The Middle East
(Chapter 33, Sections 3-5)
What you need to know:
- Several Arab countries achieved independence before WWII ended.
- Arabs in the French and British areas of the Middle East began to demand freedom after WWII.
- Syria’s independence came when French and Muslim leaders came to an agreement.
- Pan-Arabism: sought to bring closer cultural ties among Arab states.
- After WWII, millions of Jews fled Europe to the country of Palestine.
- Some of them joined kibbutzim, or collective farms.
- Arabs began to attack settlers, hoping to slow the influx.
- Great Britain turned the nation over to the U.N.
- On November 29, 1947, the U.N. voted to partition Palestine.
- Jerusalem was to become an international city.
- Israel held 77% of Palestine.
- Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became homeless and fled the country.
- Leader of Egypt, Abdel Nasser, wanted to build a dam in the Upper Nile Valley for irrigation purposes.
- The U.S. offered him a $270 million loan to build the dam.
- Nasser made a deal with the Soviet Union, causing the U.S. to withdraw its offer.
- Great Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt.
- The superpowers denounced the invasion.
- The three nations pulled out of the country, and U.N. forces were sent to patrol the border.
- Nasser emerged as a powerful leader, embarrassing Great Britain and France.
- Jordan’s king asked for help when Nasser’s forces threatened his government.
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Soviet leaders began pressuring Turkey for territory.
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The United States gave Turkey economic and military aid
in order to block Soviet advances.
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The country made strides toward democracy, and was
admitted to the U.N.
- The new prime minister nationalized the oil industry.
- He increased his ties to the U.S. and signed the Baghdad pact.
- 1947: Israeli Haganah Army and Palestinian violence.
- 1948: Formation of Israel.
- Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
- 1960: Formation of Palestinian Liberation Organization (P.L.O.) – highjackings and bombings to resist Israeli occupation and Western support of Israel.
- Israeli policy of reprisal, increased military presence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and suppression of Palestinian rights.
- 1987: Infitada, or “shaking” and growth of terrorist groups.
- Moment of calm: Oslo Accords: Palestinians offered land in exchange for peace.
- Prime Minister Sharon visits Haram al Sharif – causes a disturbance.
- Second Infitada.
- Occupation and reprisals.
- …
- The Palestinian problem complicated a war in Lebanon.
- Lebanon became caught in the middle of the conflict.
- In 1990, some signs of hope appeared.
- The Shah was beginning to love Western materialism.
- Opposition to the shah grew.
- 76-year-old Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the subject of rallies throughout Iran for a pure Muslim state.
- The Shah fled to the United States to receive medical help.
- Iranians stormed the U.S. embassy and took diplomats hostage.
- Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in an attempt to stop the radical ideas. A bloody war lasted for eight years, costing over one million lives and billions in property damage.
- Saddam attempted to take the oil-rich country of Kuwait, resulting in the Gulf War.
- U.N. forces stepped in, as well as the United States and other countries, and ruined Iraq’s war-making ability.
- The war lasted three months.
Review (Study before you
answer these.)
Page written by Tom.