Middle East

The Middle East  Birthplace of Civilization (first cities years ago)  “Holy land” place of 3 great religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)  Oil  War/Conflict/terrorism

Sadaam Hussein WMDs Taliban Al Qaeda

The Middle East today

MIDDLE EAST Name _____________

Cities to know  Mecca, Saudi Arabia  Jerusalem, Israel  Baghdad, Iraq  Beirut, Lebanon  Damascus, Syria  Istanbul, Turkey  Amman, Jordan  Dubai, United Arab Emirates  Tehran, Iran  Kabul, Afghanistan  Islamabad, Pakistan

Religion/ what you call their followers  Judaism  Christianity  Islam  Jews  Christians  Muslims

JUDAISM Hebrews/Jews/Israelites  Torah (Old Testament)  Adam and Eve  Noah’s Ark  Abraham  Promised Land  Moses  Red Sea  10 Commandments  David and Goliath  Synagogue  Sabbath  Rabbi  Torah  Kosher  Hanukah  Passover

The 10 Commandments

Monotheism: belief in 1 God  Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in 1 invisible God that you are not suppose to make graven images (statues) of

Polytheism: belief in many Gods

The most famous Jewish woman in history

Christianity  Based on the teaching of a Jew named Jesus  Claimed to be son of God  Taught for 3 years until the Jewish religious teachers gave him over to the Romans to be crucified for claiming to be the son of God  Christians believe that Jesus came back to life and then was taken up into heaven (Easter)  Christmas (birth of Christ)  Catholic/Protestant/Orthodox 

Islam: Muslims MuhammadArabiaMedinaMeccaKa’abaMosqueQur’anSunni/Shiite The 5 Pillars *Faith*Prayer *Alms (charity) *Fasting (Ramadan) *Hajj (pilgrimage) Jihad “duty”

Syria  King Assad

SAUDI ARABIA

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Burg Khalifa -tallest Building in the world

Israeli/Palestinian conflict

The basic story  Jews believe God promised the land to Abraham the first “JEW”  Jews lived there for over 1,000 years (Bible times)  Romans beat the Jews up and most Jews left Israel (The Diaspora)  While Jews were gone Islam became the religion of Palestine. Muslims lived there for over 1700 years  around 1900 Jews started moving back to Palestine (Zionism)  In 1947 a full-scale war broke out between the Jews and Palestinians  The U.N. stepped in to mediate peace and cut the land into into Jewish and Palestinian pieces  Arab nations hated that the UN gave Israel more land so they attacked Israel. Amazingly Israel won the war and took even more land  Palestinians say that the Jews “stole” their country  Israel receives billions in military aid from the U.S. and frequently “protects” itself by bombing suspected terrorists in the Palestinian controlled areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip  Palestinians can’t afford tanks and airplanes so they commit terrorist s acts – like suicide bombs dddd

 Why do many Jews and Christians believe that the land belongs to Israel?  Why would many in the world say that it belongs to the Palestinians?  Why do you think Israel spends so much on their military?  Why do you think the US gives so much aid to Israel?  What solutions do you think smart people have proposed?  Why might they not work?

Suicide bombers

Al Qaeda: terrorist network that has people around the world planning terrorist attacks. Osama Bin Laden was the leader of this network

Afghanistan – Taliban

Camp X-Ray: (Gitmo) Guantanamo Bay, Cuba the place where the U.S. has jailed hundreds of suspected terrorists and Al Qaeda members

IRAQ

Diaspora

Why is the U.S. at War in Iraq?  In 1991 Sadaam Hussein invaded Kuwait and a coalition of nations defeated him and forced him to disarm (give up his weapons)  Sadaam Hussein did not disarm  He lsater used poison gas on his own people  There were suspicions that he was trying to make WMDs (weapons of mass destruction, ie. nukes, dirty bombs, poison gas, biological weapons)  After defeating the Taliban of Afghanistan as a response to the attacks on September 11 th Bush started saying that Saddam Hussein was linked to Al Qaeda  Most in the world did not believe they were linked  Bush then began saying that Iraq had not disarmed and he was trying to get a nuclear bomb  Bush reasoned that he needed to strike 1 st and get rid of the sadaam Hussein threat (preemptive strike) before he developed WMDs  The U.N. said don’t go to war – The U.S. and Britain and some other smaller nations went ahead and invaded  Baghdad was taken within a month  Hussein was captured, put on trial and executed by the Iraqi people  Because the U.S. got rid of the controlling dictator – Iraq is now in chaos

IRAN (Persia)

Why is there so much anti-West anti-Americanism around the world?

 Many believe that Europeans and Americans have been dominating the rest of the world for centuries  Because George Bush went against the United nations and attacked Iraq  The way that American companies attempt to get American products into countries and drive local companies out of business  Muslims say the west started this “holy war” when they first attacked the Muslims in the 1100s  When oil was discovered in the Middle east in the late 1800s many said that western governments have been using Middle eastern countries against each other to gain access to oil  For the past 50 years the United States has been using its power and influence to manipulate or buy off leaders around the world to aid American interests  The U.S. is the # 1 supporter of Israel (billions in aid and weapons) who many Muslims believe stole Palestine from the Palestinians  Many people in the Middle East believe that the US did 9/11 to themselves as a pretext to get at Iraqi oil and set up permanent US military bases in the Middle East  Many radical Muslims view the world as a continuing battle between Allah/Islam and Satan/western religion-secular culture  Many believe that secular (non-religious) western culture and western material goods are pulling the young away from Islam 