Arab League

The Arab League or League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية), is an organization of Arab states - compare Arab world. It resembles the Organization of American States, the Council of Europe, or the former Organization for African Unity (now African Union), in that it has primarily political aims; one can regard each of these organizations as a regional version of the United Nations.

Timeline

• 1942 - The United Kingdom promotes the idea of an Arab League in an attempt to win over Arabs as allies in war against Germany.
• 1944 - Official representatives from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, North Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Transjordan (Jordan and Palestine) meet in Alexandria, Egypt, and agree to form the League of Arab States.
• 1945 - Arab states sign the Arab League Pact, formally inaugurating the League.
• 1945 - Arab league member states declare a boycott of Jewish businesses in Palestine (continued after the establishment of Israel as the Arab League boycott).
• 1946 - Arab League members sign the Cultural Treaty.
• 1947 - Arab League members declare war on Israel.
• 1950 - League members sign the Joint Defence and Economic Cooperation Treaty.
• 1953 - Members establish the Economic and Social Council; Libya joins the Arab League.
• 1956 - Sudan joins the Arab League.
• 1958 - Morocco and Tunisia join the Arab League; The United Nations recognizes the League and designates it as the UN's organisation for education, science and culture in the Arab region.
• 1961 - Kuwait joins the Arab League.
• 1962 - Algeria joins the Arab League.
• 1964 - The first summit convenes in Cairo; the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO) forms; a second league summit that autumn welcomes the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
• 1967 - South Yemen joins the Arab League.
• 1971 - Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates join the Arab League.
• 1973 - Mauritania joins the Arab League.
• 1974 - Somalia and Palestine (represented by the PLO) join the Arab League.
• 1976 - Arab League summit in Cairo authorises the formation and deployment of an Arab peacekeeping force, mainly Syrian, in Lebanon.
• 1977 - Djibouti joins the Arab League.
• 1979 - The League suspends Egypt's membership in the wake of President Anwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem and of Egypt's peace agreement with Israel; the Arab League moves its headquarters to Tunis.
• 1987 - The Arab League unanimously endorses a statement on Iraq's defense of its legitimate rights in its dispute with Iran.
• 1989 - The League re-admits Egypt as a member; the League's headquarters returns to Cairo.
• 1990 (May) - A summit meeting in Baghdad criticizes Western efforts to prevent Iraq from developing advanced weapons technology.
• 1990 (August) - At an emergency summit, 12 out of the 20 states present condemn the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; unified Yemen joins the Arab League.
• 1993 - Comoros joins the Arab League.
• 1994 - The Arab League condemns the Gulf Cooperation Council's decision to end the secondary and tertiary trade embargo against Israel, insisting that only the Council of the Arab League can make such a policy change, and member states can not act independently on such matters.
• 1996 - The Arab League Council determines that Iraq, Syria and Turkey should share the waters of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers equitably between them. (This followed complaints by Syria and Iraq that extensive construction work in southern Turkey had started to restrict their water-supply.)
• 1998 - The Arab League Secretary-General condemns the use or threat of force against Iraq; Arab League interior and justice ministers sign an agreement to strengthen cooperation against terrorism; the Arab League denounces bomb attacks against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and US missile strikes against Afghanistan and Sudan.
• 2002 - During an annual summit in Beirut in March, the Arab League proposes full normalization of relations with Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 internationally recognized borders, implying Israeli evacuation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel.
• 2002 - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi threatens to withdraw from the League, because of "Arab incapacity" in resolving the crises between the United States and Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• 2003 - The League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of US and British soldiers from Iraq. (Kuwait casts the lone dissenting vote.)