THE MIDDLE EAST
DEMOGRAPHICS
Ø Primarily Muslim (Sunni > Shi’ia)
Ø Primarily Arab (from Arabian Peninsula)
Ø Home to the Persian Gulf
o Contains world’s greatest oil reserves (2/3 of all known oil)
IRAN
Ø Persians, not Arabs
Ø Shi’ia Muslims
Ø History
o CIA replaced Muhammad Mossadeq with Muhammad Reza-Shah
Pahlavi
o Ayatollah Khomeini replaced the shah in the Revolution of 1979
o A theocracy was created
§ Theocracy – Government ruled by a religious authority
o Contradictions
§ Women maintain more rights than in most Middle Eastern
countries
§ Many want the country to modernize
§ Many citizens are pro-American
§ US and Iran share bond of opposing Iraq
IRAQ
Ø Shi’ia Muslims
Ø Gulf War with Iran (see attached sheet)
SAUDI ARABIA
Ø Home to ¼ of the world’s oil
Ø Founding member of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries)
Ø Strict, conservative nation
o Use Sharia Law
§ Law derived from the Qur’an and teachings of Muhammad
§ Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, and Pakistan also use some
aspects
o Women have no rights
o Probably the most conservative Middle Eastern state
o Fearful of modernization because it threatens the stability of their
government
Ø US opposes lack of freedoms, but is reluctant to do anything about it
o US needs their oil
o If they overthrow Saudi monarchy, it will be replaced by antiAmerican Muslim fundamentalists
TURKEY
Ø Founded by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk after WWI when the Ottoman Empire
was defeated
Ø One of only 2 democracies (Israel too) in the Middle East
Ø Over 35% “not religious”
Ø Women have rights (ex. veil outlawed, divorce)
Ø Member of NATO
Ø In process of trying to join European Union (EU)
ISRAEL
Ø History
o Inhabited by Jews in ancient times until they were pushed out by
the Romans in 135 AD
o Muslims took over the land in the 600s AD
o Ottoman Empire dominated the land until WWI
o WWI
§ Balfour Declaration
• British promised a “national home” for Jews in
Palestine
• Attempt to get worldwide Jewish support for WWI
§ Britain took over land after WWI with defeat of Ottoman
Empire
o WWII
§ Germans tries to get Arabs to revolt against British
§ British White Paper (1939)
• Britain restricts Jewish movement into Palestine
• Calmed Arabs, offended Jews
§ Holocaust – 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis
o Israel created by the United Nations in 1947
§ Divided into Jewish and Arab states
§ Israelis = Jews
§ Palestinians = Muslims who lost their land
Ø Arab-Israeli Conflict (see attached sheet)
Ø Only primarily Jewish state in the world
Ø Believed to own nuclear weapons
o Only 1 other Middle Eastern country (Pakistan) has them
Ø Continued fighting with Palestinians
o Intifadas – Uprisings against Israeli rule
Ø Middle East feels that US has sided with Israel