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6
The Middle East and North Africa
Chapter Outline
6.1 Area and Population

6.2 Physical Geography and Human Adaptations
6.3 Cultural and Historical Geographies
6.4 Economic Geography
6.5 Geopolitical Issues
6.6 Regional Issues and Landscapes
Objectives
This chapter should enable you to:

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
• Understand and explain the mostly beneficial relationships between villagers, pastoral
nomads, and city dwellers in an environmentally challenging region.
• Know the basic beliefs and sacred places of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
• Recognize the importance of petroleum to this region and the world economy, and the
geographic challenges of transporting these fossil fuels.
• Understand the problematic issues of the Arab-Israel conflict and the obstacles to their
resolution.
• Understand the problematic issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the obstacles to their
resolution.
• Learn about the promises of the Arab Spring, and the disappointments that followed.
• Consider the hydropolitical issues of the Nile and Mesopotamian river basins, and
shortages of freshwater in this region’s arid lands.
• Know what al-Qa’ida, ISIS, and other Islamist terrorist groups are and what they want to
achieve.
Key Terms & Concepts
Afro-Asiatic language Church of the Holy Free Syrian Army (FSA)

family Sepulcher Gaza-Jericho Accord
• Berber subfamily Copts Gaza Wars
• Semitic subfamily Crusades ghurba
al-Aqsa Intifada deep state Green Line
al-Aqsa Mosque Diaspora Gulf War
al-Qa’ida divine rule by clerics Hamas
al-Qa’ida in Iraq Dome of the Rock Hebrews
Alawite downstream countries Hizbullah
Allah drought avoidance hydropolitics
anti-Semitism drought endurance International Atomic
Arab Druze Energy Agency (IAEA)
Arab-Israeli War of 1956 energy crisis Intifada
Ashkenazi Jews ethnic cleansing Iran-Iraq War of 1980–
ayatollah Exodus 1988
bazaar “facts on the ground” Islamic law (sharia)
Caliphate (al-Khilaafa, Falashas ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq
Islamic State) Fertile Crescent and Syria), ISIL (Islamic
Camp David Accords Final Solutions State of Iraq and the
Carter Doctrine final status issues Levant), IS (Islamic State)
cataract First Temple Islamists
chokepoint Foundation Stone Israelites
Jasmine Revolution Operation Iraqi Freedom separate barrier
Jewish settlements Organization of Petroleum Sephardic Jews
Jews Exporting Countries sharia (Islamic law)
jihad (OPEC) Shia, or Shi’ite
Judaea and Samaria Oslo I Accord Six-Day War
Ka’aba Oslo II Accord Southeast Anatolia Project
Koran “P5+1” (GAP)
Kurdistan Workers Party Palestine Liberation Suez Crisis
(PKK) Organization (PLO) Sunni
Kurds Palestinian Authority (PA) suq
Labor Party Palestinians Sykes-Picot Agreement
Land for Peace People of the Book “Syrian Opposition”
Law of Return Persian Temple Mount
Lebanese civil war Pillars of Islam terrorism
Likud Party • almsgiving Turks
Ma’adan (Marsh Arabs) • fasting two-state solution
Maronites • pilgrimage to underemployment
MASDAR Mecca (hajj) United Nations
medina • prayer Resolutions 242 and 338
megacity • profession of faith upstream countries
Middle Eastern ecological pre-1967 borders usufruct
trilogy Promised Land virtual water
• pastoral nomads Qur’an (Koran) water footprint
• urbanites remittances War on Terror
• villagers right of return weapons of mass
mullah risk minimization destruction (WMD)
“New Rome” “road map for peace” Western Wall
Night Journey Salafi youth bulge
Nile Water Agreement salinization zero-sum game
Noble Sanctuary (al- sand sea Zion
Haraam ash-Shariif) Second Temple Zionist movement
Occupied Territories security fence 1948–1949 Arab-Israeli
oil embargo sedentarization war
1973 Arab-Israeli war
Chapter Summary
The “Middle East” is a Eurocentric vernacular region developed by the British, who along with
the French in the Sykes-Picot Agreement, created many of the region’s boundaries after
defeating the Ottoman Turks in World War I.
Misleading stereotypes about the environment and people of the Middle East and North Africa
are common, as people outside the region often associate the region solely with military conflict
and terrorism.
Chapter 6: The Middle East and North Africa 78

The region has bestowed on humanity a rich legacy of ancient civilizations and the three great
monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Middle Easterners include Jews, Arabs, Turks, Persians, Berbers, people of sub-Saharan African
origin, and other ethnic groups who practice a wide variety of ancient and modern livelihoods.
The Middle Eastern ecological trilogy is made up of villagers, pastoral nomads, and urbanites.
Their interdependence has been mainly symbiotic, but there are also tensions between urban
governments and nomads. Villagers are the cornerstone of the trilogy because urbanites and
nomads depend on their food production.
Arabs are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East and North Africa, and there are also large
populations of ethnic Turks, Persians (Iranians), and Kurds. Islam is by far the largest religion.
Jews live almost exclusively in Israel, and there are minority Christian populations in several
countries.
Population growth rates in the region are moderate to high. Sixty percent of the region’s people
are less than 25 years old. The number of youth (people ages 15-24) in the region is estimated to
grow to 100 million in 2035. This “youth bulge” is a huge challenge for the region’s
development, and has played a major role in the Arab Spring and general discontent.
Oil wealth is concentrated in a handful of countries, and as a whole, this is a developing region.
The Middle East has served as a pivotal global crossroads, linking Asia, Europe, Africa, and the
Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean. These countries have historically been unwilling hosts
to occupiers and empires originating far beyond their borders.
The margins of this region are occupied by oceans, high mountains, and deserts. The land is
composed mainly of arid and semiarid plains and plateaus, together with considerable areas of
rugged mountains and isolated “seas” of sand.
Aridity dominates the environment, with at least three-fourths of the region receiving less than
10 inches (25 cm) of yearly precipitation. Great river systems and freshwater aquifers have
sustained large human populations.
Many of the plants and animals on which the world’s agriculture depends were first domesticated
in the Middle East.
The Middle Eastern “ecological trilogy” consists of peasant villagers, pastoral nomads, and city
dwellers. The relationships among them have been mainly symbiotic and peaceful, but city
dwellers have often dominated the relationship, and both pastoral nomads and urbanites have
sometimes preyed on the villagers, who are the trilogy’s cornerstone.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are Abrahamic faiths that have coexisted rather peacefully, with
political events of the past century bringing them to blows, including over sacred places in
Jerusalem.
The split between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims developed because the prophet Muhammad named
no successor to take his place as the leader (Caliph) of all Muslims. Some of his followers
argued that the person with the strongest leadership skills and greatest piety was best qualified to
assume his role. These followers became known as Sunni, or orthodox, Muslims. Others argued
that only direct descendants of Muhammad, could qualify as successors. They became known as
the Shi’ites. Three of the region’s countries, Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain, have Shi’ite majority
populations. There are significant minority populations of Shi’ites in Yemen and Lebanon.
Many Sunni Muslims revile Shi’ites as heretical, especially because of their iconographic
tendencies. Shi’ites seek the intercession of clerics, who are empowered to interpret God’s will
for them, whereas the Sunnis prize a direct and personal relationship with God.
Powerful currents of Sunni “fundamentalism” flow throughout the region and beyond.
“Salafists” adhere to an interpretation of Islam they believe is closer to the faith’s earliest tenets
and social norms and that most correctly follows sharia, or Islamic, law. Islamists favor
reordering government and society in accordance with sharia, but not all of them are terrorists,
meaning people who kill non-combatants.
About two-thirds of the world’s oil is here, making this one of the world’s most vital economic
and strategic regions.
Since World War II, several international crises and wars have been precipitated by events in the
Middle East. Strong outside powers depend heavily on this region for their current and future
industrial needs. Known as the “Carter Doctrine,” unimpeded access to Persian Gulf oil is one of
the pillars of U.S. foreign policy.
The region of the Middle East and North Africa is characterized by a high number of
chokepoints, strategic waterways that may be shut off by force, triggering conflict and economic
disruption.
Oil pipelines in the Middle East are routed both to shorten sea tanker voyages and to reduce the
threat to sea tanker traffic through chokepoints, but are themselves vulnerable to disruption.
Access to freshwater is a major problem in relations between Turkey and its downstream
neighbors, Egypt and its upstream neighbors, and Israel and its Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian
neighbors.
Al-Qa’ida and affiliated Islamist terrorist groups aim to drive the United States and its allied
governments from the region and to replace them with an Islamic caliphate. Al-Qa’ida is an
apocalyptic group that seeks to inflict mass casualties on its enemies, particularly on Americans
in their home country.
ISIS is another apocalyptic group that developed in Syria and Iraq in the wake of the 2003 U.S.
invasion of Iraq and subsequent withdrawal from the region. Unlike al-Qa’ida, ISIS targets
include Shi’ite Muslims, and ISIS persecutes and executes a wide range of enemies. It has
created what it calls the “Islamic Caliphate” in the heartland of the Middle East and with
effective PR and military tactics has greatly expanded its area of control and range of influence.
The United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 attempted a two state solution to the dilemma Britain
had created by promising land to both Arabs and Jews in Palestine. It envisioned geographically
fragmented states, making each side feel vulnerable to the other. War prevented the plan’s
implementation. The Arab-Israeli conflict has continued from that time, with Israel gaining
more territory and the indigenous Palestinians failing to acquire a country of their own. Principal
obstacles to peace between Israelis and Palestinians are the status of Jerusalem, the potential
return of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories, and
Israeli construction of a security barrier that penetrates into portions of the Palestinian West
Bank. Israel’s eastern neighbor, Jordan, has a majority Palestinian population.
The Arab Spring of 2011 was a wave of revolutions against autocratic regimes across the region,
notably in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, and Yemen. It has been followed by an “Arab
Fall” that has seen even more authoritarianism and numerous civil wars and international
entanglements.
Masdar is a “carbon-neutral” city under construction in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab
Emirates. The neighboring emirate of Dubai has capitalized on its geographical situation to
become a hub for aviation, financial services, and other profitable ventures beyond fossil fuel
exports. Dubai’s wealth has transformed the landscape and seascape with towering buildings
and with artificial islands threatened by poor design and rising sea levels.
Two-thirds of the world’s proven petroleum reserves are concentrated in a few countries that ring
the Persian-Arabian Gulf. Saudi Arabia controls more than one-fifth of the world’s oil.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq squandered its oil wealth on military misadventures, including
invasions of Iran and Kuwait. The Kuwait invasion led to an enormous U.S.-led counterattack
that devastated the country’s infrastructure and subjected it to years of economic sanctions. The
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 resulted in Saddam Hussein’s downfall and death, and an
eventual rise of ISIS, and an uncertain future for this ethnically diverse country (with large
Shi’ite Arab, Sunni Arab, and Kurdish populations) engaged in civil war. The rise of ISIS in
Iraq and Syria has presented the US with extremely difficult strategic challenges.
Iran’s oil revenues were used to modernize and Westernize the nation during the Pahlavi
dynasty. Rapid social change and uneven economic benefits precipitated a revolutionary Islamic
movement, which forced the Shah to abdicate and flee in 1979. Iran’s conservative, theocratic
Shi’ite government pervades all aspects of everyday life. Iran’s young population is agitating for
change, but the ruling clerics are resisting.
Iran has had difficult relations with the United States, most recently over its alleged nuclear
weapons program. US options for dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions are limited: strengthen
sanctions, strike militarily, or negotiate a settlement. Iran’s Sunni Arab neighbors, including
Saudi Arabia, are concerned about the U.S. strengthening Iran’s hand at their expense.
Turkey was formerly the seat of power for the Islamic Ottoman Empire. It is a secular nation
with membership in NATO and institutionally aspires to join the European Union. Turkey is at
odds with US over what to do about ISIS and did not actively join the U.S.-led coalition fighting
ISIS. Turkey is blessed with freshwater and good soil resources, and with its GAP project has
dammed Tigris and Euphrates watershed, aiming to create the “breadbasket of the Middle East.”
Lecture Outline
6.1 Area and Population
• Uneven distribution
• Youth bulge
6.2 Physical Geography and Human Adaptations

• A Region of Stark Geographic Contrasts
o Drought Avoidance
o Drought Endurance
• Villager, Pastoral Nomad, Urbanite: The Ecological Trilogy
• The Village Way of Life
• The Pastoral Nomadic Way of Life
• The Urban Way of Life
o Medina
o Megacities
6.3 Cultural and Historical Geographies

• Ethnicities and Languages
• The Arabic Faiths
o Judaism
o Christianity
o Islam
• The Promised Land of the Jews
o Archaeological
o Religious
• Christianity: Death and Resurrection in Jerusalem
o “New Rome”
• The Message of Islam
o People of the Book
o Ka’aba
o Qur’an (Koran)
o Pillars of Islam
o Hajj – Pilgrimage to Mecca
o Sharia – Islamic Law
6.4 Economic Geography

• “The Prize”
o Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
6.5 Geopolitical Issues

• Chokepoints
• Access to Oil
o War
• Access to Freshwater
o Hydropolitics
• Terrorism
o The Iranian Threat
o Al-Qa’ida and ISIS
• Implacable Iran
• Axis of Evil/Axis of Resistance
6.6 Regional Issues and Landscapes

• Israel and Palestine
o The Arab-Israeli conflict
o Arabs and Jews: The Demographic Dimension
o Land for Peace
▪ On the Brink of Peace
▪ Losing Ground Again
o The Arab Spring
o Stirring from Stagnation
o The Pharaoh Falls
o The Libyan Domino
o Syria’s Minority Dynasty Challenged
o Bahrain: A Pearl is Crushed
o Revolt in Yemen’s Mountainous Redoubt
o Hallmarks of the Revolution
o The Arab Fall
o Syria: ISIS Emerges from the Maelstrom
o Iraq and the United States: A Deadly Dance
▪ Gulf War I
▪ Gulf War II
• Ethnic Cleansing
o The Kurds
o The Pahlavis, the Ayatollahs, and the Youngsters of Iran
• Turkey: Where East Meets West
o Is Turkey European?
o Or Is Turkey a Great Middle Eastern Power?
• The Gulf Oil Region
o GIS Helps Turn an Arabian Mirage into Reality
Lecture Topics
• Trace and describe settlement patterns based on access to water.

• Discuss the desert climate, specifically the characteristic dryness. Identify Libya as the
location with the warmest surface air temperature ever recorded.
• Detail the geographical significance of the Dead Sea, as being the lowest surface
elevation on the planet.
• Explain the Middle East Ecological Trilogy.
• What is the Fertile Crescent?
• Characterize an Arab based on information from the text and other sources.
• How is the Middle East a cultural hearth?
o Birthplace of three major monotheistic religions
• Sunni vs. Shi’ite: What is the difference?
• Explain Jerusalem’s religious quarters.
• Discuss chokepoints.
• Discuss the importance of freshwater and the problems associated with access
• Identify and discuss terrorist groups: Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, and ISIL
• What is the significance of these places?
o the Gaza Strip
o West Bank
o Golan Heights
• Discuss Kurdistan.
• Should Turkey be in the European Union? Why or why not?
• Give a detailed account of the Arab Spring.
Review Questions
1. What countries constitute the Middle East and North Africa?
The countries in the Middle East literally, in a physical sense, occupy the “middle” area
where Africa, Asia, and Europe meet and the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean meet.
Although many disagree on the actual interpretation of which countries are in the Middle
East, one thought is that this area is comprised only of the countries around the Arabian
Peninsula. However, others state that the Middle East and North Africa region spans from
Morocco in northwest Africa, to Iran in central Asia, and from Turkey on Europe’s
southeastern corner, to Sudan, which adjoins East Africa. The Middle East and North Africa
region is often referred to by the acronym MENA, and others prefer to call the region
southwest Asia.
The Middle East and North Africa region includes 21 countries, the Palestinian territories of
West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the disputed Western Sahara.
a. Which are the three most populous?
The three most populous countries in the region are Turkey, Iran, and Egypt.
Yemen, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories, which consist of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, have the fastest population growth rates in the Middle East region. These are
actually some of the highest population growth rates in the world.
b. What economic resources do the least and most populous countries have, and how
do internal growth and international migration affect the countries’ development?
The MENA countries rich in oil tend to have relatively small populations, whereas the
most populous nations have few oil reserves (Iran is the exception). Altogether, the Gulf
countries have about 800 billion barrels of proven reserves of crude oil (by comparison,
Canada has 173 billion; the United states 20 billion; and Mexico 10 billion). Natural gas
is another significant fossil fuel resource in the region. Iran has MENA’s largest
reserves, with 16 percent of the world’s total.
The era of continually expanding OPIC oil production, sales, and profits seemed to come
to an end in the 1980’s. After 1973, the high price of oil stimulated oil development in
countries outside of OPEC. Oil conservation measures such as a shift to more fuel-
efficient vehicles and factories were introduced. Decreased business activity reduced the
demand for oil.
Oil prices have risen and fallen ever since, but the immense oil and gas reserves still in
the ground guarantee that the Gulf region will continue to have major long-term influence
in world affairs and will remain prosperous as along as these finite resources are in
demand. The oil-driven construction booms taking place on the Arabian Peninsula are
responsible for the largest regional migration in the world, from South and East Asia to
the Gulf.
2. What are the major climatic patterns of the Middle East?
In the Middle East and Africa, aridity dominates, as at least three-fourths of the region
receives less than 10 inches of rain each year on average. This vast area of aridity includes
the world’s largest desert, the Sahara. Near the Mediterranean Sea, where 15 to 40 inches of
precipitation fall each year, a different climatic pattern is noted. In this area, a Mediterranean
climate pattern, which usually entails a warm and dry summer with the majority of
precipitation falling in the wintertime, allows for some type of crop growing. Another type
of climatic pattern in this region is referred to as the monsoonal climate, which brings
summer rainfall and autumn harvests to areas in the southwestern Arabian Peninsula.
a. Where are the principal mountains, deserts, rivers, and areas of high rainfall?
In the Middle East and North Africa region, there are three primary mountainous regions,
including the northwestern Africa between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara, the
Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia which reach over 13,000 feet, and a
mountainous range on both sides of the Red Sea in Yemen.
Mountainous areas in the region, like the river valleys and the margin of the
Mediterranean, are important to the area since due to elevation, this area receives much
more rainfall than the surrounding lowlands. Ultimately, this increase in precipitation
amounts enables this area to better support human populations and national economies.
The world’s largest desert, the Sahara, is located in the northern portion of Africa. In
addition to this desert, the region also has many other arid areas, such as the sand seas,
which are located on the western side of Egypt and on the Arabian Peninsula.
The major rivers of the area include the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, and Jordan. The area
connecting the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the Nile River is often referred to as the
Fertile Crescent.
3. Why can this region be described as a culture hearth?
A heart is a place where something begins, so a culture hearth is the birthplace of culture.
This could include many cultural traits: language, religion, agriculture, customs, etc.
Cultures originate in a hearth and then diffuse or spread outward.
Yes, Egypt and Mesopotamia are among the world’s great culture hearths.
a. What major ideas, commodities, and cultures originated there?
The Middle East is the origin of three major monotheistic religions: Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. In addition, the area is home to multiple innovations in
agriculture, including domestication of many plants and animals between 5,000 and
10,000 years ago. The list includes wheat, barley, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs whose
wild ancestors were processed, manipulated, and bred until their physical makeup and
behavior changed to suit human needs.
4. What are the major ethnic groups, and in which countries are they found?
Arabs are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East and North Africa, and there are also
large populations of ethnic Turks, Persians (Iranians), and Kurds. The section below details
each ethnic group including the countries in which they are found.
a. What is an Arab?
An Arab is a person of Semitic Arab ethnicity whose ancestral language is Arabic. Arabs
were originally inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, but conquests after their majority
conversion to Islam took them as far west as Spain and Morocco.
b. A Jew?
Originally, Jews were both a distinct ethnic and linguistic group of the Middle East who
practiced the religion of Judaism. However, many Jews do not practice their religion but
still consider themselves technically or culturally Jewish, as this ethnicity has a strong
and resilient identity.
c. A Turk?
Found in great numbers in Turkey, a Turk who speaks Turkish, which is a member of the
Altaic language family and comprises a large population of non-Semitic ethnic groups
and languages in the region.
d. A Kurd?
A Kurd is an individual living in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, or Armenia who speaks
Kurdish, which is an Indo-European Language. This group consists of approximately 30
million people.
e. A Persian?
A person of Iran, who speaks the Indo-European language family of Persian. This group
consists of approximately 41 million people.
f. A Muslim?
A follower or believer of the religion of Islam, which is a monotheistic faith, built on the
region’s earliest faith of Judaism and its offspring Christianity. Islam is the dominant
religion in the Middle East and North Africa. Only Israel has a non-Muslim majority.
5. What are the components of the Middle Eastern ecological trilogy, and how do they
interact?
The Middle Eastern ecological trilogy is made up of villagers, pastoral nomads, and
urbanites. Their interdependence has been mainly symbiotic, but there are also tensions
between urban governments and nomads.
a. Which component is clearly the “cornerstone” of the trilogy, and why?
Villagers are the cornerstone of the trilogy because urbanites and nomads depend on
their food production.
b. What is the geographic pattern of the classic Middle Eastern medina?
In the traditional Middle Eastern medina, there was no large public space where large
numbers of people could gather. However, spacious traffic hubs that doubled as
public squares were established in the post-colonial modern Middle Eastern cities.
6. What are the principal beliefs and historical geographic milestones of Jews, Christians,
and Muslims?
All three are Abrahamic traditions; they regard Abraham as their patriarch, and they share
many fundamental beliefs. The first to emerge was the faith of Judaism, which is practiced
by about 14 million people worldwide today. It was the first significant monotheistic faith.
Judaism does not have a fixed creed or doctoring, in fact, Jews are encouraged to behave in
this life in compliance with God’s laws, which according to the Torah; God gave to Moses
on Mount Sinai as a covenant with God’s “chosen people”. In the Torah, the coming of a
savior is prophesied, but the Jews do not recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of that prophecy
and so do not accept the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
The Jews do however have a strong geographical connection with particular sacred places in
the Middle East, particularly with places in Jerusalem. Another geographic region that is
often associated with Jews is Palestine, the area now composed of Israel, the West Bank, and
the Gaza Strip. This area was identified in God’s command to Abraham and his kinspeople,
known as Hebrews (later as Jews), to leave their home in southern Iraq and settle in Canaan,
geographic Palestine. The command said that this Promised Land would belong to the
Hebrews after a long period of persecution.
Judaism’s First Temple was built in about 950 B.C.E. in Jerusalem and The Ark of the
Covenant was placed inside the Temple’s Holy of Holies. However, about 200 years later,
Empires based in Mesopotamia destroyed these states and several attacks were incurred. In
the midst of these attacks, the First Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were exiled.
Then, about 520 B.C.E. the Jews who returned to Judah rebuilt the temple on its original site,
but a succession of foreign empires came to rule the Jews and Arabs of Palestine. The Jews
of Palestine revolted against this foreign Roman rule three times, resulting in sieges that
destroyed the Second Temple, leaving only the Western Wall or what the Jews refer to as the
Wailing Wall which is the most sacred site in the world accessible to Jews today.
Then, in the 1930s, anti-Semitism became state policy in Germany under the Nazis, led by
Adolf Hitler. During this time, Hitler initiated the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish Problem”
by shipping Jews to prison camps and eventually murdering all of the Jews that could be
rounded up throughout the Nazi Empire. The Nazi Germans and their allies killed an
estimated 6 million Jews. Many of those who were able to flee before torment went to the
United States and others immigrated to Palestine.
Another distinction that sets Christianity and Islam apart from Judaism is that Judaism is not
a proselytizing religion; it does not seek converts. Jewish identity is based strongly on a
common historical experience shared over thousands of years. That historical experience has
included deep-seated geographic associations with particular sacred places in the Middle
East, particularly with places in Jerusalem, capital of ancient Judah (Judea), the province
from which Jews take their name. Tragically, the Jewish history also has included
unparalleled persecution.
Nearly a thousand years after Solomon established the Jews’ First Temple, a new but closely
related monotheistic faith emerged in Palestine. This was Christianity, named for Jesus
Christ (Christ is Greek for “Anointed One”, the equivalent of the Hebrew word for Messiah).
Jesus, a Jew, was born near Jerusalem in Bethlehem, probably around 4 BCE. Tradition
relates that when he was about 30 years old, Jesus began spreading the word that he was the
Messiah, the deliverer of humankind long prophesied in Jewish doctrine. A small group of
disciples accepted that he was the Messiah, the Son of God and a living manifestation of God
Himself. They followed him for several years as he preached his message. He taught that
the only path to God was through Him, and that faith in Christ as God’s Son and as the
redeemer of humanity’s sins was the key to salvation. Christianity is built upon a Jewish
foundation: the common scriptures of Judaism and Christianity are known as the Hebrew
Bible. Theologically, Christians would argue that Jews have the correct foundation but did
not accept God’s complete message, which continues beyond the Hebrew Bible to the new
covenant, or the New Testament.
Islam is by far the dominant religion in the Middle East and North Africa; only Israel, has a
non-Muslim majority. Because of Islam’s powerful influence not merely as a set of religious
practices but as a way of life, an understanding of the religious tenets, culture, and diffusion
of Islam is vital for appreciating the region’s cultural geography. Islam is a monotheistic
faith built on the foundations of the region’s earliest monotheistic faith, Judaism, and its
offspring, Christianity. Indeed, Muslims (people who practice Islam) believe that their
prophet, Muhammad, was the very last in a series of prophets who brought the Word of God
to humankind. Thus, they perceive the Bible as incomplete but not entirely wrong, Jews and
Christians merely missed receiving the entire message (just as Christians would insist that
Jews missed the entire message). Muslims do not accept the Christian concept of the divine
Trinity (God manifested in the form of the Father, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) and
regard Jesus as a prophet rather than as God. Muhammad was born in 570 c.e. to a poor
family in the western Arabian (now Saudi Arabian) city of Mecca. Located on an important
north–south caravan route linking the frankincense-producing area of southern Arabia (now
Yemen and Oman) with markets in Palestine (now Israel) and Syria, Mecca was a prosperous
city at the time. It was also a pilgrimage destination because more than 300 deities were
venerated in a shrine there called the Ka’aba (the Cube. Muhammad married into a wealthy
family and worked in the caravan trade. Muslim tradition holds that when he was about 40
years old, Muhammad was meditating in a cave outside Mecca when the Angel Gabriel
appeared to him and ordered him to repeat the words of God that the angel would recite to
him. Over the next 22 years, the prophet related these words of God (whom Muslims call
Allah) to scribes who wrote them down as the Qur’an (or Koran), the holy book of Islam.
a. What traditions and beliefs do they share?
Jews and Arabs recognize Abraham as their patriarch. Arabic is a Semitic language in
the same Afro-Asiatic language family as Hebrew, which is spoken by most of the 6.1
million Jewish inhabitants of Israel. Also, the accounts of Noah are shared between
all three religions.
7. What is the difference between Shi’ite and Sunni Islam?
Very early in the development of Islam, a schism occurred, which led to the split of followers
of the Prophet Muhammad because he had not named a successor to take his place as the
leader of all the Muslims. Therefore, some of his followers argued that the person with the
strongest leadership skills and greatest piety was the best qualified to assume this role. Those
in favor of this idea became known as Sunni or orthodox Muslims. However, other followers
argued that only direct descendants of Muhammad, specifically through descent from his
cousin and son-in-law Ali, could qualify as successors. This group of followers became
known as Shi’ite Muslims.
a. How and where do these differences play out in political and other aspects of life
in the region?
Only three of the region’s countries, Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain, have Shi’ite majority
populations (Azerbaijan is also majority Shi’ite). Iran’s government is a Shi’ite
theocracy. There are significant minority populations of Shi’ites in Yemen and
Lebanon as well as India and Pakistan. Conflicts between Shi’ites and Sunnis are
central features in the region’s modern political geography. When you talk with
Muslims about these sects, you may find that they downplay the differences and
stress the unity of Islam.
8. What are “Islamist” movements?
Mainstream Islamist movements are not military or terrorist organizations and have
distinguished themselves through public service to the needy. Many non-Muslims of the
West have suggested that ISIS is not Islam at all, but a “death cult” dressed in Islamic
guise.
a. Who are jihadists?
Militants who use violence or terrorism to spread their interpretation of Islam.
b. What groups are clearly terrorists?
Although not all Islamists are militant or terrorist, they all reject what they view as
the materialism and moral corruption of Western countries and the political military
support these countries lend to Israel.
Hizbullah, Hamas, al-Qa’ida, and ISIS
c. What are Hizbullah, Hamas, al-Qa’ida and ISIS, and what are they seeking and
doing?
Hizbollah: (“Party of God”) are Shi’ite Muslim pro-Iranian
Hamas: (Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement) are Sunni Muslim
Palestinian members
ISIS: (Acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) are Sunni-rooted and considers
every religion stripe but its own to be heretical and deserving of the most gruesome
death sentence.
Al-Qa’ida wants to control geographic space, especially sacred space. The ultimate
goal of al-Qa’ida is to reestablish the Caliphate—the empire of Islam’s early golden
age—and thereby empower a formidable array of truly Islamic states to wage war on
the United States and its allies.
For ISIS, the Caliphate is a precondition for all events in its career. Isis has an even
stronger apocalyptic vision than al-Qa’ida. This group believes that by terrorizing
civilian populations it can precipitate a military response by the “Crusaders” and
hasten the end time with a decisive battle at Dabiq. This will be followed by another
conflagration in Jerusalem and the appearance of Jesus.
9. Where is oil concentrated in this region?
Oil is concentrated around the Arabian Peninsula, and specifically the Persian or Arabian
Gulf area in the Middle East region. The oil bearing strata in this area is unusually thick
which results in a large quantity of oil in one area and the ability to maintain oil producing
wells for a longer period of time. These factors collectively make Middle East oil cheaper to
produce relative to oil in most other areas of the world.
10. What is the Carter Doctrine?
The Carter Doctrine was a foreign policy statement by the United States in 1979, as a result
of the Soviets invading Afghanistan. The thought that the Soviets might use Afghanistan as a
launching pad to reach oil rich Iran was unacceptable to then president Jimmy Carter.
Therefore, this Doctrine explained in detail that any attempt by an outside force to gain
control over the Persian Gulf would ultimately be seen as a threat and would result in the use
of military force or other assault as seen fit.
11. What options does the United States have in dealing with Iran’s suspected nuclear
weapons development program?
In Western capitals, concern about “state-sponsored terrorism” has long focused on Iran.
Iran has extended both open and clandestine assistance to a variety of Islamist terrorist
groups, including Hizbullah and Hamas. There is great concern about Iran’s nuclear
weapons potential because such weapons might find their way to terrorist groups or be
delivered by Iran itself on its own missiles against Israel or another target. Iran insists that its
nuclear program is aimed only at electricity generation and medical research, and denies that
it is developing weapons. American and Israeli intelligence agencies, however, believe Iran
is on course to create nuclear weapons some time before 2016. Iran threatened to close the
Strait of Hormuz when Western powers imposed sanctions against Iran for ramping up its
nuclear program in 2012.
12. What are upstream and downstream countries, and which are usually the more
powerful?
Upstream and downstream countries refer to a country’s location along a stream or river
relative to other countries along the same river or its tributaries. Upstream means up river or
nearer the beginning of the river where as downstream means down river or nearer the end or
mouth of the river. Downstream countries at the mouth of the river usually have more
control over access to the river, who and what is shipped up and down the river. This more
prevalent on larger rivers and largely economical in impact. In contrast, upstream countries
have more control over water usage and pollution, often agricultural and urban wastes that
enter the river. This is more prevalent on smaller rivers and can have major impacts on
agricultural irrigation and drinking water.
a. What are the exceptions to this rule? What are the hydropolitical issues of the
Nile basin?
A useful way to think about the geography of hydropolitics is in terms of upstream and
downstream countries. Simply because water flows downhill, an upstream country is
usually able to maximize its water use at the expense of a downstream country (a
situation described as a zero-sum game, where any gain by one party represents an
equivalent loss to the other). However, the situation between Israel and the countries
upstream on the Yarmuk shows that this is not always true. Although downstream, Israel
is far more powerful militarily and can use the threat of force to wrest more water out of
the system. Historically, Egypt has also defied the norm of upstream countries exercising
their power over downstream countries. Egypt is the ultimate downstream country, at the
mouth of a great river that runs through five countries and sustains about 170 million
people (a population that is expected to double in about 20 years. However, it has long
been the strongest country in the Nile Basin and has threatened to use its greater force if
it does not get the water it wants. In 1926, when the British ruled Egypt and many other
colonies in Africa, 10 countries located on the Nile and its tributaries upstream of Egypt
were compelled to sign the Nile Water Agreement. This guaranteed Egyptian access to
75 percent of the river’s flow, even though barely a drop of the Nile’s waters actually
originates in Egypt.
b. According to Lester Brown, what three steps can be taken to avert conflict over
Nile waters?
1. Reduce population growth,
2. Grow crops that are less demanding of water, and
3. Go back to the negotiating table for a new Nile Water Agreement.
13. What precipitated the various conflicts between Israel and its Arab neighbors?
The Arab-Israeli conflict is above all a conflict over who owns the land, sometimes very
small pieces of land, and is therefore of extreme interest in the study of geography. It is also
a conflict that has repercussions far beyond the boundaries of the small countries and
territories involved. It has not been resolved, in part because the central issues are closely
tied to such life-giving resources as land and water, and to deeply held and unyielding
religious beliefs.
During World War I, British administrators of Palestine had made conflicting promises to
Jews and Arabs. They implied that they would create an independent Arab state in Palestine
and yet at the same time vowed to promote Jewish immigration to Africa Palestine with an
eye to the eventual establishment of a Jewish state there. The Palestinians, Arabs who
historically formed the largest majority of the region’s inhabitants, did not welcome the
ensuing Jewish immigration and rioted against both the migrants and the British
administration. Militant Jews attacked British interests in Palestine, hoping to precipitate a
British withdrawal. Placing themselves in a no-win position with these conflicting promises
and under increasing pressure from both Jews and Arabs, in 1947 the British decided to
withdraw from Palestine and leave the young United Nations with the task of determining the
region’s future. The United Nations responded in 1947 with the two-state solution to the
problem of Palestine. It established an Arab state (which would have been called Palestine)
and a Jewish state (Israel). The two-state plan was deeply flawed. The states’ territories
were long, narrow, and fragmented, giving each side a sense of vulnerability and insecurity.
a. How did each of these conflicts rearrange the political map?
When Israel declared itself into existence in May 1948, the armies of the neighboring
Arab countries of Transjordan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon mobilized. In what
Israelis call “the War of Independence” and Palestinians call “the Catastrophe” (al-
Nakba), the smaller but better-organized and more highly motivated Israeli army defeated
the Arab armies, and Israel acquired what have come to be known as its pre-1967
borders.
The Six-Day War of 1967 fundamentally rearranged the region’s political landscape in
Israel’s favor, setting the stage for subsequent struggles and the peace process. This
conflict was precipitated in part when Egypt, by positioning arms at the Strait of Tiran
chokepoint, closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping. Egypt’s President Nasser and
his Arab allies took several other belligerent but nonviolent steps toward a war they strike
on its Arab neighbors, virtually destroying the Egyptian and Syrian air forces on the
ground. Israel gave Jordan’s King Hussein an opportunity to stay out of the conflict.
However, Jordan went to war and quickly lost the entire West Bank and the historic and
sacred Old City of Jerusalem. The entire nation of Israel was transfixed by the news that
Jewish soldiers were praying at the Western Wall. The Israeli army (Israeli Defense
Forces, or IDF) also seized the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula (shutting down the
Suez Canal), and the strategic Golan Heights section of Syria overlooking Israel’s Galilee
region. These three pieces of land would henceforth be known to the world as the
Occupied Territories. Israel had tripled its territory in six days of fighting.
14. What lands did the peace process of the Oslo Accords yield to Palestinian control?
U.S. President Bill Clinton orchestrated a historic handshake between Arafat and the Israeli
prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and the leaders signed an agreement known as the Gaza-
Jericho Accord (in its implementation, it came to be known as the Oslo I Accord, after the
Norwegian capital where it was negotiated). It was designed to pave a pathway to peace by
Israel’s granting of limited autonomy, or self-rule, in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank
town of Jericho. Autonomy meant that the Palestinians were responsible for their own affairs
in matters of education, culture, health, taxation, and tourism. Israel also pulled its troops out
of these areas. Palestinians were allowed to form their own government, known as the
Palestinian Authority (PA), and they elected Yasser Arafat as its first president. The accord
established a five-year timetable for the resolution of much more difficult matters, the so-
called final status issues. These included the political status of Jewish and Muslim holy
places in Jerusalem and of the city itself, the possible return of Palestinian refugees (the
“right of return”), the future of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories, and
Palestinian statehood (independence).
a. What is the current situation in those areas?
To this day, the final status issues are the ones that prevent the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
from being settled.
b. Who controls the Gaza Strip and the West Bank?
In the wake of a deal known as the Wye Agreement, or Oslo II Accord, three successive
Israeli prime ministers (Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak) promised
to transfer more West Bank lands from Israeli to Palestinian control. Arafat promised
increased Palestinian efforts to crack down on Palestinian terrorists and so guarantee the
security of Israelis in the Palestinian territories and in Israel. If finally implemented, this
arrangement would have brought the total of West Bank lands under complete Palestinian
control to 17 percent, leaving 57 percent completely in Israeli hands and 26 percent under
joint control.
During his final year in office in 2000, U.S. President Clinton sought to solidify his
legacy as peacemaker by brokering a historic final settlement between Israelis and
Palestinians. PLO Chairman Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Barak huddled with
Clinton and his advisers in the residential retreat at Camp David, a site chosen because of
its historical significance in Middle East peacemaking. Over weeks of tough
negotiations, mostly over the “final status” issues, the two sides came close to a deal.
Tragically, within weeks, this historic opportunity for peace evaporated and was replaced
by a state of war.
c. What steps has Israel taken to ensure its security?
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel set the
precedent in 1979: Arabs could make peace with Israel on the formula of “land for
peace,” with Israel swapping Arab lands it occupied in 1968 in exchange for peace with
its neighbors. The United States, Russia, and Norway initiated negotiations in the 1990s
that made such a prospect appear possible. The process began in earnest in 1993, when
Israel recognized legitimacy of, and began to negotiate with, the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO). In return the PLO, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat,
recognized Israel’s right to exist and renounced its long-standing use of military and
terrorist force against Israel resulting in a signed agreement known as the Gaza-Jericho
Accord.
d. What problems are associated with Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories?
The accord established a five-year timetable for the resolution of much more difficulty
matters; the so-called final status issues. These included the political status of Jewish
and Muslim holy places in Jerusalem and of the city itself, the possible return of
Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories, and
Palestinian statehood.
15. What are the pros and cons of Egypt’s Aswan High Dam?
Meanwhile, Egypt’s demands on Nile waters are increasing. Following on the ambitious
Aswan High Dam, Egypt recently built the multibillion-dollar Africa Toshka Canal, which
transports water from Lake Nasser over a distance of 100 miles (160 km) to the Kharga Oasis
of the Western Desert (see Figure 6.24). Proponents of the canal insist that it will result in
the cultivation of nearly 2,350 square miles (c. 6,100 sq km) of “new” land and provide a
living for hundreds of thousands of people. Critics argue that it is a waste of money and that
salinization and evaporation will take a huge toll on the cultivated land and the country’s
water supply.
16. What are virtual water and water footprints, and why are these important in this
region?
Two British professors trying to figure out how Middle Eastern countries can conserve their
scarce water supplies while also growing their economies came up with a concept of “virtual
water”. The answer was to import certain foods, especially those demanding a lot of water to
produce, rather than trying to produce them domestically. This would save the Middle
Eastern countries a lot of virtual water, defined as the total volume of freshwater needed to
produce and process a commodity or service. The hidden amount of water use can be
revealed by measuring the commodity’s “water footprint”, a component of greater
“ecological footprint” and “human footprint”.
17. What were essential elements of the Arab Spring, especially in Egypt, and what
happened to the “Arab Fall?”
On December 17, 2010, in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid, a 26-year-old vegetable vendor
named Muhammad Bouazizi was shaken down for a bribe by a city inspector. Muhammad
had paid the $7 to the inspectors many times before, but this time he protested. The inspector
and her companions took apples from his rolling cart and confiscated his scale. The young
man went to the local governor’s office to lodge a complaint but was denied entry. Later in
the day, he returned to the governor’s office, shouting from the street, “How do you expect
me to earn a living?” He poured paint thinner over his body and lit a match. Flames
consumed his body. This was the flourishing of Tunisian resentment against the rule of the
autocratic President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali had been growing throughout his more than two
decades in power. Ben Ali’s family was estimated to have directly or indirectly controlled
half of the country’s economy. Protestors poured into the streets of Tunisian cities, bearing
signs reading “We are all Muhammad Bouazizi!” and calling for Ben Ali’s resignation.
Demonstrators soon numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and Ben Ali began to make
political concessions, but it was too late. Within a month of the start of what became known
as the Jasmine Revolution, Ben Ali’s own generals turned against him. Ben Ali and his
family fled to Saudi Arabia. The first domino had fallen. Protests soon erupted in a dozen
other countries across the Middle East and North Africa. The experiences in each of these
countries were diverse, and it would take an entire book to describe them!
Over the past decade, the number of people of working age in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon,
Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia have grown by 2.7 percent, faster than any other world region
except sub-Saharan Africa. Egypt has MENA’s biggest youth bulge: 60 percent of Egypt’s
83 million people are under 25. Euphoria gave way to hard realities in Egypt. Instability
reigned while the army held power in anticipation of democratic elections. Violent sectarian
clashes broke out between Muslims and Coptic Christians, leaving scores of people dead.
The economy tanked, at least 10 percent of which relies on tourism, and for a while, almost
no one wanted to visit Egypt. Foreign investment dried up.
The terrible economic conditions that brought people out on the street to begin with only
became worse. People began talking about going back to the streets for another revolution,
and by late November, they were again in Tahrir Square in great numbers, this time
challenging the army. Egyptians began voting in truly democratic parliamentary elections
that brought members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other “modern Islamists” to power.
These peaceful, democratic elections were a first for Egypt and might be an inspiration for
many in the Arab World. Egypt’s critical peace treaty with Israel was tested on several
fronts: Egyptian rioters sacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo, skirmishes broke out between
Egyptian and Israeli forces on the Sinai frontier, and Libyan weapons began making their
way overland through Egypt into the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
a. What country evolved as the most successful after its Arab Spring uprising?
The Assad regime remained in power with the support of Iran and Russia, and on its
western flank by help from Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hizbullah. On the other side, elements
of the Sunni-dominated opposition gained the support of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
and other Arab states, along with the U.S., UK, and France.
18. What are the objectives of the MASDAR project?
The MASDAR project revolves around the idea of developing a futuristic city in Abu Dhabi,
which will be “carbon-neutral”. The purpose of this project is to create a settlement unlike
any other in the world, which will minimize the carbon dioxide which it produces while
neutralizing or offsetting the emissions that are created. Energy for MASDAR is to be
produced by renewable resources and MASDAR will be zero-waste.
19. What is the ethnic composition of Iraq?
Iraq has three major groups present: Shi’ite Arabs, mainly in the south, who make up 60
percent of the country’s population; the Sunni Arabs, about 35 percent of the total and living
mainly in the center; and the Kurds, mainly in the north, most of whom are Sunni Muslims
and who represent 10 to 20 percent of the total.
20. What happened when Saddam Hussein’s troops invaded Kuwait?
Beginning in January 1991, the coalition’s crushing air war drove the Iraqi air force from the
skies, severely damaged Iraq’s infrastructure, and hammered the Iraqi forces in Kuwait and
adjacent southern Iraq with intensive bombardment.
In the ensuing ground war, the Iraqis were driven from Kuwait within 100 hours. Overall, an
estimated 110,000 Iraqi soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed, while the
technologically superior coalition forces suffered 340 combat deaths. As they withdrew from
Kuwait, the Iraqis also made war on the environment, setting fire to hundreds of oil wells in
Kuwait and allowing damaged wells to discharge huge amounts of crude oil into the Gulf. A
formal cease-fire to the Gulf War came in 1991, with harsh conditions imposed on Iraq by
the UN Security Council. Unsponsored economic sanctions created shortages of food and
medical supplies, bringing great hardship to the country’s population. Iraq agreed to pay
reparations for the damage its forces had caused, and it renounced its claims to Kuwait.
a. What happened when they invaded Iran?
One of the main reasons Iraq took on its immediate neighbors in two separate wars was to
widen its access to the Persian Gulf. In 1980, perceiving internal weakness in the
neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran and a means of securing land and mineral resources
on the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, Saddam Hussein launched an invasion
of his more populous neighbor. Thus began an eight-year war that proved enormously
costly to both sides, with an estimated 500,000 people killed or wounded. Iran mounted a
far better defense than Iraq anticipated, expending its greater military personnel in bloody
“human wave” assaults to counter Iraq’s greater fire power from tanks, artillery, machine
guns, and warplanes. A complex web of geopolitical relationships made the Iran-Iraq
War a storm center in the political world, particularly as the superpowers and other
countries sold sophisticated arms to both sides. The war ended in stalemate in 1988, with
neither side gaining significant territory nor other assets.
b. Why did the U.S. invade Iraq in 2003, and what do historians now say about
subsequent events there and in Syria?
Publicly, Washington built the case that Iraq was harboring and continuing to develop
weapons of mass destruction that might be used against the United States and its allies.
The United States was able to prompt further United Nations pressure on Iraq, which
finally allowed UN weapons inspectors to resume their work. When the inspections
failed to turn up weapons, the United States insisted that Iraq was hiding them and that
only the use of force could remove this threat.
The U.S.-led ground and air assault on Iraq (dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom) that began
in March 2003 led quickly and with relatively few casualties to the downfall of Iraqi
regime.
Viewed through a historical lens, the Iraq war was a miscalculation by the United States.
The claim that there were weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was a
costly intelligence failure. The allegations of Saddam Hussein’s connection with al-
Qa’ida were false. In the wake of 9/11, the Gulf War squandered American lives and
military resources.
c. What is the “Pottery Barn” analogy of American responsibilities in Iraq?
The occupation played into the hands of conspiracy theories created by Osama bin Laden
and other terrorists, and it sowed the seeds of the terrorist group ISIS by disempowering
Iraq’s Sunni Arabs and empowering its Shi’ites. Could the U.S. simply walk away and
leave the problems to Iraq and its neighbors? Some analysts say “no”, citing the “Pottery
Barn” analogy, which states “you break it, you own it (or fix it).
d. How is ISIS related to the war that began in 2003?
Sunni resistant against the United States grew. Using roadside IEDs, car bombs, small
arms, and rocket-propelled grenades, Sunni militants were able to inflict American
causalities on an almost daily basis. Predictably, al-Qa’ida used the U.S. occupation of
Iraq as a rallying cry for intensified resistance against the United States. A well-
organized insurgency officially linked with al-Qa’ida started up, under the leadership of
Jordanian-born Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi. His al-Qa’ida in Iraq organization, which later
morphed into ISIS.
e. What critical decisions must the United States make in Iraq?
In invading Iraq, the United States lost most of the international sympathy and goodwill
that grew out of 9/11. The United States inadvertently fulfilled many of Iran’s ambitions
in Iraq. Finally, the United States created enemies in Islamic countries who perceived
that the United States was at war with Muslims. The United States inadvertently played
into the hands of the conspiracies theories created by Osama bin Laden and other
terrorists. About 4,400 U.S. soldiers and perhaps 150,000 Iraqi soldiers died during the
war. About 5 million Iraqis became refugees, with about half fleeing abroad (mainly to
countries in the Arab World) and half displaced internally.
21. Where do Kurds live, and what are their prospects for autonomy or independence?
An estimated 2 million more Kurds live outside the Middle East. In an effort to ward off
Kurdish independence, the Kurds’ neighbors have long tried to stiffly Kurdish culture.
Turkish officials have long downplayed the identity of Kurds, often referring to them as
“Mountain Turks,” and banned or restricted Kurdish-language media in Turkey until 2002.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq tried to “Arabize” its Kurds by forcing them to renounce their
ethnicity and sign forms saying they were Arabs. However, after a no-fly zone and “safe
haven” established after Gulf War I put them beyond Saddam Hussein’s reach. Iraq’s Kurds
came to enjoy relative autonomy and prosperity.
22. What were some of the grievances against the Pahlavi dynasty that led to revolution in
Iran?
In the 1920s, a military officer of peasant origin, Reza Khan, seized control of the
government and began a program to modernize Iran and free it from foreign domination. He
had himself crowned as Reza Shah Pahlavi, the founder of the new Pahlavi dynasty.
Influenced by the modernizing efforts of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in neighboring Turkey, the
new shah (king) introduced social and economic reforms. In 1941, his young son took the
throne as Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. A decade later, intervention by the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped to solidify the shah’s absolute rule of Iran. The shah then
set out to expand the program of modernization and Westernization begun by his father. In
the 1970s, Iran played a leading role in raising world oil prices. Mounting oil revenues
underwrote explosive industrial, urban, and social development.
a. What changes has the Islamic regime brought to the country?
Under Khomeini (who died in 1989), the country became an Islamic republic governed
by Shi’ite clerics, who included a handful of revered and powerful ayatollahs at the head
of the religious establishment, and an estimated 180,000 priests Africa called mullahs.
Khomeini served as the Guardian Theologian, an infallible supreme leader enshrined by
the principle of divine rule by clerics (velayet-e-faqih). These religious leaders continue
to supervise all aspects of Iranian life and perform many functions allotted to civil
servants in most countries. They base their authority on Shi’ite interpretations of Islam
(about 90 percent of Iran’s 78 million people are Shi’ites).
23. What three options has the United States weighed in response to Iran’s nuclear
weapons program?
The United States was weighing three difficult options in response to Iran’s nuclear weapons
threat. As U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates noted, “There are no good options on Iran”.
First, it could engage in diplomatic dialogue with Iran, as it had done with North Korea,
offering a package of incentives and security guarantees in exchange for Iran’s pledge to halt
weapons development. The United States and Iran do share some common interests, notably
stability in Iraq; Iran does not want to deal with strong new Sunni or Kurdish states there, or
with the tide of refugees that more Iraqi conflict would send its way. Second, the United
States could impose even harsher sanctions than it has already against Iran, especially to cut
off investment and finance (the United Nations, European Union, and several countries also
have levied sanctions against Iran). Finally, with or without coordination with Israel, the
United States could launch military strikes on Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons development
sites, beginning at facilities northeast of the Shi’ite holy city of Qum, at nearby Natanz and
Arak, and near the Gulf city of Bushehr.
a. Who are the “P5+1” and what is their role?
P5+1, in 2015, is the five permanent members of the UN plus Germany where they
achieved an interim agreement with Iran that, if finalized, would offer a package of
incentives, including lifting sanctions and offering security guarantees, in exchange for
Iran’s pledge to halt weapons development.
24. In what ways is Turkey an “in-between” country, and how is Turkey’s role in the
region and in the international arena changing?
Turkey can be referred to an as “in-between” country in various aspects, geographically it is

at the junction of the Middle East, Russian, and European regions, economically it is near the
line between MDCs and LDCs. Turkey is also “in-between” in regards to culture, as it is
between traditional Islamic and secular European ways of living. In addition, Turkey is also
physically sectioned into different parts, with one portion in Europe. More so than culturally,
economically Turkey would like to be associated with the European region and the European
Union.
Answers to MindTap Exercises
Global Geoscience Watch
1. b
2. c
3. biotic
Google Earth
1. 26 34.00’ N, 56 15.00’ E: Strait of Hormuz

28 0.22’ N, 34 27.90’ E: Strait of Tiran
12 34.95’ N, 43 19.95’ E: Bab al-Mandeb
29 55.53’ N, 32 33.38’ E: Suez Canal
41 07.13’ N, 29 04.53’ E: Bosperus Strait
40 12.94’ N, 26 26.27’ E: Dardanelles Strait
35 56.33’ N, 5 41.04’ W: Strait of Gibraltar
2. a
3. Hormuz

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6.1 Area and Population

This chapter should enable you to:

Key Terms & Concepts

Afro-Asiatic language Church of the Holy Free Syrian Army (FSA)

Chapter 6: The Middle East and North Africa 78

6.2 Physical Geography and Human Adaptations

6.3 Cultural and Historical Geographies

6.4 Economic Geography

6.5 Geopolitical Issues

6.6 Regional Issues and Landscapes

• Trace and describe settlement patterns based on access to water.

a. Which are the three most populous?

2. What are the major climatic patterns of the Middle East?

3. Why can this region be described as a culture hearth?

a. Which component is clearly the “cornerstone” of the trilogy, and why?

b. What is the geographic pattern of the classic Middle Eastern medina?

a. What traditions and beliefs do they share?

7. What is the difference between Shi’ite and Sunni Islam?

8. What are “Islamist” movements?

a. Who are jihadists?

Militants who use violence or terrorism to spread their interpretation of Islam.

b. What groups are clearly terrorists?

Hizbullah, Hamas, al-Qa’ida, and ISIS

Hizbollah: (“Party of God”) are Shi’ite Muslim pro-Iranian

9. Where is oil concentrated in this region?

10. What is the Carter Doctrine?

2. Grow crops that are less demanding of water, and

3. Go back to the negotiating table for a new Nile Water Agreement.

a. How did each of these conflicts rearrange the political map?

a. What is the current situation in those areas?

b. Who controls the Gaza Strip and the West Bank?

c. What steps has Israel taken to ensure its security?

d. What problems are associated with Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories?

18. What are the objectives of the MASDAR project?

19. What is the ethnic composition of Iraq?

20. What happened when Saddam Hussein’s troops invaded Kuwait?

a. What happened when they invaded Iran?

c. What is the “Pottery Barn” analogy of American responsibilities in Iraq?

d. How is ISIS related to the war that began in 2003?

e. What critical decisions must the United States make in Iraq?

a. What changes has the Islamic regime brought to the country?

a. Who are the “P5+1” and what is their role?

Turkey can be referred to an as “in-between” country in various aspects, geographically it is

Answers to MindTap Exercises

Global Geoscience Watch

1. 26 34.00’ N, 56 15.00’ E: Strait of Hormuz

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