Conflicts in the Middle East Ch 20 Sec. 3

Arab-Israeli Conflict 1948 Israel born out of British mandate of Palestine, Palestinian Arabs claimed as their own –Initial war in 1948 followed by three more wars with Arab neighbors in 56, 67, and 73 In between, guerilla and terrorist attacks on Israel In each war Israel was able to occupy more territory

PLO Palestine Liberation Organization –Organization leading the Palestinian fight against Israel (1960s) –Headed by Yasir Arafat until his death in 2004 –Palestinian revolts in occupied territories called intfadas –Terroristic attacks (hijack airplanes, killing of Israeli athletes at 72 Olympics Israel has responded with a strong armed forces, which in turn increases bitterness from Palestinians and other Arabs

Attempts of Peace U.S. and U.N. have had periods of progress in pushing for peace –Golda Meir, first female prime minister of Israel, trying to negotiate peace when Arab nations attacked in 1973 –Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in a 1979 peace accord –1990s Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin pushes for peace and signs the Oslo Accord with Arafat in 93

Attempts at Peace Oslo Accord - outlined a plan proposing Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and the West Bank in exchange for an end of terrorism –Rabin assassinated for his actions –Little progress in years following the Oslo accord Led to the development of radical Palestinian groups who have increased terrorist attacks like the Hamas Hopes for peace in the Israeli region center on ending the cycle of violence and retaliation

“Road Map to Peace” U.S. devised plan involving potential withdrawal of Israelis from Gaza –After the death of Yasir Arafat, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners after new pledges of an end of attacks by successor Mahmoud Abbas

Three Obstacles to Peace Original Palestinian land Israeli settlements in occupied territories Jerusalem - city sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, capital of Israel

Lebanon Arab-Israeli conflict spilled over into the neighboring nation of Lebanon in the 70s –Arab Christians were the largest and most powerful group of Lebanon when attaining independence –After Palestinians fled into Lebanon from regions that became Israel, the Muslims outnumbered Christians and demanded a greater share of power

Civil War civil war destroyed Lebanon and the commerce center that it had become. –This allowed Israeli invasion in the South and Syrian occupation in the East Source of conflict still today between Syria and Israel

Iraq Long history of internal and external conflicts due to oil wealth and ethnic diversity –Cold War tug-of-war After WW II - set up a monarchy with U.S. support monarchy overthrown, developed closer ties with USSR

Iraq Cultural diversity –Sunni Arabs - minority group, yet dominated the political power of Iraq until the country’s free elections in 2005 Have developed some insurgent groups over bitterness –Shiites - majority group who won control of interim govt. for first time in 2005 Shiite extremists are Anti-U.S.

Kurds 1970s effort to control region of northern Iraq –Iraq’s government has responded brutally to this groups efforts –Saddam Hussein seized power in Iraq in 1979 and used chemical weapons killing thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq

Saddam Hussein seized power and ruled as a dictator until his regime was overthrown by Coalition forces in 2003 –Took advantage of political turmoil in Iran after that nations Islamic Revolution, seizing disputed border regions between Iraq and Iran –Won U.S. support during their prolonged war with Iran, mainly because of Iran’s bitter opposition to the U.S.

Hussein Iraq’s invasion of the oil-rich nation of Kuwait motivated the U.S. to lead coalition forces in a counterattack in 1991 –Under the UN banner, the U.S. led forces quickly liberated Kuwait from Iraqi forces in the 1991 Gulf War Hussein maintained power and uses torture, terror and execution to control crush revolts from Shiites and Kurds

Hussein U.S. Britain and France –Impose sanctions to control No-fly zones Economic sanctions on oil production UN inspections on Weapons of Mass Destruction Iraq fails to cooperate and coalition force charges Hussein with supporting terrorists and and producing WMDs

Iraq 2003 U.S. and British coalition forces topple Hussein and begin occupation of Iraq Interim government created in 2005 elections Efforts to rebuild are hampered by insurgents (rebels targeting foreigners or Iraqis cooperating with foreign troops