, including much more land than the Partition Resolution stated

1956: Israeli-British-French invasion of Egypt, occupation of the Suez Canal, Sinai, and Gaza Strip for months

1962-1975: The Kurdish rebellion against the Iraqi central government, with Israeli-US-Iranian support

1967: Israeli pre-emptive war. Israel invaded and occupied Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Syrian Golan Heights

1973: Syrian-Egyptian war to restore part of the occupied territories

1975: The Algiers Agreement between Iraq and Iran, ending the Kurdish rebellion and establishing the Kurdish autonomous region

1978: Egypt signs a peace treaty with Israel, getting out of the conflict in order to get Sinai back in 1982

1978: Israel invaded South Lebanon for the first time, to battle the PLO forces in Al-Arqoub area

1980-1988: The Iran-Iraq War, which devastated both countries, as both of them received Western weapons, including the Iran-Contra scandal

1982: Israel invaded Lebanon and occupied Beirut, forcing the PLO out of the country

1982: The massacre of Sabra and Shatilla, under the supervision of Ariel Sharon

1987-1993: The first Palestinian Uprising (intifada) against the Israeli occupation, which ended with the PLO-Israeli agreement to establish the Palestinian National Authority as a first step towards an independent Palestinian state

1990: Iraq invaded Kuwait

1991: Iraq was forced out of Kuwait, to be replaced by US as a de facto occupation power, occupying not only Kuwait but the entire Arabian Peninsula

1990-2003: Iraq was subjected to US-UK sponsored sanctions, enforced by a US-led NATO naval regime, to soften it for the 2003 invasion

1990s: Al-Qaeda attacked US forces and interests in Saudi Arabia, Uganda, and Tanzania, as well as the first attack on the World Trade Center in New York, attempting to force US forces to leave Saudi Arabia

2000: Israeli occupation forces were forced to withdraw from South Lebanon as a result of the fierce resistance from Hizbullah fighters

2000-2005: The second Palestinian Uprising (intifada) against the Israeli occupation, following the failure of the Clinton-sponsored Camp David conference to end the occupation, resulting in about 4,500 Palestinians killed, 44,500 injured, and 10,000 prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons

2001: Al-Qaeda attacked the US on September 11 in an attempt to force the US out of Saudi Arabia

2003: The US invaded Iraq for the declared reasons of the Iraqi links to Al-Qaeda and the possession of weapons of mass destruction which allegedly threatened the US and the UK

2003: US forces stationed in Saudi Arabia left to other Arabian Gulf states directly after the invasion and occupation of Iraq

2005: Israeli occupation forces were forced to withdraw from Gaza Strip as a result of the Palestinian fierce resistance

2006: Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections. Israel-US-EU refused the results and started a process to punish the Palestinian people for electing Hamas, through financial sanctions and closure of borders

2006: Palestinian resistance fighters capture an Israeli soldier to exchange him with some of the 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons

2006: The Israeli occupation government responded with attacks all over Gaza Strip killing and injuring hundreds of people, destroying the infrastructure including utilities, and closing the borders completely

2006: Hizbullah Lebanese resistance fighters also captured two Israeli soldiers to exchange them with some Lebanese prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. The Israeli occupation government responded with a war on Lebanon, in which more than one thousand Lebanese and more than one hundred Israelis were killed.

And the conflict is still wide open ...

More invasions and more occupations are threatened ...

This time against Iran and Syria ...

The US national debt is $6.5 Trillion ...

The Arab oil wealth is $45 Trillion, in current oil prices

Connect the dots.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

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