Section IV: Arab Crisis - Collapse of the Soviet Union

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

• Palestinian political and military organization founded in 1964

• represented Palestenians internationally and became central in peace talks with Israel

Six-Day War

• short war in 1967 between Israel and Arab states

• Israel gained control of major territories, increasing regional conflict

Resolution 242

• UN resolution after the Six-Day War

• called for Israeli withdrawal and peaceful coexistence; became key to future negotiations

Yom Kippur War

• Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in 1973.

• led to peace efforts and greater superpower involvement in the Middle East

Camp David Accords

• peace agreement between Egypt and Israel brokered by the U.S.

• produced the first Arab–Israeli peace treaty

Balfour Declaration

• British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine

• increased tensions between Jews and Arabs in the region

Prague Spring (1968)

• reform movement in Czechoslovakia promoting political freedom

• crushed by Soviet invasion, showing Soviet control over Eastern Europe

Ronald Reagan

• U.S. president from 1981–1989

• strengthened anti-communist policies and pressured the Soviet Union during the Cold War

Glasnost

• policy introduced by Gorbachev allowing greater openness and free speech

• exposed government problems and weakened Soviet control

Perestroika

• Gorbachev’s program to reform the Soviet economy and government

• failed to solve economic problems and contributed to the collapse of the USSR

Mikhail Gorbachev 

• Soviet leader from 1985–1991

• introduced glasnost and perestroika, helping end the Cold War and leading to the Soviet Union’s collapse