Balfour, Arthur James, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848-1930) ------------------------------------------------------ British Conservative politician, prime minister 1902-05 and foreign secretary 1916-19, when he issued the Balfour Declaration 1917 and was involved in peace negotiations after World War I, signing the Treaty of Versailles. Son of a Scottish landowner, Balfour was elected a Conservative member of Parliament 1874. In Lord Salisbury’s ministry he was secretary for Ireland 1887, and for his ruthless vigour was called ‘Bloody Balfour’ by Irish nationalists. In 1891 and again in 1895 he became First Lord of the Treasury and leader of the Commons, and in 1902 he succeeded Salisbury as prime minister. His cabinet was divided over Joseph Chamberlain’s tariff-reform proposals, and in the 1905 elections suffered a crushing defeat. Balfour retired from the party leadership 1911. In 1915 he joined the Asquith coalition as First Lord of the Admiralty. As foreign secretary 1916-19 he issued the Balfour Declaration in favour of a national home in Palestine for the Jews. He was Lord President of the Council 1919-22 and 1925-29. Created 1st Earl of Balfour 1922. He also wrote books on philosophy.
Balfour Declaration ------------------- Letter, dated 2 Nov 1917, from British foreign secretary A J Balfour to Lord Rothschild (chair, British Zionist Federation) stating: ‘HM government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.’ It helped form the basis for the foundation of Israel 1948.
Abdel Nasser, Gamal (1918-1970) ------------------------------- Egyptian politician, prime minister 1954-56 and from 1956 president of Egypt (the United Arab Republic 1958-71). His nationalization of the Suez Canal 1956 led to an Anglo-French invasion and the Suez Crisis, and his ambitions for an Egyptian-led union of Arab states led to disquiet in the Middle East (and in the West). Nasser was also an early and influential leader of the nonaligned movement. Nasser entered the army from Cairo Military Academy, and was wounded in the Palestine War of 1948-49.
Sadat, Anwar (1918-1981) ------------------------ Egyptian politician. Succeeding Nasser as president 1970, he restored morale by his handling of the Egyptian campaign in the 1973 war against Israel. In 1974 his plan for economic, social, and political reform to transform Egypt was unanimously adopted in a referendum. In 1977 he visited Israel to reconcile the two countries, and shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin 1978. He was assassinated by Islamic group.
Camp David Agreements --------------------- Two framework accords agreed 1978 and officially signed March 1979 by Israeli prime minister Begin and Egyptian president Sadat at Camp David, Maryland, USA, under the guidance of US president Carter. They cover an Egypt-Israel peace treaty and phased withdrawal of Israel from Sinai, which was completed 1982, and an overall Middle East settlement including the election by the West Bank and Gaza Strip Palestinians of a ‘self-governing authority’. The latter issue has stalled repeatedly over questions of who should represent the Palestinians and what form the self-governing body should take.
Mubarak, Hosni (1928-) ---------------------- Egyptian politician, president from 1981. Vice president to Anwar Sadat from 1975, Mubarak succeeded him on his assassination. He has continued to pursue Sadat's moderate policies, and has significantly increased the freedom of the press and of political association, while trying to repress the growing Islamic movement. He was re-elected 1987 and 1993. He survived an assassination attempt 1995. Mubarak commanded the air force 1972–75 and was responsible for the initial victories in the Egyptian campaign of 1973 against Israel. He led Egypt's opposition to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and played an instrumental role in arranging the Middle East peace conference Nov 1991.
Carter, Jimmy (James Earl) (1924-) ---------------------------------- 39th president of the USA 1977-81, a Democrat. In 1976 he narrowly wrested the presidency from Gerald Ford. Features of his presidency were the return of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama, the Camp David Agreements for peace in the Middle East, and the Iranian seizure of US embassy hostages. He was defeated by Ronald Reagan 1980. During the 1990s he emerged as a leading mediator and peace negotiator, securing President Aristide's safe return to Haiti Oct 1994. Born in Plains, Georgia, Carter served in the navy as a physicist until 1953, when he took over the family peanut business. He first entered politics 1962 when he made a successful bid for the Georgia State Senate, and in 1970 was elected governor. In 1976, after a long and hard-fought campaign, he won the Democratic presidential nomination and went on to secure a narrow victory over Gerald Ford, becoming the first Southern president since the American Civil War.
Clinton, Bill (William Jefferson) (1946-) ----------------------------------------- 42nd president of the USA from 1993, a Democrat. He served as governor of Arkansas 1979-81 and 1983-93, establishing a liberal and progressive reputation. As president, he sought to implement a New Democrat programme, combining social reform with economic conservatism as a means of bringing the country out of recession. He was initially successful in introducing legislation to reduce the federal deficit and cut crime, but the loss of both houses of Congress to the Republicans in the 1994 midterm elections presented a serious obstacle to further social reform. Born in the railway town of Hope, Arkansas, Clinton graduated from Georgetown University 1968, won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University 1968-70, and graduated from Yale University Law School 1973. He was elected attorney general for Arkansas in 1975. With running mate Al Gore, he won the 1992 presidential campaign by focusing on domestic issues and the ailing economy. He became the first Democrat in the White House for 13 years. During his first year in office Clinton secured passage of an ambitious deficit reduction plan, combining spending cuts with tax increases targeted against the rich , and won Congressional approval of the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and wide-ranging anti crime bills. His alleged involvement in irregular financial dealings in the 1980s (the Whitewater affair) thereafter clouded his presidency and in the autumn of 1994 his much-championed health-care reform proposals were blocked by Congress. A subsequent diplomatic success in Haiti and the return of its democratically elected president Aristide failed to prevent a devastating defeat for his party in the Nov 1994 midterm elections.
Kissinger, Henry (1923- ) ------------------------- US secretary of state (1973-6) and academic. His family emigrated to the USA in 1938 , Jew . He studied at Harvard, and after war service worked for a number of public agencies before joining the Harvard faculty (1962-71). He became President Nixon's adviser on national security affairs in 1969, was the main American figure in the negotiations to end the Vietnam War (for which he shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize), and as secretary of state served under Nixon and Ford. His 'shuttle diplomacy' was aimed at bringing about peace between Israel and the Arab states, and resulted in a notable improvement in Israeli-Egyptian relations. After leaving public office (1977), he became professor of diplomacy at Georgetown, and established Kissinger Associates, a consulting firm. His book Diplomacy was published in 1994.
Albright, Madeleine ------------------- Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on 5/15/1937, Jew , became the first woman Secretary of State. A good negotiator , works as U.S. representative to the U.N. and later as secretary of state on Bill Clinton adminstration .
Arab League ----------- A League of Arab States, founded in 1945, with the aim of encouraging Arab unity. The League's headquarters was established in Egypt, but moved to Tunis after the signing of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979. It returned to Cairo in 1990. In 1994 the Arab League had 22 member states, including Palestine, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) ----------------------------------------------- United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), agency of the United Nations, established by the General Assembly in December 1949 to provide relief and welfare services to refugees from Palestine and their descendants, living both in and out of refugee camps. The refugees, who lost their homes and their livelihoods as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, constitute a continuing problem between Israel and the Arab nations. At present more than 2.6 million Palestinian refugees are registered with the agency. Only a small number of them receive direct aid, such as the distribution of food. UNRWA's main functions in the 1980s and 1990s have been to provide health care at the clinics and health centers run by the agency and educational services at UNRWA schools. The agency is under the direction of a commissioner general and a 10-member-nation advisory commission. It maintains headquarters in Vienna and Amman, Jordan.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights ------------------------------------- Resolution adopted unanimously in December 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. The objective of the 30-article declaration is to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The declaration proclaims the personal, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of humans, which are limited only by recognition for the rights and freedoms of others and the requirements of morality, public order, and general welfare. Among the rights cited by the declaration are the rights to life, liberty, and security of person; to freedom from arbitrary arrest; to a fair trial; to be presumed innocent until proved guilty; to freedom from interference with the privacy of one's home and correspondence; to freedom of movement and residence; to asylum, nationality, and ownership of property; to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion, and expression; to association, peaceful assembly, and participation in government; to social security, The General Assembly in 1955 authorized two human rights covenants, one relating to civil and political rights, and the other to economic, social, and cultural rights. After a long struggle for ratification, both of these covenants became effective in January 1976.
NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS ------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Year NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS - Peace ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1901 Jean Henri Dunant Frederic Passy 1902 Elie Ducommun Charles Albert Gobat 1903 Sir William R. Cremer 1904 Institute of International Law 1905 Baroness Bertha von Suttner 1906 Theodore Roosevelt 1907 Ernesto T. Moneta Louis Renault 1908 Klas P Arnoldson Fredrik Bajer 1909 Auguste Beernaert Paul d'Estournelles de Constant 1910 International Peace Bureau 1911 Tobias M. C. Asser A. H. Fried 1912 Elihu Root 1913 Henri La Fontaine 1914 - 1915 - 1916 - 1917 International Red Cross Committee 1918 - 1919 Woodrow Wilson 1920 Leon Bourgeois 1921 Karl Hjalmar Branting Christian L. Lange 1922 Fridtjof Nansen 1923 - 1924 - 1925 Sir Austen Chamberlain Charles G. Dawes 1926 Aristide Briand Gustav Stresemann 1927 F. E. Buisson Ludwig Quidde 1928 - 1929 Frank B. Kellogg 1930 Nathan Soderblom 1931 Jane Addams Nicholas Murray Butler 1932 - 1933 Sir Norman Angell 1934 Arthur Henderson 1935 Carl von Ossietzky 1936 Carlos Saavedra Lamas 1937 E. A. R. Cecil, Viscount Cecil 1938 Nansen International Office for Refugees 1939 - 1940 - 1941 - 1942 - 1943 - 1944 International Red Cross Committee 1945 Cordell Hull 1946 J. R. Mott Emily G. Balch 1947 American Friends Service Committee Friends Service Council 1948 - 1949 John Boyd Orr , Baron Orr 1950 Ralph J. Bunche 1951 Leon Jouhaux 1952 Albert Schweitzer 1953 George C. Marshall 1954 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 1955 - 1956 - 1957 Lester B. Pearson 1958 Georges Henri Pire 1959 Philip J. NoelBaker 1960 Albert J. Luthuli 1961 Dag Hammarskjold 1962 Linus C. Pauling 1963 Inter. Red Cross Committee League of Red Cross Societies 1964 Martin Luther King , Jr. 1965 United Nations Children's Fund 1966 - 1967 - 1968 Rene Cassin 1969 International Labor Organization 1970 Norman E. Borlaug 1971 Willy Brandt 1972 - 1973 Henry A. Kissinger , Le Duc Tho 1974 Sean MacBride , Sato Eisaku 1975 Andrei D. Sakharov 1976 Mairead Corrigan , Betty Williams 1977 Amnesty International 1978 Menachem Begin , Anwar al-Sadat 1979 Mother Teresa 1980 Adolfo Perez Esquivel 1981 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 1982 Alfonso Garcia Robles , Alva Myrdal 1983 Lech Walesa 1984 Desmond Tutu 1985 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War 1986 Elie Wiesel 1987 Oscar Arias Sanchez 1988 United Nations Peac-keeping Forces 1989 Dalai Lama 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev 1991 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi 1992 Rigoberta Menchu 1993 Nelson Mandela , F. W. de Klerk 1994 Yitzhak Rabin , Yasser Arafat , Shimon Peres 1995 Joseph Rotblat Pugwash , Conf. on Science & World Affairs