Major Conflicts in the Middle East

Israeli/Palestinian Conflict Origin – 1947 creation of 2 separate nations in Mandate of Palestine Israel Arab Palestinian State – Palestinians and Arab Neighbors refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist Leads to War – 1948 (War for Independence/Catastrophe) » Half of Palestinian State lost to Israel including half of Jerusalem – 1967 (Six Day War) » Pre-emptive attack by Israel » Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, West Band and East Jerusalem all taken by Isreal – 1973 (Yom Kippur War) » Attempt by Arab nations to regain land » Unsuccessful

Israeli/Palestinian Conflict Current Situation – Palestinians living in neighboring countries want self rule of original land granted Many live as refugees in occupied territory or along border in neighboring countries With groups like PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah have carried out violent movement to try to regain power through terror – Israelis see occupation as essential to protecting their state’s right to exist

Israeli/Palestinian Conflict Points of Contention – Arabs are not free to pass through Israel and Occupied Territories without passing through checkpoints (must have a pass to leave designated areas) – Israel finds it hard to take Palestinian Statehood seriously because they elected a terrorist group, Hamas, into the majority of seats in Parliament when given free elections – Hamas now controls the Gaza Strip by force, while the Fatah party controls the West Bank, makes negotiations difficult.

Iraq Conflict can be seen as being Between Iraq and US and its allies as well as an internal struggle Origins – Relationship between Iraq and US begins in 1980’s as US supplies Saddam Hussein, dictator and leader of the B’aathist party with weapons to fight Iran. US sees Iran as a threat to stability in the region after the Islamic Revolution Many Iraqi’s and Iranians die in the Iran/Iraq War – Early 1990’s Hussein decided to claim Kuwait is part of Iraq and Invades US gets involved and conducts Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait – George Bush Sr. decides not to invade Iraq and overthrow Hussein because it could lead to a huge internal conflict between 3 groups of people » Sunnis » Shiites » KurdsI – Hussein remained a thorn in the side of US and claimed to be getting his hands on WMD’s leading to the decision under George W. Bush to invade and overthrow Hussein in 2003.

Iraq Current Issues – The political instability that prevented the US from ousting Hussein in the 1990’s became a reality Sunni’s begin fighting Shiites who gain control of Country in Elections despite Sunni Majority. – Fighters are called insurgents – Eventually paid by US to stop fighting Kurds – Ethnic group in North control much of oil and have aspirations of forming their own state

Iraq Biggest Issues – What will happen when the US removes its troops – Will a Shiite Government become friendly with Iran – Will the Kurds break away to form Kurdistan

Afghanistan Origins – Originally allies to the US in Cold War – Country Successfully held off invasion by Soviets with weapons and training from US and freedom fighters known as Mujahadeen – From the Mujahadeen comes an element of Islamic Fanatics known as Taliban who institute a repressive Islamic State – Taliban also harbor Osama Bin Laden who declares war against US and his Al-Quaida network carries out 9/11/01 attack on US – US invades Afghanistan pushes Taliban out of country and Bin Laden

Afghanistan Current Issues – Bin Laden never captured – Taliban supported on Pakistani border growing strong again and mounting a come back – US forced to send more troops to prevent Taliban from reclaiming country

Afghanistan Biggest Issues – Securing Democracy and preventing Taliban takeover – Making sure terror networks can not use Afghanistan as a home base.

Iran (Conflict on the Rise) Origins – US and British Intelligence stage a coup against democratically elected leader Mossadeq and reinstitute the Shah Leads to distrust of West – 1979-Led by Ayatollah Khomeni Islamic Revolution takes place US embassy taken as hostages – Leads to further tension between nations Theocracy established in Iran

Iran (Conflict on the Rise) Current Situation – Current President Mahmoud Akmandinajad has declared Israel should be wiped from map – Current government also pursuing Nuclear Capabilities

Iran (Conflict on the Rise) Potential Issues – Sanction against Iran – Military action against Nuclear Facilities