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1945: End of World War II. Post-Holocaust refugee crisis. British detain many Jews making aliyah to Palestine in detention
camps
1946: Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria are granted independence from Britain and France. The struggle for the creation of a
Jewish state in the British mandate of Palestine is resumed by Jewish underground movements: Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi (group).
1947: India gains independence from Britain, and Pakistan is created from the region's Muslim-majority areas under the
Leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Disputes over the status of Kashmir leads to the first Indo-Pakistani War; Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. November 29 The United Nations approves the creation of a Jewish
State and an Arab State in the British mandate of Palestine.
1948: May 14 The State of Israel declares itself as an independent nation. Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet Union's UN ambassador, calls for the UN to accept Israel as a member state. The UN approves. Arab
countries attack the new state of Israel and suffer defeat in war with Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are displaced.
Almost 250,000 Holocaust survivors make their way to Israel. "Operation Magic Carpet" brings thousands of Yemenite Jews to
Israel.
1949: Hasan Al-Banna, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, is assassinated by Egyptian security forces.EastTurkestan Occupied by Chinese communist
and gave it new name of Xinjiang.
1951: Libya becomes independent.
1952: King Faruq of Egypt forced to abdicate.
1953: Backed by American and British intelligence agencies, General Zahedi leads a coup against Mohammed Mossadegh, returning
the Shah to power. Death of King Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. The foundation stone is laid to enlarge the Prophet's mosque in Medina.
1954: Algerian War of Independence begins.
1956: Morocco becomes independent. Tunisia becomes independent. The 1956 Suez War Egypt blockades the Gulf of Aqaba, and closes the Suez canal to Israeli shipping. Egypt's President Nasser calls for the destruction
of Israel. Israel, England, and France go to war and force Egypt to end the blockade of Aqaba, and open the canal to all nations.
1957: The Bey of Tunisia is deposed, and Bourguiba becomes president. Enlargement of the Haram in Mecca begins.
1958: October 7, President Iskander Mirza declares Martial Law. General Ayub Khan assumes the powers as Chief Martial
Law Administrator.
1960: Mali and Senegal become independent.
1962: Algeria becomes independent. Death of Zaydi Imam of Yemen (Ahmad). Crown Prince Bahr succeeds him and takes the
title Imam Mansur Bi-Llah Muhammad.
1963: Ba'th Party stages military coup in Iraq under the leadership of General Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr and Colonel `Abd
as-Salām `Arif
1964: Jewish-Christian relations are revolutionized by the Roman Catholic Church's Vatican II. Saddam Hussein imprisoned.
1965: American Muslim leader Malcolm X is assassinated. The second Indo-Pakistani War results in a stalemate.
1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970) becomes the first Hebrew writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
1967: Egyptian President Nasser demands that the UN dismantle the UN Emergency Force I (UNEF I) between Israel and Egypt. The UN complies and the last UN
peacekeeper is out of Sinai and Gaza by May 19. Egyptian PresidentGamal Abdel Nasser closes the strategic Straits of Tiran
to Israeli shipping and states that Egypt is in a state of war with Israel. Egyptian troops group in the Sinai.In the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan, Israel seizes control of Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula,
and the Golan Heights. More Palestinians are displaced. The Arab Leaders meet in Khartoum, Sudan. The Three No's of Khartoum:
No recognition of Israel. No negotiations with Israel. No peace with Israel. Saddam escapes from jail.
1968: The enlargement of the Haram in Mecca is completed. Israel begins building Jewish settlements in territories occupied
during the Six-day war. Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan formally creates a separate Reconstructionist Judaism movement by setting up
the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia
1969: King Idris of Libya is ousted by a coup led by Colonel Qadhdhafi.
1971: Bengalis in East Pakistan under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman begin campaigning for independence from
West Pakistan, prompting a heavy-handed military reprisal from Pakistani forces. India becomes involved in the conflict, resulting
in the third Indo-Pakistani War. After a bloody struggle in which many Civilians are killed, Bangladesh comes into existence. The Aswan High Dam is completed
with Soviet help in finance and construction.
1972: During the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage
by Palestinian terrorist group Black September in what is known as the Munich Massacre.
1973: King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is overthrown. Yom Kippur War, also known as 1973 Arab-Israeli War, leads to recapture
of Sinai peninsula and Golan Heights by Egypt and Syria from Israel.
1975: Indonesia invades and occupies East Timor. Death of Elijah Muhammad, leader of Nation of Islam among African Americans in North America. Warith Deen Muhammad assumes leadership of Nation of
Islam and shifts movement toward Islamic Orthodoxy, renaming it American Muslim Mission. President Gerald Ford signs legislation
including the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which ties U.S. trade benefits to the Soviet Union to freedom of emigration for Jews.
United Nations adopts resolution equating Zionism with racism. Rescinded in 1991.
1976: Israel rescues hostages taken to Entebbe, Uganda
1978: Imam Musa Sadr is apparently assassinated after he disappears on a trip to Libya. He was the religious leader of
the Lebanese Twelve-Imam Shi'ites. He promoted the resurgence of Shi'ites in Lebanon and set the foundation of Amal. As part
of the Camp David Accords, Egypt becomes the first Arab nation to recognize Israel. Israel returns the Sinai Peninsula to
Egypt.
1979: Years of political tension and unrest in Iran climax as the autocratic Pahlavi regime is overthrown by a popular
revolution. In its place, Iranian clerics led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini establish the Muslim World's first Islamic government
of any kind in over 50 years, declaring the Islamic Republic of Iran. Groups of students loyal to the new regime seize control
of the American embassy in Tehran and take 66 officials hostage. Religious students in Saudi Arabia seize control of the Haram
of Mecca, sparking a two-week standoff with Saudi security forces. The crisis comes to an end when Saudi forces storm the
mosque, killing 237 of the 300 men and apprehending the remainder. All surviving conspirators in the plot are publicly executed.
The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. Death of influential Islamist leader Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. Operation Elijah: Rescue
of Ethiopian Jewry
1980: Iraq invades Iran, beginning the Iran-Iraq war. In a move not recognized internationally, Israel confirms its capital as the united Jerusalem.
1981: The 444-day Iranian hostage crisis comes to an end. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated by militants opposed to his autocratic policies and recognition
of Israel.
1982: Israel invades Lebanon, purportedly in response to repeated Katyusha rocket attacks originating in southern Lebanon.
1983: American Reform Jews formally accept patrilineal descent, creating a new definition of who is a Jew.
1984 Operations Moses, Joshua: Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry by Israel.
1987: Beginning of the First Intifada against Israel.
1988: The Iran-Iraq war comes to an end following much loss of life.
1989: Death of Shia religious leader and Iranian head of state Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; Accession of Ali Khamenei as the Supreme Leader of Iran. The Soviet Union withdraws the last of its forces from Afghanistan.
Afghan mujahideen factions begin fighting each other.
1990: Iraq invades Kuwait. The Soviet Union opens its doors to the three million Soviet Jews who had been held as virtual prisoners within their own
country. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews choose to leave the Soviet Union and move to Israel.
1991: A coalition of United States-led forces attacks Iraq and reverses its attempted military annexation of Kuwait. US-backed economic sanctions are imposed on Iraq. The sanctions
are widely blamed for subsequent dramatic increases in famine, birth defects, and infant mortality amongst Iraqis. The Soviet
Union collapses. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, all predominantly Muslim former
Soviet republics, become independent. Operation Solomon: Rescue of the remainder of Ethiopian Jewry in a twenty four hour
airlift. The Madrid Peace Conference opens in Spain, sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union.
1992: The 400 year-old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India is destroyed by Hindu extremists, sparking widespread religious
rioting acorss India.
1993: Israel and PLO sign the Oslo Accords.
1994: Israel and Jordan sign an official peace treaty. Israel cedes a small amount of contested land to Jordan, and the
countries open official diplomatic relations, with open borders and free trade. Jordan becames the second of Israel's Arab
neighbors to recognize Israel.
1995: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated.
1996: Taliban forces seize control of most of Afghanistan and declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Peres loses
election to Benyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu (Likud party).
1998: Amidst growing criticism of his economic policies, longtime Indonesian leader General Suharto resigns after over
thirty years in power. Pakistan conducts nuclear tests in response to similar tests by neighbor and archrival India, becoming
the first Muslim nuclear power. Former deputy prime minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim, a vocal critic of prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of sodomy.
1999: Death of Jordan's King Hussein. King Hussein's son Abdullah is declared king of Jordan. Indonesia relinquishes control of East Timor, which is granted independence
under a UN-sponsored act of self-determination. General Pervez Musharraf seizes control of Pakistan after a military coup
against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Ehud Barak elected Prime Minister of Israel.
2000: Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip begin the Al-Aqsa Intifada, prompted by Ariel Sharon's visit to a disputed
religious site holy to both Jews and Muslims. Israel unilaterally withdraws its remaining forces from its security zone in
southern Lebanon to the international border, fully complying with the UN Security Council Res. 425. Camp David Summit.Senator Joseph Lieberman becomes the first Jewish-American to be nominated for a national office (Vice
President of the United States) by a major political party.The al-Aqsa Intifada begins.
2001-2002: Members of Al Qaeda, a radical Muslim organization, attack the United States. Hijacked commercial airliners
are flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building on September 11, 2001, killing upwards of three thousand. The United States subsequently declares a War on Terror and invades Afghanistan, whose
Taliban regime had given refuge to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The Taliban are ousted from power, though the fate of
bin Laden is unknown as of 2007. Election of Ariel Sharon as Israel's Prime Minister.
2003: Iraq War. Shirin Ebadi becomes the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in promoting
human rights.
2004 a radical Muslim group claims responsibility for bombings in Madrid's commuter railway and several trains. The terrorist
attack killed 191, and wounds 1,460 others. See also Madrid Bombings. Nevertheless the Islamists' claim, latest unveilings
suggest that perhaps the role of Islamic extremists was less capital than it has been officially presented.
2005: a radical Muslim group claims responsibility for bombings in the London Underground. The terrorist attack kills 52, and wounds over 700 others. in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt kill at least 83 and wound hundreds. Saudi
Arabia's King Fahd dies. Fahd's brother Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, who had assumed de facto leadership of the country
after King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke in 1994, is declared king. A powerful, 7.6-magnitude earthquake
hits Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, killing upwards of 73,000 people, mostly in Pakistan. The Government of Israel officially
recognizes the Bnei Menashe people of North-East India as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, opening the door for thousands
of people to immigrate to Israel. The Government of Israel withdraws its military forces and Jewish settlers from the
Gaza Strip.
2006: Military conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel, primarily between Hezbollah paramilitary forces and Israel. Saddam executed for crimes against humanity
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