The year that was:The leaders of Israel and Egypt reached a settlement for the Middle East at Camp David in the US in September 1978.
The accord was agreed by president Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt and prime minister Menachem Begin of Israel in the presence of US president Jimmy Carter in Maryland.
The Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was signed in March 1979 with both Middle Eastern presidents praising the role of the US president in fashioning the agreement.
Begin and Sadat were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their achievement. Sadat was popular in the West for his efforts at reaching agreement with Israel but Arab states boycotted Egypt for negotiating a separate treaty with Israel.
Sadat was assassinated in October 1981 as he watched an aerial display at the anniversary of the Yom Kippur war with Israel. Following the assassination, more than 700 people were rounded up. Five people were executed and 17 were given prison sentences and hard labour.
1978 was also marked by increasingly violent protests against the Shah of Iran.
Millions of people marched against him with opposition united behind the Muslim traditionalist movement led by the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini.
Thousands of foreign diplomats and workers left Iran as the violence grew and British and US expatriates became frequent target of attacks. Martial law was declared in many cities in September. Industrial action by thousands of Iranian workers culminated in a mass strike by employees in the oil industry and this led to riots across the country in support of the Ayatollah. Oil output was reduced by 90 per cent, food rationing was imposed and strikes shut down banks, shops and airlines.
The Shah appointed a new military government in early November. But opposition had grown so much that in December his palace was forced to release a statement denying that he was leaving the country. However, he did flee from Iran in January 1979 after 37 years in power. He died of cancer in exile in Egypt the following year.
The Ayatollah Khomeini made a triumphant return in February and Iran became a strictly Islamic state.
