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| 1971 |
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| Founding of the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO), which brought together top officials from Muslim states to foster solidarity and cooperation. In the late 1960s, Saudi Arabia was the most active promoter of the organization. The ICO received even greater attention after a Christian fundamentalist set a destructive fire in al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (Aug. 1969). Despite the existence of the ICO, pan-Islamism remained a negligible force in Middle Eastern politics. | 1 |
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| 1973, Oct. 6–22 |
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| THE YOM KIPPUR WAR (also called the October War and the Ramadan War) was launched by Egypt and Syria against Israel. The war came about largely as a result of Egyptian frustrations with Israel, which showed little desire for a formal peace settlement. During the first three days of the war, the Egyptian army successfully attained its primary objective—namely, to breach Israeli fortifications (the Bar-Lev line) and establish a bridgehead on the east bank of the Suez Canal. Meanwhile, Syrian troops advanced into the Golan Heights, approaching Israel itself. Over the next week, however, the tide turned against the Arabs, thanks partly to the American resupply of the Israeli army. First, the Syrians were turned back (Oct. 11). Israeli forces then crossed to the west bank of the Suez Canal (Oct. 15), where they were poised (Oct. 18) to trap the entire Egyptian Third Army in the Sinai. Egypt and Israel obeyed a UN cease-fire (Oct. 22), and Syria stopped fighting two days later. An agreement arranged by the U.S. and the USSR allowed Egyptian forces in the Sinai to be resupplied (Oct. 27), saving them from surrender. | 2 |
| Both the Arabs and the Israelis suffered heavy casualties in the fighting. Egypt lost some 15,000 soldiers, Syria 3,500, and Israel 2,700. In the end, neither side could claim a clear-cut victory. | 3 |
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| Oct |
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| The ARAB OIL EMBARGO, which lasted until March 18, 1974. To support the Arab cause in the October War, the Arab oil states (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, scaled back production and refused to export oil to the U.S. Unlike the earlier attempt to use oil as political leverage (1967), this one was relatively successful. By 1973, new international conditions had made the oil states more powerful than ever. The 1970s ushered in an oil shortage at the same time that U.S. production was markedly falling. Moreover, the rate of world consumption was for the first time outstripping additions to the world's oil reserves, of which the Middle East held more than half, thereby drawing attention both to the ultimate limits of oil as a resource and to the growing economic importance of Arab oil. The boycott was highly disruptive to the industrial economies. By the end of 1973, oil prices had risen from $3.00 to $11.65 per barrel, peaking in the mid-1970s at around $40 per barrel. The greatest political effect of the boycott was to make European countries more sympathetic to the Arab side of the Arab-Israeli dispute. | 4 |
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| Nov |
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| The Algiers Arab Summit Conference recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. | 5 |
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| Dec. 17 |
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| Palestinian terrorists killed 31 people at the Rome airport. | 6 |
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