The Grand Mosque seizure[7] occurred during November and December 1979 when insurgents calling for the overthrow of the House of Saud took over Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The insurgents declared that the Mahdi (the "redeemer of Islam") had arrived in the form of one of their leaders - Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani - and called on Muslims to obey him. For nearly two weeks Saudi Special Forces, assisted by Pakistani and French commandos,[8] fought battles to reclaim the compound.[9]

I really need to get back to the Curtis book about the UK and radical Islam but I fear I'll have to clean up my desk for this. I'm sure I left it somewhere around here.

Makkah Siege of 1979 - Turning Point in Saudi Arabia

Pleasantly surprised by a four parts documentary on the history of the Middle East on Dutch television. Instead of the usual political propaganda, some excellent Arabists to narrate the story of Abdul Nasser from the Suez Crisis of 1956 - the War with Israel in 1967 up to the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979).

During the secular leadership of Nasser in Egypt during the 1950s, his effort to create equality for the masses through a Arab socialism with land reform got him much praise. Nasser gave people hope of independence from foreign influence. President Dwight Eisenhower played an important role during the Suez Crisis to make clear to the British and French that the era of their empires ended after World War II.

○ Suez Canal Crisis documentary

Look for some films about Nasser who fought for a secular state of Egypt. The fundametalists attempted a number of assassinations. The wel educated Egyptians from the MB were thrown out and the Arab tribes in de desert welcomed these groups. Until an alien form of Jihad brought domestic terror to the peninsula ...

From another diary ...

Developments Arab Spring Egypt's Revolt Explained (Aug. 18, 2013)

CIA boosted MB in Egypt during the cold war years to break the influence of the Soviet Union. The MB were suppressed under Nasser (video) and left Egypt for Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Only in Qatar is the MB still welcome, the MB is outlawed in UAE and similarly in Saudi Arabia. The MB turned out to be a subversive militant organisation. Saudi Arabia, the guardian of the three sanctuaries of Islamic faith, is based on the pure Islamic belief of Wahhabism. Apparently Safalism is tolerated and funded/supported to spread the Islamic faith through mosques across the globe. The foreign preachers in Saudi funded Western mosques are homophobic, anti-Israel and against western culture. It's the source for Muslim youth traveling to Chechnya, Yemen and Pakistan for jihad.