1. Geography

2. Ticket in the Door Religious conflict is a well known part of the middle east. I would like you to name the three major religions and then tell me why the do not like each other.

4. Major Religions of the Middle East The Middle East is the birthplace of three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all of which have ties to the city of Jerusalem. The following is a brief description of each religion, in chronological order.

5. Judaism is the faith of the ancient Hebrews and their descendants, the Jews. The Hebrews were a nomadic Semite people; that is, Hebrew is a member of the Semitic language family, which also includes Arabic and Aramaic. Judaism was the first major religion to teach monotheism, the belief that there is only one God. The story of the Hebrews is written in the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah. According to the Torah, Abraham and his sons Isaac and Jacob received a revelation of the one true God. Also found in the Torah is the account of God's promise to Abraham that if the Hebrews worshipped and obeyed God, they and their descendants would always live in Canaan (part of Syria and Palestine).

6. Judaism Zionism is the Jewish nationalist movement that began in Europe as a reaction to European anti- Semitism. The goal of Zionism was the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Persecution of Jews in Europe -- from the medieval period through nineteenth- century pogroms, from the Holocaust (which claimed the lives of six million Jews during World War II) to Soviet oppression -- led many Jews to emigrate to Palestine from the late nineteenth century on. Many Jews also came from non- European lands, including Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, Ethiopia, and other countries. Some radical Zionists also believe that the West Bank (the land between Israel and Jordan and occupied by Israel during the 1967 war) is part of the land promised by God to the Jews.

7. Judaism

8. Islam continues the monotheistic tradition of Judaism and Christianity. The revelation of the Koran (Quran) by God (Allah) to the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century confirmed the monotheistic message of earlier prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Solomon, David, and Jesus. A poor member of a powerful tribe, Muhammad was a merchant who traveled from Mecca to Syria on caravans. He married his employer, a widow named Khadija, and began to receive revelations in 610 A.D. However, the ruling elite felt threatened by his reformist, monotheistic message, and Muhammad and his followers were forced to move to Yathrib, later called Medina. Jerusalem is sacred to Muslims (followers of Islam) because, according to Islamic tradition, that was the last place on earth Muhammad touched on his mysterious night journey into heaven.. Muhammad was able to unite the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam before his death, and the new Islamic state expanded very rapidly in the century after his death, reaching all the way from Spain to Central Asia. Rich, multi-cultural, classic Islamic civilization made contributions in science, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, literature, art, and architecture.

9. Islam

10. Christianity is the monotheistic religion of the followers of Jesus Christ and began as an offshoot of Judaism in the first century C.E. Christians believe that Jesus is the messiah that has been promised to them in the Old Testament. The teachings of Christianity are found in the New Testament of the Bible. The Middle East is significant for Christians not only because of its Jewish heritage, but also because Jesus was born in Palestine and preached throughout the region. The Bible includes an account of the visit of Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the holiday associated with the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The account details Jesus' arrest and execution in Jerusalem. After Jesus' death, his followers formed the first Christian community in Jerusalem. Christianity spread in the first century from Palestine into countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and is now practiced by peoples throughout the world.

11. Christianity