1. Why is the U.S. interested in the Middle East? 1- Regional stability 2- Maintaining Israel 3- Access to oil 4- Preventing Weapons of Mass Destruction 5- Human rights

2. Ottoman Empire  The Ottoman Empire controlled much of the Middle East from the 1300s until the end of World War I.  The Ottoman Empire weakened because it tried to rule a huge empire with leaders who could not hold the territory.  During World War I, the Ottoman Empire was overthrown and new boundaries were created by European politicians.

3. Ottoman Empire  This created a problem as they paid little attention to the ethnic and religious groups that were present when creating new boundaries. As a result, there has been a lot of conflict.

5. Palestine  One of the areas created from the Old Ottoman Empire was Palestine.  This area is important to Jews, Christians, and Muslims because of religious aspects.  Jerusalem, is sacred to all three religions. Jewish descendants lived in this area long ago. However, with the industrial revolution occurring, many left and Palestinian Arabs took control.

6. Palestine

7. Israel  Jews were now suffering from the Holocaust and wanted to return to Palestine with a sense of Zionism (the movement to unite displaced Jews and settle them in Palestine).  As they began to return to Palestine, anti-Semitism (hatred towards Jews) began to occur.  The United Nations had to create a homeland for the Jews. The state of Israel was created for them under much ridicule from Palestinian Arabs.

8. #6 After the Ottoman Empire fell, European politicians didn’t pay attention to ethnic or religious groups when drawing new boundaries.

9. Flag of Israel (Star of David)

10. Arab-Israeli Wars  In May of 1948, the Arab-Israeli wars began to break out between Jews and Palestinian Arabs in Israel.  Surrounding Arab countries helped the Palestinians, but the Israelis won and took over even more land..  Today, conflict still exists. Many Arab countries are still in support of Palestinians.  The U.S. is in support of Israel. Two places that continue to have much blood shed is the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

11. Arab-Israeli Wars  The Israelis won the first of these wars and created 700,000 Arab refugees.  1964—Some Arab Palestinians formed the (PLO) Palestine Liberation Organization that refused to recognize Jewish Israel’s right to exist.  The PLO was led by Yassar Arafat.  The 1950 Law of Return states that Jews anywhere in the world can immigrate to Israel and become citizens.  Today, Israel is the only Jewish country in the world.  This war lasted from 1947 – 1973.

12. Arab-Israeli War

13. Yassar Arafat

14. Persian Gulf War  The U.S. has had significant political and economic interests in the Middle East, since the 1800s. Oil has been a leading indicator of the U.S. interest in the Middle East. In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait in an effort to control Kuwait’s supplies of oil and to control the coastline for trade.  The United Nations enforced a trade embargo on Iraq stopping goods from being imported and oil from being exported.  The U.S. responded on Kuwait’s behalf in “Operation Desert Storm,” or the Persian Gulf War.

15. Persian Gulf War  By February 1991, the U.S. and 29 other countries defeated Iraq.  The trade embargo remained in place even after fighting had ceased and Saddam Hussein remained in power.

16. Persian Gulf War

17. Iran-Iraq War  Iran-Iraq War – Lasted from 1980-1988.  Neighboring countries disputed who owned territory called Shatt al Arab.  In 1980, Iraq, led by its ruler Saddam Hussein, invaded Iran.  Neither side could gain a clear victory and the war was devastating to both countries.  1988—The United Nations created a cease-fire agreement and both countries agreed to end their fighting. OIL!

18. Iran-Iraq War

19. War with Afghanistan  When the United States was attacked by terrorists in 2001, its government found Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda, responsible. Believing bin Laden lived in Afghanistan, the United States, Britain, and other nations invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban. The Taliban had been Afghanistan's dictatorship government.

20. Taliban

21. Invasion of Iraq  Operation Iraqi Freedom was an invasion of Iraq. Its purpose was to free the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship government and to stop Iraq from producing weapons of mass destruction and aiding terrorists. The United States, Britain, and other countries invaded Iraq in 2003 and removed Saddam Hussein from power.

22. Iraq War