Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East Birthplace of

Civilization (first cities-5000 years ago)

“Holy land” place of 3 great religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

Oil War/Conflict/terrorism

Sadaam HusseinWMDs

TalibanAl Qaeda

The Middle East today

MIDDLE EASTName_____________

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

JewsChristians

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/ShiiteThe 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

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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, Cubathe 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 11th 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 1st 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?

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