of investigations and news reports that result in worldwide outrage about the treat-
ment of Iraqi detainees by some U.S. prison guards, severely damaging the United
States’ image.
June 6:The Israeli cabinet approves the disengagement plan by Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon to withdraw Jewish settlements and Israeli military posts from the Gaza Strip.
June 28:The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority disbands and hands national
sovereignty in Iraq to an interim administration headed by President Ghazi al-Yawar
and prime minister Iyad Allawi.
June 30:Israel’s High Court rules that portions of the separation barrier under con-
struction in and around the West Bank violate the rights of Palestinians and there-
fore orders changes in the route.
July 6:Iraqi prime minister Allawi signs a law giving himself broad powers to impose
martial law and to take other steps in the name of restoring security.
July 9:The World Court rules that the separation barrier being built by Israel violates
international law and must be dismantled. Israel rejects this ruling and continues
construction of the barrier.
July 28:In one of the most violent days to date in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion, a
suicide bomber explodes a car bomb in Baquba, killing 70 people and wounding
more than 50, and more than 40 people are killed in clashes south of Iraq.
September 2:The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1559, demanding the with-
drawal from Lebanon of all foreign forces, a measure aimed at Syria, the only coun-
try with a substantial military presence in Lebanon. The United States and other
sponsors express hope that adoption of the resolution will block a Syrian attempt
to force an extension of the term of Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud.
September 3:Acquiescing to Syrian pressure, the Lebanese parliament agrees to extend
the term of President Lahoud for three additional years.
October 6:Charles A. Duelfer, head of the U.S. agency searching for weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, reports publicly that all such weapons appear to have been
destroyed shortly after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Duelfer says that Iraq had
“strategic intent” to rebuild its weapons but had not done so, contrary to U.S.
claims.
October 9:Afghanistan holds its first genuine presidential election, of which leader
Hamid Karzai is declared the winner on November 3. The election had been delayed
for several months because of security concerns; parliamentary elections were delayed
until 2005 because of similar concerns and for technical reasons.
October 25:The Knesset approves the Sharon disengagement plan.
November 9:The U.S. military launches a major assault on Fallujah, in central Iraq,
which had been taken over by insurgent forces resisting the U.S. occupation.
November 13:U.S. commanders announce that they have gained effective control of
Fallujah, much of which had been destroyed in the fighting, the heaviest since the
U.S. invasion in 2003.
November 11:Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat dies in a French hospital, where he had
been taken the previous month after falling ill from unexplained causes.
2005
January 9:Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasir Arafat as president of
the Palestinian Authority.
692 CHRONOLOGY OF THE MIDDLE EAST, 1914–2007