Transcript Conflict in the Middle East  BIG Idea: Valuable waterways and oil reserves led to superpower maneuvering for influence in the Middle East.

Conflict in the Middle East
 BIG
Idea: Valuable waterways
and oil reserves led to
superpower maneuvering for
influence in the Middle East.
Why should we care?
Arab Independence
What was the Sykes-Picot agreement?
 After WWII, European-ruled Arab countries
gained independence.

– Still subject to Western influence

Pan-Arabism: unity in the Arab world.
Iran
 After
WWII, oil-rich Iran was a
dictatorship run by a repressive
shah supported by the west to
block Soviet influence.
– British had grown rich
on Iranian oil at Iran’s
expense.
Shah Pahlavi
 In
the early 1950s, popular,
democratic leader M. Mossadegh
came to power.
–Took over British-owned oil
industry & used oil money for
social and economic reforms.
 The
U.S. sponsored a coup
placing the hated shah back in
power & the oil back to western
oil companies (B.P.).
– Created increased anti-shah (antiAmerican) sentiment in the Iranian
people.
 Shiite
Muslim religious leader
Ayatollah Khomeini ousted the
shah in 1979 and created an
Islamic-fundamentalist
dictatorship.
 U.S.
supported Saddam Hussein in
his war against Iran.
Dec. 20th, 1983
“Overthrow” by Stephen Kinzer
Creation of Israel (in Palestine)
 Continued
violence between Zionist
Jews and Arab Palestinians.
 Great Britain turned Palestine over
to United Nations (U.N.) control in
1947.
 U.N.
voted to partition Palestine
into Jewish and Arab states.
 On
May 14th, 1948 Israel was born
– 700,000 Palestinian refugees
Arab-Israeli Conflicts
 Within
24 hrs., Syria, Lebanon,
Iraq, Egypt, & Jordan attacked.
 Aided by the West (U.S.), Israel
defeated the Arabs in 9 months
and claimed more territory.
 Palestinian
Liberation Org. (PLO): a
militant group aimed at eliminating
Israel.
– Yasser Arafat
Six Days War 1967
 Israel
tripled its land holdings.
– Gaza Strip (from Egypt)
– Golan Heights (from Syria)
– West Bank (from Jordan)
 Palestinians
were left under
Israeli military occupation or
became refugees.
U.N.-Sponsored Israel
Area gained in 1949
Area occupied in 1967
Current Situation
 Israel
refuses to pull out of
occupied territories.
 Arabs refuse to recognize Israel’s
right to exist.
 American
support of Israel angers
Arab countries.
– Use oil embargos as a weapon (1973)
 Recently,
hardliners have come to
power on both sides.
– Netanyahu
– Hamas

Many people on both sides want peace.

Two state solution? Jerusalem?
Assignment/Activity
Study
for your final!!!
Works Cited
CIA Logo. Private collection. Web. 17 May 2010.
Farah, Mounir A., and Andrea B. Karls. World History The Human
Experience. New York: Glencoe/McGraw Hill, 1999. 948-65. Print.
Hamas. Private collection. Web. 18 May 2010
Israel 1947. Map. AP World History Maps. Ed. Burnett. N.p., n.d. Web.
18 May 2010.
<http://www.mrburnett.net/apworldhistory/maps/middleeastisrael
1947.bmp>.
Israel. Map. Exam 2 Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2010.
<http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geg101i/review/exam2.ht
m>.
Khomeini. Private collection. Web. 18 May 2010.
<http://holtz.org/Library/Images/Social%20Science/khomeini.jpg>
.
Map. Arab League Map. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2010.
Mohammad Mosaddeq. Private collection. Web. 18 May 2010.
<http://pulsemedia.org/category/elections/page/2/>.
Muheisen, Muhammed. Yasser Arafat. AP Photo. Web. 18 May 2010.
<http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast/arafat_timeline.
html>.
Palestinian Child v. Israeli Tank. Private collection. Web. 18 May 2010.
Rumsfeld Hussein Handshake. Private collection. Web. 18 May 2010.
U.S. Oil Consumption. 2006. Private collection. Web. 17 May 2010.