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Middle East Historical Documents: The Texts That Shaped the Modern Region

A guide to the agreements, declarations and resolutions that are cited again and again in the region's conflicts.

By Middle East Window Staff · · Updated

Many of the Middle East's disputes are, at root, arguments about documents: what they promised, what they meant and whether they still apply. This guide summarises the most important ones.

The First World War and its settlement

  • The Hussein–McMahon correspondence (1915–16). Letters in which Britain's high commissioner in Egypt promised Sharif Hussein of Mecca support for Arab independence in exchange for a revolt against the Ottomans. The territorial scope, especially regarding Palestine, has been disputed ever since.
  • The Sykes–Picot Agreement (1916). A secret Anglo-French plan to divide the Ottoman Arab provinces into spheres of influence. It has become shorthand for colonial border-drawing in the region.
  • The Balfour Declaration (1917). A British letter declaring support for "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, with the proviso that nothing should prejudice the rights of existing non-Jewish communities.
  • The League of Nations Mandates (1920–22). Formalised British rule in Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq, and French rule in Syria and Lebanon.

Partition and war

  • UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947). Recommended partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under international administration.
  • UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (1948). Stated that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace should be permitted to do so, or receive compensation.
  • UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967). After the Six-Day War, called for Israeli withdrawal "from territories occupied" and for the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries. It became the basis of later peace efforts.
  • UN Security Council Resolution 338 (1973). Called for a ceasefire in the October War and negotiations based on Resolution 242.

Peace agreements

  • The Camp David Accords (1978) and the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty (1979).
  • The Oslo Accords (1993 and 1995). Mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO and the creation of the Palestinian Authority, with final-status issues deferred.
  • The Israel–Jordan Peace Treaty (1994).
  • The Abraham Accords (2020). Normalisation agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

Other key texts

  • The Taif Agreement (1989), which ended Lebanon's civil war and rebalanced its sectarian power-sharing.
  • The Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (2015), which limited Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. The United States withdrew from it in 2018.