I. Introduction to the Middle East

What is the Middle East?

• Coined by the British in the 19th century
  • The middle of the Ottoman Empire and British India
• Gained popularity after WW2
• Includes Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, and Palestine
• Meaning shifts with time and context

The Challenges of Diversity

• Dozens of ethnic groups, religious, and languages
• The largest ethnic group is Arabs
  • A term referring to people originally from Arabian Peninsula
  • Follow various religions: not all Arabs are Muslims and vice versa

Three Abrahamic Faiths

• The Middle East is the source of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity
  • Today, the Middle East is predominantly Muslim
  • 90% Sunni, 10% Shia (Iran and Iraq)
• Three faiths coexisted and competed for control of the “holy land”
  • Crusades
  • Jerusalem

Claims to the Holy Land

• Judaism claims the territory it calls the Promised Land
  • Promised by Yahweh
  • Significant events in the development of the religion
  • Holiest site: Western Wall, the only extant structure from the Second Temple
• For Islam, Jerusalem is the third holiest city after Mecca and Medina
  • Holiest site: Dome of the Rock (Al-Aqsa Mosque)
  • Believed to be where Muhammad ascended to heaven and spoke to Allah
• Christianity considers Jerusalem to be a holy city
  • Major events in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection
  • Church of the Holy Sequlchre is said to be the site where Christ was crucified and to contain Christ’s empty tomb

The Ottoman Empire

• Starting in the 1500s, the Ottomans controlled what is now the Middle East
  • Turkey and parts of southeastern Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia
  • Essentially the east Roman Empire
• Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916)
  • A secret treaty between France and Britain to split Ottoman territory after WW1
  • Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Persian Gulf, and Suez to Britain, Syria and Lebanon to France

Mandate System

• System to look over the remnants of the Ottoman Empire by European powers until they have a government
  • Intended to be temporary
  • Caused political instability and conflict in the Middle East

Mandates Gain Independence

• Post WW2, the mandates became independent nations
  • Syria, Iraq, and Jordan
  • Palestine was partitioned into Arab areas and Israel
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