Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns and flees Cairo on February 11, 2011, after widespread protests calling for his departure, leaving control of Egypt in the hands of the military until a general election can be held.
Jubilant celebrations break out in Cairo's Tahrir Square at the news.
Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas begin a major prisoner exchange on October 18, 2011, in which the captured Israeli Army soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas in exchange for one thousand and twenty-seven Palestinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners held in Israel, including two hundred and eighty prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks.