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History of the Middle East
Located at the juncture of Asia, Africa and Europe, the Middle East has been one of the centers of ancient civilization. Today it continues its historic significance as it provides much of the world's energy through its oil resources.
5,104 Questions
What was the US Military Involvement in the 1967 Six Day War?
The US Military was not involved in the Six Day War in any way save for the tragedy of the USS Liberty, where Israeli airplanes accidentally bombed an American warship believing it was Egyptian.
What is another name for a marketplace in the middle east?
English has simply imported the Arabic word for "market" or "souq" (سوق) to refer to Middle Eastern-style open-air markets. However, Arabs use this word both to refer to open air markets and to markets in a more general sense. For example, to say "This is made for international markets" would be "Hadha fo3ela lel-aswaq ad-dawli" (هذا فُعل للأسواق الدولي).
How did the United Nations attempt to resolve the conflict between Jews and Arabs in 1947?
The United Nations was the place were armistices to almost all of the major Arab-Israeli Wars have been signed.
Islam.
It is important to note that the distinction between Shi'a Islam, Sunni Islam, and Ibadi Islam (and between the internal schools of each) happened relatively early on, so to say that that Islam is one religious group is like saying Christianity is one religious group when there are vast differences between Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Christians, and Mormons.
Most of the people in Iran are Arabs?
No. Iran's population is majority Persian with Kurdish, Azeri, Arab, and Baloch minorities.
Was trade the only way Islam spread?
Yes, Islam started in Mecca which was a trade centre in Arabia. People comming to Mecca to trade heared about Islam and spread the word. In Islam trade is encouraged as a way to make profit as taking interest on money is not allowed. So many Muslims travelled to trade. Islam requires the merchant to be honest and not cheat customers no matter what their religion was, so people liked dealing with early Muslim traders and eventually liked and accepted the religion as they found it a great one because of its simplicity, adaptability, and equality.
When was the kingdom of Israel established?
The first Israelite king was Saul, who became king about 2900 years ago according to Talmudic chronology. The breakaway kingdom of the ten tribes, to whom you might be referring and who were collectively called Israel (as opposed to Judah), began their kingdom under Rehav'am (Rehoboam) about 2810 years ago (Talmudic chronology).
How long has the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip been going on?
Palestinians is a nickname of the Arabs that lives in Israel but are not Israel citizens. There is no war between to them and the Arabs. Maybe you meant the war between the Arabs and the Jews.
Do the Israelis have the right to occupy Palestine?
Answer 1
As in all similar conflicts, both sides have rights. Unfortunately , generations of diplomats have attempted to sort this one out unsuccessfully.
Answer 2
This is one of those questions where the Asker appears to be looking for a number of opinions vindicating each side. The problem is that both sides have legitimacy in certain claims and extremists who would rather derail the process of negotiations than not get everything in their wishlists. The Israelis and the Palestinians who truly want to live together in peace respecting each others' Rights to Exist, are in the Right and those who would rather stir up antagonism and hatred on both sides are in the Wrong.
Some arguments on each side are as follows.
Israel:
1) UN Resolution 181: In 1947 the UN Partition Plan, which was passed into law split the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish and Arab State. The Jews decided to agree with the Partition even though the Arabs refused. Because the Resolution passed, Israel had the Right to Declare a State, which they did.
2) Wars Won: Israel fought for its right to exist and has fought three existential wars (the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the Arab-Israeli War of 1973). In each conflict, it was only by Israeli perseverance and cunning that the territory was maintained. If Israel had lost any of these wars, regardless of its international legal case, it would have been denied the ability to re-declare a State.
3) Jewish Nationalism: Jews have lived in other nations under other governments for two millennia and were either actively or passively discriminated against. Israel represents to Jews the guarantee that even if the situation in their current Diaspora country turns sour, they have somewhere to go. This guarantee of a homeland has actually been used in various waves such as the Post-Holocaust refugees, the Mizrahi Exodus, Operations Joshua and Solomon in Yemen and Ethiopia, and the Russian Immigration in the 1990s.
4) Population Exchanges: Just as Palestinians left the British Mandate of Palestine, Jews were forced to leave the Arab World in roughly the same numbers. Around 720,000 Palestinian Arabs fled the new state of Israel, whereas 850,000 Jews fled from Arab countries with 500,000 settling in Israel. As a result, just as Israel took in Mizrahi Jews fleeing the Arab World, it would be contingent on Arab countries to take in Palestinian Arabs fleeing the Jewish State.
5) Jewish Holy Sites: Israel is home to numerous holy Jewish sites across the country, harkening back to the Jewish biblical past and imagery. In addition, the holiest site in the world for the Jewish people is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Palestine:
1) Original Inhabitants: This is the strongest case for the Palestinians and goes back to how the Palestinians lived in the British Mandate of Palestine for at least 800 years as the consistent majority of people in the territory. They have love and reverence for the land and consider it to be an intrinsic part of their identity.
2) Atrocities have no Statute of Limitations: Many Palestinians assert that Israelis stole their land and possessions from 1920-1949, most violently during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9 when numerous massacres were perpetrated by Jewish militias to secure the exodus of the Palestinian People. These Palestinians assert that Israel should not be allowed to profit from this seizure of territory.
3) Muslim and Christian Holy Sites: The Palestinians have numerous holy sites that pertain to their religions as well in the British Mandate of Palestine. Jerusalem holds Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy sites in all of Islam. There are also the Christian Monuments such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the cities of Nazareth and Bethlehem. Many Palestinian Muslims and Christians want to live in these places as they used to.
4) Arab Reception: Palestinians have been confined to refugee camps and occasionally attacked in violent pogroms by their Arab neighbors (like the attack on Sabra and Shatila in 1982 and Nahr El-Bared in 2007). Palestinians assert like the Jews that nobody is really looking out for their best interests other than other Palestinians and this is why they could never truly settle in another Arab State.
5) Never Allowed to Declare a State: Whether the Palestinians accepted UN Resolution 181 or not, they were never given an opportunity to Declare the Arab State which that Resolution gave them the right to do. After the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, Jordan and Egypt occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, effectively preventing the nascent Palestinian organizations from becoming a nation, even though they may have wanted to do so. In the present day, the United States has actively tried to prevent Palestinian access to the forums that would allow it to declare its Right to be a State because of its protection of Israel.
Since Jesus was a Jew why do the Jewish people deny him?
The criteria extended past just been a Jew. Jesus did not seem to them to be fulfilling the requirements for the Messiah. He challenged many of their beliefs and practices. Many Jews do accept Christ. Also many Jews today have rejected God as well.
The abbasids were rulers of what empire?
The abbasids were rulers of the Islamic Empire back in the 700s to 1200s.
What was Saladin's full name and what was the month day and year of his death?
Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayub
What was Morocco's first capital?
Depending on which Moroccan King or Dynasty is referred to, the answer can be Marrakesh, Fez, and Meknes. Fes was the earliest Moroccan capital city and was founded by the Idrissids, the first endemic Moroccan Dynasty. Rabat, the current capital of Morocco, was also the capital for the Merinids a few centuries prior to it becoming the capital again under the current Alaouite Dynasty. Meknes was only the capital under the reign of King Moulay Ismail. At all other points of Moroccan history, such as the rule of the Sa'adian, Almoravid, Almohad, and other dynasties, Marrakesh served as the capital of Morocco.
What was the role of Islamic fundamentalists in the overthrow of the Shah of Iran?
Their role in the actual overthrow was minimal. There were some protests by Islamic Fundamentalists in late 1978 and 1979, but the majority of protests were from Communists, Women's Rights Groups, Secularists, Social Democrats, and other left-wing groups. It was after the departure of the Shah in January 1979 that Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran from his exile and proceeded to tell these groups that he could create a unity government. In October 1979, he created the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran which effectively solidified clerical rule and ended with the repression of the Communists, Women's Rights Groups, Secularists, and the Social Democrats who had actually started the Iranian Revolution.
What did the Hindus and the Arabs contribute to the field of trigonometry?
In India, the Hindus made further advances during and after the fifth century. These advances included the construction of some early trigonometric tables and, more important, the invention of a new numbering system that made calculating much simpler. Hindu mathematicians based their version of trigonometry on variants of the sine function. The Hindu system led not only to the sine function, but to the cosine, tangent, and other familiar trigonometric functions we use today.
During their centuries of contact with the Greeks and Hindus, Arabic mathematicians adopted many of their mathematical discoveries. Among prominent Arabic mathematicians who helped translate Hindu mathematical texts or introduced Hindu mathematics to the Arabs were al-Battani (c. 850-929), Abu al-Wafa (940-998), and al-Biruni (973-?). Al-Battani adapted Greek trigonometry and astronomical observations to make them more useful. Al-Biruni was among the first to use the sine function in astronomy and geography, and Abu al-Wafa helped apply spherical trigonometry to astronomy, among other important contributions.
When did the Ottoman Empire take control of Israel?
The Ottoman Empire conquered the territory that currently composes Israel from the Mamluks in 1517 and lost it 1919.
Why did the USSR become involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict?
There are a variety of reasons:
1) Strategic Intelligence: The Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad is one of the foremost such organizations in the world. The United States wishes to have cooperation with this agency to a good degree to be able to monitor threats against itself.
2) Cold War Rivalry: The Soviet Union began to support the Arabs, so the United States supported Israel as a way to wage a proxy war.
3) Similar Cultures: The United States wished to defend a similar free, democratic state in the Middle East.
4) Economic and Technological Exchanges: Israel, as a first world country, had a lot that it could trade with the United States in terms of goods services.
5) Middle East Control: As Israel became the dominant regional power in the Middle East, the United States weighed having an Alliance with Israel critical for maintaining the balance of power.
6) Jewish and Evangelical Constituencies: Both of these constituencies wish for the American Government to support a Jewish government in Israel and physically occupy very contentious electoral areas.
How long did the Iran Hostage Crisis last and when were they freed?
The Iran Hostage Crisis began on 4 November 1979.
What leader unified Arabia into a Muslim state though battle?
Mohammed's with Mecca led to the unification of Arabia under his banner in an Islamic State. However, after he died, several major tribes withdrew from the Islamic State believing that they were united only to Mohammed and not in perpetuity. Therefore, Mohammed's successor, Abu Bakr, was "forced" to re-unify all of Arabia into a Muslim state through battle.
Did European countries cause conflicts with the middle east?
Answer 1
Conflicts were started from both sides, mainly due to religious reasons. Europeans were overwhelmingly Christian while Arabs were overwhelmingly Muslim. Palestine, the area where all three major, monotheistic religions arose, has been fought over between all three religions throughout history.
Answer 2
European countries certainly caused some conflicts in the Middle East, most clearly the Crusades and Colonial Imperialism. However, the majority of conflicts in the Middle East have much less to do with Europe than Middle Easterners would allege; such allegations are usually made to prevent Middle Easterners for having to take responsiblity for their calamitous political state.
Answer 1
Most Arabs are Muslims, but there are minorities of Jews, Christians, and other religions.
Answer 2
Today Arabs are mostly followers of Islam but unknown to most people, there were, until the creation of Israel, many Jewish Arabs as well as Christians. Jewish Arabs have for the most part become Israeli citizens but one needs to remember that the Himyarite Kingdom of Yemen converted to Judaism prior to its incorporation into the Sassanian Persian Empire and many Arabs and Arameans in Iraq had been converted to Judaism as well since the Talmudic era.
Answer 3
There are officially 22 Arabian countries: As with most peoples of large geographic areas, there is no single religion held. However, the religion most commonly held is Islam (also known as Muhammadanism), followed by Christianity, then Judaism.
What policies did European nations use to gain control of Muslim lands?
Answer 1
The ottoman empire collapse and they jumped on the land and resources knowing they were down on their knees after their defeat in World War I.
Answer 2
The Europeans used a number of policies and methods to gain control of Muslim Lands:
Superior Military Power: The Europeans had military technologies that were significantly more advanced than anything in the arsenals of all of the Islamic States (with the exception of the Ottoman Empire). As a result, they were able to massacre any army sent to impose their colonial expeditions.
Treaties with Local Rulers: Several colonizers, the British especially, preferred to leave the conquered Islamic Empires in charge of their domains since they already had a number of ministers and officials on the local levels in the various territories. The colonizers would then dictate what the Islamic Empire would need to do and the state would comply in order to remain in what little power and luxury they still had.
Protection of Minorities: Christians, Jews, and other religious minorities were in a terrible position in the Islamic World prior to colonial arrival, where they were forced to pay additional taxes and unable to actively take part in governmental affairs. In the colonial system, all indigenous inhabitants were equal. Christians and Jews took the opportunity to ascend to higher ranks in government, receive superior Western education, and become entrepreneurs under the colonial auspices. As a result, these minorities became staunchly protective of the colonizers since they had essentially liberated them.
White Man's Burden: Many Europeans were persuaded by the writings of Rudyard Kipling and John Stuart Mills (and others) that there was only one true trajectory for human civilization and that the Europeans were simply further along that trajectory than the citizens of the colonial empires. Therefore, it was incumbent on the European since he was so much further along, to push the non-European States into the Modern Era. This view was seen by most in the colonized territories to be insulting to their own culture and beliefs.
Divide and Conquer: Relatively straightforward, the Europeans would draw borders arbitrarily to prevent one ethnic group from being able to unite entirely against the colonizers and would include multiple ethnic groups with animosity towards each other to be in the same colonial borders to prevent them from working together for independence. A good example of the first would be the Baloch in British India and Persia. A good example of the second would be the Acehnese and Balinese in Indonesia.
Depending on your definition of Spain, the answer changes somewhat. Spain today compromises 18 Regions (Comunidades Autonomas) of which two are on the African Mainland (Ceuta and Melilla). These areas have consistently had an Arab Population since the Arab Invasion of Morocco in the 680s CE. Similarly Spain used to have colonial possessions in Morocco and Western Sahara which both have indigenous populations of Arabs during the same timeframe.
However, if you are referring to Spain strictly on the Iberian Peninsula, there are two clear periods of Arab Settlement within Spain. The first was the time of Moslem Spain in its various incarnations. The first invasions took place in the year 711 and the last Moslem Spanish Kingdom was defeated in 1492. However, Moslems still continued to live in Christian Kingdoms until the Spanish Inquisition came into full swing about a year later. Many Arabs, rather than renounce their faith, fled to Morocco, Algeria, and the Ottoman Empire. The second major period of Arab Settlement in Spain began in the 1970s and continues to this day. Spain is relatively close to the Arab World (especially since it has land borders with Morocco - Ceuta and Melilla) and has a much higher standard of living which draws the Arabs in as immigrants.
Which middle east civilization lasted over a thousand years before being conquered?
The Sumerian people of southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq) ruled the land from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC. The Akkadians eventually conquered the Sumerians.
