Middle East

1. Middle East Global Studies Mr. Groce

2. The Land • Originally, the Middle East was covered with dense tropical forests and swamps. • This vegetation rotted, which resulted in rich oil fields. • The river valleys formed the “cradles of civilizations” due to their fertile land. • The Fertile Crescent • Nile

3. Deserts • The shifting winds in the M.E. create large deserts. • The Empty Quarter • Negev • The Bedouins, a nomadic people, move to where water is available (not aimlessly). • More recently they are settling.

5. Cities • Where water was available, cities grew. • Baghdad • Cairo • Istanbul • At the heart of cities is its sūq. • Many of the cities have been centers of trade for thousands of years. • Where freshwater is not available, some countries have created it through the process of desalination or building dams.

6. Availability of Freshwater

7. Desalination

8. The People • More than half the people of the M.E. are Arabs. • Several countries comprise of many peoples • Iraq: Arabs, Kurds • Turkey: Turks, Armenian, Arabs • Israel: Israeli (Jewish), Palestinian (Arab Muslims)

9. Questions? In groups of 3, discuss your questions that you wrote. OR Review what is CLEAR and UNCLEAR regarding the preceding slides.

10. 3 Major Religions of the M.E.

11. 3 Major Religions of the M.E.

12. Five Pillars of Faith • Confession that there is not other god but God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God • Pray five times a day facing Mecca. • Give money to charity each year. • Once a year, during Ramadān, Muslims must fast every day from dawn to dusk. • Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Pilgrims pray towards the Kaaba (Kabah), a large cubicle in the center of the Sacred Mosque.

14. Questions? In groups of 3, discuss your questions that you wrote. OR Review what is CLEAR and UNCLEAR regarding the preceding slides.

15. Persian Gulf History • European nations were establishing commercial bases in the Middle East during the 1500s. • By the 1800s, Britain emerged as the dominant power in the region. • Now linked with India and Middle East trading is made simple. =$ • Made treaties with the Gulf States, which generally favored Britain.

16. Other nations would become interested with the East and Britain would make treaties that created a bond with Britain. • Oil was found in the early 1900s, which gave the Middle East a new importance. • Iran became nationalistic and tried to turn anti-western. • Western nations boycotted Iranian oil and within two years the economy collapsed. • The British company was restored.

17. Arab – Israeli Relations • At the core was disagreement over who owns the land of Israel, once called Palestine. • Jews from Europe began to immigrate into Palestine and by the 1930s about 1/3 of the population of Palestine was Jewish. • During WWII, a large number of Jews fled to Palestine to escape Nazi persecution. • The Arabs and Jews did not get along for that reason.

18. Riots broke out. • In 1947, the United Nations, voted to partition Palestine into two states—one Arab and one Jewish. • Arabs refused to accept the partition, and in 1948 the forces of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Trans-Jordan, and Iraq invaded Israel, where the Israeli army defeated them. • Since Israel won and occupied Arab territory, about ¾ million Palestinian Arabs fled to neighboring countries. • 1967, the Six-Day War occurred.

19. 1977, Israel and Egypt tried to create peace—Camp David Accords. • Many nations felt that Egypt let down the Arabs. • Three major issues were not resolved: 1. Control of East Jerusalem 2. Fate of the 1.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip 3. Control of the Golan Heights • Intifada—1987, Palestinian uprising led by Yasir Arafat. Many Arabs went into Israel to riot. • Even today, they are still fighting over the land in issue. Palestinians are sending suicide bombers into Israel.

21. War in the Gulf • Khomeini, a Shiite Muslim, came into power in Iran and appealed to the Muslim leaders in Iraq to try and spread an Islamic revolution in Iraq, since Iraq had a non-religious government. • Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. This was a bloody and costly war until it ended with a United Nations-sponsored cease-fire.

22. Saddam HusseinAyatollah Khomeini

23. USSR supported Iran; U.S. supported Iraq. • Iraq emerged with a strong military, but a poor economy. • Hussein invaded Kuwait to try and take the oil rich country to build up the economy. He said Kuwait unfairly drilled Iraqi oil. • The United Nations called for Iraq to withdraw. Iraq refused, so troops from the U.S. and 35 other countries launched Desert Storm.

25. Hussein responded by launching missiles at Israel hoping Israel would get in the fight and would lead Arab nations to support the fight against Israel. • His plan failed, and Iraq was driven out of Kuwait—but not until Iraqi troops destroyed buildings and set Kuwaiti oil wells on fire.

26. Questions? In groups of 3, discuss your questions that you wrote. OR Review what is CLEAR and UNCLEAR regarding the preceding slides.

28. 21st Century Middle East • Saddam Hussein repeatedly defied the United Nations by not complying with inspections of weapons. • 1998, President Clinton ordered air strikes against Iraq for not following U.N. rules. Heavy as they are, the costs of action must be weighed against the price of inaction. If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will strike again at his neighbors. He will make war on his own people. And mark my words, he will develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them. Because we're acting today, it is less likely that we will face these dangers in the future. • President Bill Clinton, Dec. 16, 1998 (transcript)

29. 21st Century Middle East • Osama bin Laden financed and supported attacks on the U.S. • 1993 World Trade Center bombing • 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings killing hundreds • 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen • 2001 World Trade Center attack (9/11) • The United States responded by attacking the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. • Taliban was crippled, but is not gone.

30. Iraq War • Using international intelligence, the U.S. made the case for liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein, citing his development of WMDs and the defiance of the U.N. • Congress approved the actions, and Iraq was disabled with the help of 56 other nations. • Saddam Hussein was captured, tried for war crimes, and hung. • The war crimes included: using chemical weapons on Iranians and Kurds, including women and children.

31. Iraq War • International intelligence was flawed and inspections could not locate WMDs. • Some say weapons could have been moved to Syria before the search was done. • With the help of the U.S., Iraqis finally were able to vote for a constitution and a president. • 65% Shiite (Shi'a), 32% Sunni • The elected President is a Shiite, while Saddam was a Sunni. • A dictatorship was changed to a democracy.

32. Questions? In groups of 3, discuss your questions that you wrote. OR Review what is CLEAR and UNCLEAR regarding the preceding slides.

33. Sectarian Violence • Shiite and Sunni Muslims are fighting over control of Iraq. • Shiites have a strong hold on the government, while Sunni’s did under Saddam. • Some believe the solution is to attack neighborhoods and civilians.

34. Islamic Division y

35. Iran • Currently, Iran is pursuing programs to enrich uranium for nuclear capabilities. • The United Nations has announced that Iran needs to stop! • Iran has defied the U.N. and said “NO!” • Sanctions have been placed on Iran. • Iran may view this as an act of aggression. • Iran captured British naval soldiers that were claimed to be in Iranian waters and held them hostage. • They were released after a few weeks. • What is next? • What actions are on the table?

36. Questions? In groups of 3, discuss your questions that you wrote. OR Review what is CLEAR and UNCLEAR regarding the preceding slides.

37. Iraqi Freedom American History: Operation Iraqi Freedom