Conflict Sources SS7H2c Describe how land and religion are reasons for continuing conflicts in the Middle East.

Today’s Learning Target The student can describe how land and religion are reasons for continuing conflicts in Southwest Asia (Middle East).

Sources of Conflict Religion Among all the peoples of the Middle East, religious differences contribute to conflict. Jews and Arabs claim holy sites in Jerusalem. Religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians have erupted in Egypt, Lebanon, and Sudan. Conflicts also occur within religions.

Sunnis and Shi’ites Most Muslims are Sunni. However, in Iran most people belong to the Shi’a branch of Islam. Shi’ites are more willing to accept religious leaders as political leaders. http://safeshare.tv/w/MGpcSSQaPy This difference has contributed to conflict between neighboring Iran and Iraq.

Ethnic Group Conflict Trouble also occurs when different ethnic groups come into conflict. Iraqis are descendents of Arabs who spread out from the Arabian Peninsula in the 600s. Most Iranians are Persian who are originally from Central Asia who have lived on the Iranian plateau for 3,000 years. Arabs and Persians have different histories and speak different languages.

Nationalism Some ethnic groups want their own countries. At least 20 million Kurds live in the mountainous areas of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and other countries of the region. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslim and speak a language related to Persian. Many have died in their fight to gain their own state.

Fundamentalism Muslim fundamentalists believe Islam should be strictly observed. In 1979, Shi’ite leader Ayatollah Khomeini took over the government of Iran. Khomeini objected to the way the former ruler had been westernizing the country. Khomeini’s government passed laws forbidding the sale of alcohol and limiting the freedom of women. Fundamentalist movements have also arisen in other countries in the region, often coming into conflict with people who have less strict beliefs.

Arab-Israeli Wars A series of wars between 1948 and 1973 that were fought between Israel and the Arab countries of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon. They fought over control of territory in Palestine. The PLO was created to protect the rights of Palestinians. They were led by a man named Yasser Arafat.

Egypt Conflicts still ravaged the Middle East. Britain gave up absolute rule of Egypt in 1922 and it became a monarchy ruled by King Fuad and after 1932, his son King Farouk. An army officer, Gamal Abdel Nasser resented the weakness of his government and the strong control Britain still maintained. In 1952, he and other officers overthrew King Farouk and the next year Egypt became a republic. Nasser was Egypt’s leader from1954 to 1970.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Anwar Sadat took part in the 1952 seizure of the government of King Farouk with President Nasser. When Nasser died in 1970, Sadat was elected President. Sadat led Egypt to war with Israel in 1973. However, a few years later he became the first Arab leader to seek peace between the two countries.

Anwar Sadat

Camp David Accords Jimmy Carter, the US President, who in the late 1970s focused on achieving peace in the Middle East. In 1979, a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel was hosted at Camp David by President Carter. Menachem Begin was the Israeli Prime Minister who helped negotiate a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Begin and Sadat were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work. Muslim extremists (The Muslim Brotherhood) objected to Sadat’s peace treaty with Israel and his close ties with the United States. On October 6, 1981 he was assassinated.

Every president in the past 50 years has tried to broker peace in the Middle East, including when President Jimmy Carter ushered the historic Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on March 26, 1979.

Iran-Iraq War The neighboring countries of Iran and Iraq had long disputed who owned the oil-rich territory between them. In 1980, Iraq, led by its absolute ruler Saddam Hussein, invaded Iran. The war lasted 8 years. As many as one million people died including soldiers as young as 11 and 12. Neither side could gain a clear victory. In 1988, both countries finally signed a cease-fire agreement developed by the UN.

Saddam Hussein

Persian Gulf War In 1990, Iraq invaded the small oil rich country of Kuwait. The UN imposed a trade embargo to prevent Iraq from importing goods or exporting oil. The embargo took away most of Iraq’s income but Saddam Hussein continued to fight. On January 16, 1991 the Persian Gulf War began when an international armed force began missile attacks on Iraq followed by a ground attack on February 24th. One hundred hours, Iraq surrendered. Iraq was out of Kuwait but Hussein was still in power and the embargo still held.

http://www.biography.com/people/saddam-hussein-9347918 By the early 2000’s President Bush had come to believe that Hussein was hiding dangerous illegal weapons. The Bush administration was afraid that terrorist groups might use these weapons to attack the US. The US was unable to persuade the UN Security Council to support an invasion of Iraq. On March 20, 2003, the US, Britain, Australia, and other allies invaded Iraq. On April 9, 2003 US forces gained control of Baghdad and toppled Hussein’s regime. By early May 2003, Bush announced that combat operations in Iraq had ended.

Capture and Death of Saddam Hussein December 13, 2003: Saddam was found hiding in a small underground bunker near a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near Tikrit. From there, he was moved to a U.S. base in Baghdad, where he would remain until June 30, 2004, when he was officially handed over to the interim Iraqi government to stand trial for crimes against humanity. During the subsequent trial, Saddam would prove to be a belligerent defendant, often boisterously challenging the court's authority and making bizarre statements. On November 5, 2006, Saddam was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentencing was appealed, but was ultimately upheld by a court of appeals. On December 30, 2006, at Camp Justice, an Iraqi base in Baghdad, Saddam was hanged, despite his request to be shot.