December 18:To protest Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, the Reagan admin-
istration suspends the strategic memorandum with Israel signed weeks earlier.
1982
February:After guerrillas from the Muslim Brotherhood take control of Hama in
northern Syria, the army counterattacks and destroys much of the city, killing a
reported 10,000 people.
March 22:Iran launches a counteroffensive against Iraq, driving Iraqi forces out of the
positions they had held inside Iran since the Iran-Iraq War began in late 1980.
April 25:Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula after demolishing
Jewish settlements there.
June 6:Israel invades Lebanon to attack Palestinian guerrillas who have been launch-
ing cross-border raids into northern Israel.
June 8:In a speech to the Knesset, Prime Minister Menachem Begin says Israel seeks
a twenty-five-mile-deep security zone inside Lebanon to protect itself against Pales-
tinian attacks launched from Lebanese territory.
June 13:King Khalid of Saudi Arabia dies and is succeeded by his half-brother Crown
Price Fahd. Prince Abdallah ibn Abd al-Aziz becomes crown prince.
August 4:Israeli forces reach Beirut.
August 18:The Lebanese government and the PLO approve a U.S.-mediated plan for
PLO leaders and thousands of fighters to be evacuated from Lebanon.
August 21:The evacuation of the PLO begins in Lebanon as the first French troops
arrive as part of an international peacekeeping force. The Palestinian withdrawal will
be completed on September 2, and international peacekeepers will later also leave.
September 1:President Ronald Reagan announces a Middle East peace plan, calling for
Jordan to exercise responsibility over the West Bank.
September 9:Meeting in Fez, Morocco, Arab leaders adopt a statement that for the
first time implies recognition of Israel. Echoing a Saudi peace plan from August
1981, the Fez statement calls on Israel to withdraw to the pre-June 1967 borders
and for peace among “all states” of the region. The United States praises the state-
ment but Israel rejects it.
September 14:Lebanese president-elect Bashir Gemayel is assassinated when a bomb
destroys the headquarters of the Christian Phalange Party in East Beirut.
September 16:On the outskirts of Beirut, Israeli forces allow Phalange fighters to enter
the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, where the Phalangists kill several hundred
Palestinians, causing an international uproar.
September 20:In response to the Sabra and Shatila killings, the Lebanese government
requests the return of international peacekeepers. France, Italy, and the United
States agree to provide the peacekeepers, who will begin arriving later in the month.
President Reagan explains that the peacekeepers will be in Lebanon for “a limited
period” with a limited mission of bolstering the government.
December 1:At Lebanon’s request, the United States agrees to expand the international
peacekeeping force there.
1983
February 8:An Israeli commission finds that several officials, including Defense
Minister Ariel Sharon, neglected their duty when they allowed Lebanese Pha-
670 CHRONOLOGY OF THE MIDDLE EAST, 1914–2007