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New Nations in the Middle East
Reading Prompt:
What is the Israeli—Palestinian conflict? What events led to the Israeli—Palestinian conflict?
1 THE BIG PICTURE
2 Between the Mediterranean sea and the western borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan is a region
3 known as the Middle East. It spans all of western Asia and a small part of southeastern Europe.
4 This region was the heart of the Baghdad Caliphate from the late 700s to the 1200s. From the
5 1500s until the end of World War I, the Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. After 1918
6 Britain and France took control of most of the Middle East.
7 Along the western edge of the Middle East is a narrow wedge of land lying along the Mediterranean
8 Sea. This land has had a great impact on world events… It has many names: Canaan, Judea,
9 Palestine, the Holy Land and Israel. Throughout history, it has been home to many peoples and
10 cultures. In this lesson you will read about the struggle that developed between two of these
11 peoples over a land that both claimed as their own.
12 A JEWISH HOMELAND
13 How did this struggle over the area that is today Israel develop? Part of the answer lies in the
14 history of Zionism. Zionism is a movement to establish a Jewish homeland. The word comes from
15 Mount Zion, a mountain in Jerusalem.
16 An Ancient and Modern Hope
17 Modern Zionism began in the late 1800s. Its goal, in the words of a Hebrew song, was to make Jews
18 “a free people in our own land.” Actually, the idea of a homeland for the Jewish people began much
19 earlier. This idea began, in fact in the time of the Diaspora. The Diaspora means the “scattering” of
20 the Jews from the land of Israel. This scattering began around 600 BC when the Babylonians
21 conquered Judah. The Diaspora continued, but some Jews remained in the area. Romans called it
22 Palestine.
23 By the late 1800s, when modern Zionism began, Palestine was home to about 450,000 people. Most
24 of them were Arabs. About 25,000 Jews also lived here. Most of the world’s Jewish population lived
25 outside of Palestine, in Europe and the rest of the world. However, they had never forgotten their
26 ancient homeland. The yearly Passover Seder always ends with the words” “Next year in
27 Jerusalem!”
28 Troubles in Europe
29 The desire to return to Jerusalem grew stronger among many Jews in Europe. Feelings of
30 nationalism had spread throughout the world since the French Revolution. Some European Jews,
31 too, began hoping to have their own nation.
32 Also during this time anti-Semitism grew stronger in Europe. Anti-Semitism is discrimination
33 against Jews. In Eastern European countries such as Russia and Poland where many Jews lived,
34 Jews were often subjected to sudden violent attacks. Many Jews left Europe for the United States
35 and other regions, including Palestine.
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36 CHANGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
37 After the defeat of the Ottoman empire in World War I, Britain and France took over much of the
38 Middle East. By this time, however, nationalist movements were beginning to form in the region.
39 In 1923 nationalists in what was left of the Ottoman empire established an independent Republic
40 of Turkey. It was only the first of several new nations in the Middle East. In 1932, after a period of
41 British rule, the people of Iraq gained independence.
42 A Growing Population
43 Feelings of nationalism had been developing among both Arabs and Jews in British-controlled
44 Palestine.
45 Growing numbers of Jews created tensions with Arabs who were already living in Palestine. Many
46 Palestinian Arabs hoped to build new lives in an independent nation of Palestine. They feared that
47 their own nationalist dreams would be lost.
48 World War II brought great changes to British Palestine. Many European Jews managed to escape
49 Nazi oppression by immigrating to Palestine,. After the war many survivors of Nazi concentration
50 camps arrived in Palestine. By 1947, the number of Jews living in Palestine reached about 650,000,
51 or about one-third of the population. The remaining two-thirds were Palestinian Arabs, most of
52 whom were Muslims.
53 The Founding of Israel
54 After World War II the United Nations agreed to divide Palestine between Arabs and Jews. The
55 Jews accepted the plan. On May 14, 1948, they declared independence as the country of Israel.
56 David Ben Gurion, a leader of the Jewish independence movement became Israel’s first prime
57 minister.
58 War and Refugees
59 The day after Israel became an independent nation, armies from five Arab countries attacked the
60 new nation. Jews fought to defend their new country. After more than six months od fighting, the
61 Jews came out as victors. This war, however, was only the first of several wars that would be
62 fought between Israel and Arab countries.
63 As the result of the Arab-Israeli conflict, mas many as 750,000 Palestinian Arabs left Israel. Some
64 fled out of fear. Some were forced to leave. Many settled in refugee camps in Jordan, Syria and
65 Lebanon. Refugees are people who have to flee their country for safety. About 600,000 Palestinians
66 remained. Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet described his feelings about living in a homeland
67 controlled by others:
68 You are my grief and my joy,
69 my wound and my rainbow,
70 my proson and my freedom.
71 In June 1967 war broke out again. In this conflict, the Six-Day War, Israel gained more land,
72 including Gaza, the Golan Heights and the West Bank.
73 To gain back the land for Arabs, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, or PLO, was formed in
74 1964. IN 1968, under the leadership of Yasar Arafat, the PLO began to fight to get the land back
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75 from Israel.
76 The First Sign of Peace
77 Fighting between Arabs and Israelis continued on and off for years. Then in 1977 Egypt’s President
78 Anwar Sadat took a daring trip to Israel. For the first time am Arab leader publicly met with the
79 leaders of the Jewish nation. The Camp David agreement, signed by Egypt and Israel in 1978,
80 established peaceful relations between those nations.
81 WHY IT MATTERS
82 The Camp David agreement did not end the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians. In 1987
83 Palestinians in Gaza and the West bank began a revolt called the Intifada. Intifada means “shaking”
84 in Arabic. Palestinians tried to “shake off” the rule of Israelis.
85 Slowly, however, hopes for peace returned to this war-torn land. PLO leader Yasar Arafat and
86 Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, signed agreements in 1993 and 1995. They agreed that a
87 Palestinian homeland would be established in Gaza and the West Bank.
88 Peace remains a difficult goal. In 1995 an Israeli opposed to the peace process assassinated Yitzhak
89 Rabin. To assassinate means to kill for political reasons. Still, hope for peace remains, as Israelis
90 and Palestinians continue to work together to solve their decades-old conflict.
UN Partition Plan Before/After 1967 War
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