1. History of the Middle East

2. SS7H2a: Explain how European partitioning in the Middle East after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire led to regional conflict.

3. SS7H2b: Explain the historical reasons for establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948; include the Jewish connection to the land, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and Zionism in Europe.

4. SS7H2c: Describe how land and religion are reasons for continuing conflicts in the Middle East.

5. SS7H2d: Explain U.S. presence and interest in Southwest Asia; include the Persian Gulf Conflict and invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

6. SS7H2a:The Ottoman Empire
Was six times the size of Texas!
Included what is now Turkey, parts of southeastern Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia
The empire had already lost some of its power and land before WWI
Joined the losing side of WWI
Britain and France divided up what was left over

7. SS7H2a: The (former) Ottoman Empire
Britain
France
Palestine (Israel)
Saudi Arabia
Iraq
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria

8. SS7H2a: Uh-oh!
Britain and France drew new political borders that paid no attention local cultures and tribes (and the problems they had with each other!)
Shia and Sunni Muslims were all lumped into Iraq together where they are still fighting each other for power
The Kurds got divided between Turkey, Iraq, and Iran

9. SS7H2a: Problems New borders disrupted tribal unity
France and Britain were happy with the divisions because it protected their own oil interests
Middle Eastern countries did not want European countries in charge of them

10. SS7H2c: Conflicts in the Middle East (A TICKING TIME BOMB)
CONFLICT between different religious (Sunni vs. Shia, Jew vs. Muslim)and ethnic groups (Kurds, Arabs, Persians, Semites) forms the modern history of the Middle East

11. SS7H2c: Conflicts in the Middle East
Israel:
created in 1948
Palestine denies its right to exist
Israel was immediately attacked by Arab neighbors
Israel won the war and expanded its Jewish territory
Land in the region has been traded several times

12. SS7H2c: Conflicts in the Middle East
Israel continued:
Arab nations still do not recognize Israel as a country
Almost constant conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan but seems to always have conflict with Lebanon
Hezbollah (party of God), Islamic Shiite group that frequently attacks Israel from Lebanon

13. SS7H2c: Conflicts in the Middle East
Iran:
1979- fundamentalist Muslims took over the Iranian government
Tried to remove all influence of Western Society
Imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law on the entire population of Iran

14. SS7H2c: Conflicts in the Middle East
Iran-Iraq fought a war for eight years in the 1980s and 1990s over oil-rich territory
No clear winner but it led to Iraq invading Kuwait in 1990
This started the Persian Gulf War ( )

15. SS7H2b: The Establishment of Israel
The Jewish connection to the land:
Ancient and Biblical home of Jews
The sacred places of Judaism are there
The Wailing (Western) Wall

16. SS7H2b: The Establishment of Israel
Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire
Palestine captured by the British in 1918
Between 1919 and 1939, LOTS of Jews moved to Palestine to escape rising persecution in Europe (anti-Semitism)
After the Holocaust and WWII, the United Nations voted to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states so the Jews could have a nation, too
Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948

17. SS7H2b: Zionism
Zionism: the movement to unite displaced Jews and settle them in Palestine
Became popular in parts of Europe in the 1880s

18. SS7H2b: Zionism, a history
11th century B.C.- King Saul establishes the kingdom of Israel in the region of Palestine
586 B.C.- Jewish kingdom of Israel conquered by the Babylonians
Strong tradition that Jews would be returned to their homeland

19. SS7H2b: Zionism, a history
70 A.D.- Romans destroy Jerusalem and the Jews scatter
Other political events over the following centuries spread Jews throughout Asia, Europe, then North America
Some Jews immigrated to Palestine but were a small minority there

20. SS7H2b: Zionism Britain worked with the Zionists during WWI
Hoping to win Jewish support for the war
Hoping to gain control of Palestine
As more Jews moved to Palestine, Arabs felt threatened
Britain backed off from supporting Zionism to appease the Arabs

21. SS7H2b: Anti-Semitism Anti- “against”
Semite- the ethnic group of the Jews
WHY?
Semites are an inferior race??
The Jews killed Jesus???

22. SS7H2b: Anti-Semitism
Some European countries did not allow Jews to own property
Jews were restricted from attending college
NAZIS- Hitler and his party took power in Germany in the 1930s
Removed all protection of law for Jews

23. SS7H2b: The Holocaust
Hitler wanted to rid the world of its “Jewish problem”
Blamed Jews for Germany losing WWI
Said Jews were an inferior race
Fired Jews from government jobs
Removed Jews from public schools
Forbid Jews to own cars
Seized Jewish property
Stripped Jews of their German citizenship

24. SS7H2b: The Holocaust The Night of Broken Glass (November 9, 1938)
Nazi mobs killed dozens of Jews
Shattered windows on Jewish homes and businesses
Set fire to every synagogue in Germany
…DEATH AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS….YOU KNOW HOW THIS STORY GOES…6 MILLION JEWS KILLED…MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN…ENDED IN 1945 WITH THE CLOSE OF WWII…

25. SS7H2d: The Persian Gulf War
Iran-Iraq war had no clear winner so Iraq’s president, SADDAM HUSSEIN, decided to pick on Kuwait
Hussein said Kuwait should have been part of Iraq when France and Britain split the former Ottoman Empire (YES, that AGAIN!)

26. SS7H2d: The Persian Gulf War
Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990
Kuwait is a member of the United Nations
UN allies come to help Kuwait in “Operation Desert Storm”
The war lasted only six weeks
Lots of environmental damage done by setting oil wells on fire
Iraq hints that it has WMDs

27. SS7H2d: The Persian Gulf War
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Iraq was ordered to destroy all chemical and biological weapons and stop making nuclear weapons
UN inspectors entered Iraq in 1991 and destroyed these weapons until 1998
Many believed about 85 percent had been destroyed
Others believed Hussein had hidden reserves of these weapons and secret production facilities

28. SS7H2d: Invasion of Afghanistan
Meanwhile in Afghanistan…
In the 1990s, the extreme religious group called the Taliban was rising in power in Afghanistan
The anti-American Taliban was thought to be sheltering the terrorist group Al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden

29. SS7H2d: Invasion of Afghanistan
The US identified OSAMA BIN LADEN as the person responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
In November 2001, the US invades Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden and disarm the Taliban

30. SS7H2d: Osama bin Laden and the Invasion of Afghanistan
The Taliban was defeated and a new government was established
The Taliban rebuilt its forces in Pakistan and launched new attacks on Afghanistan using suicide bombers, roadside bombs, and attacks on US/international military posts
Osama bin laden was located in Pakistan and killed by the US military on May 2, 2011

31. SS7H2d: Back in Iraq
After UN inspectors leave Iraq in 1998, some people still worried that Iraq had WMDs
Saddam Hussein refused many requests from inspectors
2003, military forces from US, Britain, and others invade Iraq
The government quickly fell and the military campaign was over in less than two months

32. SS7H2d: Back in Iraq
Hussein was captured, tried, and sentenced to death
Putting the country back together has been difficult
A governing council was created while a constitution was written
A guerilla fighting force attacked the occupying US forces
These attacks are still ongoing while Iraqis try to establish and maintain their new democratic government