2. * The mandate system established after World War I was phased out after World War II by the Unites Nations. Recall that the French mandates were Syria and Lebanon. British mandates were Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine. With the end of the mandates, new states were created in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the religious differences in the various states in the Middle East created conflicts: Christian nations attempted to control Islamic peoples, and Israeli Jews fought against Palestinian Muslims.

3. * Jordan (originally Transjordan) In the 1920s, Great Britain separated the region of Transjordan from Palestine. In 1946, the region gained its independence from Great Britain. In 1950, the nation adopted the name Jordan.

4. * Palestine (a part became independent as the State of Israel) At the end of World War II, the United Nations divided Palestine in to two parts. It left one part for the Palestinian people and set aside the other part for Jews. Islamic countries voted against the plan, and the Palestinians opposed it. Many countries, seeing the suffering Jews had experienced in World War II, backed the idea of a separate Jewish state. On May 14, 1948, Jews declared the existence of the Jewish nation of Israel. The next day, six Islamic neighbor states invaded Israel. Israel won the war in a few months.

6. * In 1954, Gamal Abdul Nasser assumed the position of prime minister of Egypt following a revolution. * Two years later, he was officially elected president. Nasser announced the removal of Western European control of the Suez Canal by nationalizing it after the United States and Great Britain withdrew funding from the project. He also commissioned the building of the Aswan High Dam in order to control the Nile River. The Soviet Union offered funding for the dam, creating close relations between Egypt and the Soviets. With this funding, construction on the dam began in 1960 and it was completed in 1970.

7. * In 1967, Israel acted as the aggressor in a Six Day War against Egypt. Israel saw the Arabs as a threat and wanted to increase borders for Israeli security. By capturing the Sinai, the Golan Heights and the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Israelis had captured for themselves areas of great strategic value. * However, the West Bank also contained over 600,000 Arabs who now came under Israeli administration. Israeli domestic policies became a lot more complicated after the military successes of June 1967.

8. * In 1969, Golda Meir was elected to serve as Israeli PM. The United States had been a strong supporter of Israel from its inception. After Meir was elected, The Soviet Union sponsored Egyptian attacks on Israel, forcing the United States to increase their support for Israel. In 1973, Anwar Sadat, Egypt’s president, launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest of all Jewish holidays. Although unprepared for the attacks, Israel counterattacked and the war was over in a few weeks, with Israel regaining most of its lost territory.

9. * The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yasir Arafat, became a leading group in the struggle for Palestinian self-rule. During the 1960s and 1970s, the military arm of the PLO made many attacks on Israel. In the early 1990s, the two sides made some progress toward peace. Israel agreed to give Palestinians control of an area called the Gaza Strip and of the town of Jericho. The Israeli leader who signed this agreement, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by a Jewish extremist who opposed giving in to Palestinians. In 2003, the two sides renewed their peace efforts with a commitment to a U.S. sponsored plan known as the “road map.”

10. * In 1979, Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Egypt thus became the first Islamic country to recognize Israel. This enraged many Arabs, and Sadat was assassinated in 1981. His successor, though, kept peace with Israel.

11. * What were the results of the United Nations’ decision to end the mandate system in terms of states created (locations) and their subsequent problems?

12. * What was the role of Golda Meir and Gamal Abdul Nasser in the creation of the states in the Middle East?

15. * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle- east-20626645 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle- east-20626645 * Hamas are a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist movement that has become a focus for Arab resistance in the Israeli-occupied territories.