December 22:The UN Security Council adopts a resolution that “strongly deplores”
the harsh response by Israel to the Palestinian intifada, including the “excessive use
of live ammunition” against protesters. The United States abstains, allowing the res-
olution to be adopted.
1988
February:Iraq launches the Anfal campaign to move tens of thousands of Kurds out of
areas the government has declared off-limits to them. It will continue until September.
A subsequent investigation by Human Rights Watch claims that more than 100,000
Kurds, most of them men and boys, were trucked to remote sites and executed.
February 27:Iraq bombs an Iranian oil refinery near Tehran, setting off another round
of reciprocal attacks in the “war of the cities” between the two countries.
February 29:Iran hits Baghdad with long-range missiles.
March 16:The Iraqi army uses chemical weapons to bomb the Kurdish town of Hal-
abja, in northern Iraq, after Iran captures it. Later investigations by human rights
groups will put the death toll at 3,000.
April 14: Afghanistan and Pakistan sign the Geneva Accords settling differ-
ences between them and providing for the withdrawal of Soviet military forces
from Afghanistan. The United States and the Soviet Union are witnesses to the
agreement.
April 16:In Tunis, an Israeli commando team assassinates Khalil Wazir, also known
as Abu Jihad, the second-ranking official in the Fatah faction of the PLO.
May 15:Soviet forces begin withdrawing from Afghanistan.
July 3:The U.S. warship Vincennesshoots down a civilian Iranian airliner, killing all
290 people on board. The ship’s captain says the plane was mistaken for an Iran-
ian warplane, but Iran maintains that the downing was deliberate murder.
July 18:Iran accepts UN Security Council Resolution 598 demanding a cease-fire in
the Iran-Iraq War. Iraq had accepted the resolution in 1987.
July 20:In a national speech, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini calls the
decision to accept UN Resolution 598 “more lethal for me than poison.”
July 31:As the intifada continues, King Hussein of Jordan renounces his claim to the
West Bank, cutting all legal and administrative ties to the territory it had adminis-
tered until Israel captured it in June 1967.
August 4:Jordan announces that it will stop paying the salaries of thousands of Pales-
tinian teachers and other civil servants on the West Bank.
August 18:Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, issues its “covenant,” or pro-
gram, calling for resistance to Israel by all necessary means.
August 20:Iran and Iraq formally agree to a cease-fire, ending their eight-year war.
September 22:With the Lebanese parliament having failed to appoint a new president,
outgoing president Amin Gemayel appoints Gen. Michel Aoun to head a provi-
sional government hours before stepping down at the end of his term.
September 23:Muslims refuse to recognize the Aoun government and form a rival gov-
ernment headed by previous prime minister Selim al-Hoss.
September 29:Ending a long dispute, an international arbitration panel awards Egypt
control of Taba in the Sinai Peninsula. Israel had occupied Taba during the June
1967 War and had built a seaside resort there. Egypt demanded that Israel return
it as part of the 1979 peace treaty.
674 CHRONOLOGY OF THE MIDDLE EAST, 1914–2007