Israel offers to sign “nonaggression” agreements with its four Arab neighbors and to
compensate (but not accept the return of) Palestinian refugees. The talks end in a
deadlock.
October 8:Egypt says it will expel British troops from the Suez Canal area. Britain refuses
to evacuate, setting off skirmishes between British troops and Egyptian rioters.
November 21:The UN Palestine Conciliation Commission suspends its work.
December 24:The independent country of Libya is established as kingdom. Britain
and the United States plan to keep military bases there.
1952
July 23:A military coup in Egypt ousts King Farouk, who goes into exile in Italy. His
infant son is named King Fuad II.
August 11:The Jordanian parliament declares King Talal unfit to rule and proclaims
Crown Prince Hussein as king.
August 11:Iran’s parliament gives Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq dictatorial
powers to deal with an economic and political crisis resulting from a Western boy-
cott of Iranian oil.
October 22:Iran cuts diplomatic ties with Britain because of a dispute over the nation-
alization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
1953
August 19:Iranian prime minister Mosaddeq is ousted by troops loyal to the shah,
with assistance from the CIA. Maj. Gen. Gazollah Zahedi, the leader of the coup,
is named prime minister. In December, a military court will convict Mossaddeq of
attempted rebellion and sentences him to three years of solitary confinement.
September 2:Israel begins work on a project to divert water from the Jordan River.
The project becomes a regular source of tension between Israel and Jordan.
1954
April 18:Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser is named prime minister of Egypt, replacing
Mohammed Naguib, who is given the ceremonial post of president.
July 27:Britain and Egypt sign an agreement ending a dispute over control of the Suez
Canal; Britain agrees to remove its military forces from the canal area within twenty
months but retains the right to use the military base at the canal to repel aggres-
sion against another Arab state or Turkey.
November 13:Nasser becomes president of Egypt, after deposing President Naguib.
1955
February 24:Iraq and Turkey sign the Baghdad Pact, a mutual defense treaty. Britain
will sign it on April 4, Pakistan on September 23, and Iran on November 3, after
which the five nations announce the creation of the Middle East Treaty Organiza-
tion (later called the Central Treaty Organization, or CENTO).
1956
May 9:The United States rejects an Israeli request to buy weapons, declaring that arm-
ing Israel would increase the prospect for conflict in the Middle East. Israel will
later turn to France for weapons.
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