Israel and Its Neighbors 

 Following World War II, the Jewish people won what for so long had eluded them: their own state. Their homeland along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea came at a heavy price, however. A Jewish state was unwelcome in this mostly Arab region, and the resulting hostility led to conflict. 
Human and Physical Geography-Israel Becomes a State 
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into a Palestinian state and a Jewish state. Jerusalem was to be an international city owned by neither side. The terms of the partition gave Jews 55 percent of the area even though they made up only 34 percent of the population. In the wake of the war and the Holocaust, the United States and many European nations felt great sympathy for the Jews. All of the Islamic countries voted against partition, and the Palestinians rejected it outright. They argued that the UN did not have the right to partition a country without considering the wishes of the majority of its people. Nonetheless, the date was set for the formation of Israel-May 14, 1948. 

The Arab-Israeli Conflict 
The new nation of Israel got a hostile greeting from its neighbors. The day after it proclaimed itself a state, six Islamic states- Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria-invaded Israel. This first of many Arab-Israeli wars ended within months in a victory for Israel. 

A second Arab-Israeli war followed in 1956. That year, Egypt seized control of the Suez Canal, which ran along Egypt's eastern border between the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea. With air support provided by their European allies, the Israelis marched on the Suez Canal and quickly defeated the Egyptians. However, world pressure forced the victors to withdraw from Egypt. This left Egypt in charge of the canal and thus ended the Suez Crisis. 
By early 1967, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and his Arab allies felt ready to confront Israel. Convinced that the Arabs were about to attack, the Israelis struck airfields in Egypt, Iran, Jordan, and Syria. Safe from air of attack, Israeli ground forces struck like lightning on three fronts. Israel quickly defeated the Arab states in what became known as the Six-Day War. Israel lost 800 troops, while Arab losses exceeded 15,000. Israel gained control of the old city of Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank. 
A fourth Arab-Israeli conflict erupted in October 1973. Nasser’s successor, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat,  
planned a joint Arab attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays. This time the Israelis were caught by surprise. Arab forces inflicted heavy casualties and recaptured some of the territory lost in 1967. The Israelis, under their prime minister, Golda Meir (MY-uhr), launched a counterattack and regained most of the lost territory. Both sides agreed to a truce after several weeks of fighting. 

Camp David Accords
 In November 1977, Anwar Sadat stunned the world by inviting his one-time enemies to join him in a quest for peace. In 1978, U.S. president Jimmy Carter invited Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (mehn-AHK-hehm BAY-gihn) to meet at Camp David, the presidential retreat in rural Maryland. After 13 days of negotiations, Carter triumphantly announced that Egypt recognized Israel as a legitimate state. In exchange, Israel agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. Signed in 1979; the Camp David Accords
 
ended 30 years of hostilities between Egypt and Israel and became the first signed agreement between Israel and an Arab country. Enraged by the agreement, a group of Muslim extremists assassinated Sadat in 1981.  However, Egypt has worked to maintain peace with Israel.  
The Palestine Liberation Organization 
The Palestinians, a large number of whom lived in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands occupied by Israel, continued to clash with the Israelis. During the 1970s and 1980s, the military wing of the PLO--the Palestine Liberation Organization-intensified its armed struggle against Israel. (The PLO was formed in 1964. In 1969 Yasir Arafat (YAH-sur AR-uh-PAT) became its chairman.) 
 Israel responded forcefully, bombing suspected rebel bases in Palestinian towns. 
In 1987, Palestinians began to express their frustrations in a widespread campaign of civil disobedience called the intifada, or "uprising." The intifada took the form of boycotts, demonstrations, attacks on Israeli soldiers, and rock throwing by unarmed teenagers. The intifada continued into the 1990s, with little progress made toward a solution. However, the civil disobedience affected world opinion, which, in turn, put pressure on Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians. In October 1991, Israeli and Palestinian delegates met for a series of peace talks. 

The Oslo Peace Accords 
Little progress was made in the 1991 talks. In 1993, however, secret talks held in Oslo, Norway, produced a surprise agreement: the Declaration of Principles, also known as the Oslo Peace Accords. 
Israel, under the leadership of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (YIHTS-hahk rab-BEEN), agreed to grant the Palestinians self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, beginning with the town of Jericho. Rabin and Arafat signed the agreement on September 13. 1993. The difficulty of making the agreement work was demonstrated when Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Jewish extremist who opposed concessions to the Palestinians. 
The Conflict Intensifies
 Attempts at reviving the peace plan in 1997 and 2000 failed. Then, in 2000, a visit by Israeli political leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a Jewish holy place, sparked a second intifada. The Temple Mount is also the location of one of the most holy places for Muslims, The Dome of the Rock (where Muhammad allegedly rose to heaven.) Sharon's visit to the vicinity of such a revered Muslim site outraged Palestinians. In the second intifada, Palestinian militants began using a new weapon- suicide bombers. 

In response to the uprising, Israeli forces moved into Palestinian refugee camps and clamped down on militants. Troops destroyed buildings in which they suspected extremists were hiding and bulldozed entire areas of Palestinian towns and camps. The Israeli army even bombed Arafat's headquarters, trapping him inside his compound for many days. 
In early 2003, Palestinian leaders appointed Mahmoud Abbas, a high-ranking PLO official, as their first-ever prime minister. Shortly afterward, U.S. president George W. Bush brought together Sharon and Abbas to begin working on a new peace plan. The two men appeared committed to reaching an agreement. 

Islamic Fundamentalism 
Religious differences are not the only source of conflict in the Middle East. The clash between traditional Islamic values and modem Western materialism also has a long history. 
Iranian Revolution 
After World War II, Iran's leader, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (pah-luh-vee), embraced Western governments and wealthy Western oil companies. Iranian nationalists resented these foreign alliances. 
In 1953, they forced the Shah to flee. Fearing Iran might turn to the Soviets, for support, the United States helped restore the shah to power. With U.S. support, the shah westernized his country. He also tried to weaken the political influence of Iran's conservative Muslim leaders, known as ayatollahs (eye-uh-TOH-luhz), who opposed westernization. The leader of this religious opposition, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini  
(koh- MAY -nee ), was living in exile. Spurred by his tape-recorded messages, Iranians rioted in every major city in late 1978. Faced with overwhelming opposition, the shah fled Iran in 1979.  A triumphant Khomeini returned to establish an Islamic state and to export Iran's militant form of Islam. 
. Afghanistan
 In the late 1970s, a Muslim revolt threatened to topple Afghanistan's Communist regime. This led to a Soviet invasion in 1979. The. Afghan rebels, called mujahideen (moo-JAH-heh-DEEN), or holy warriors, fought back, finally pushing the Soviets out in 1989. Islamic religious students, or taliban, were among the mujahideen rebels who fought the Soviets. Various groups of students loosely organized themselves during a civil war among mujahideen factions that followed the Soviet withdrawal. In 1996, one of these groups, called the Taliban, seized power and established an Islamic government based on an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. Taliban leaders restricted women's lives by forbidding them to go to school or hold jobs. They banned everything from television and movies to modem music.  
Punishment for violating the rules included severe beatings, amputation, and even execution. They also gave sanctuary to international Islamic terrorists. In 2001, an anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States drove them from power. (The Taliban has been returning to power in Afghanistan over the last 1½ years.)
Turkey 
Although Turkey is predominately Muslim, Islamic fundamentalists have had difficulty gaining political power in the country The Turkish constitution strictly enforces a secular state. When the Islamic Welfare Party formed a coalition government with a secular party in 1996, people protested the government's attempt to enforce Islamic law. In 1998, Turkey's highest court declared that the Welfare Party violated the constitution. The party was disbanded. 
Iraq and Its Neighbors 
Iraq under Saddam Hussein (hoo-SAYN) has a history of aggression in the region. In the 1980s, secular Iraq went to war with fundamentalist Iran. By the time the UN secured a cease-fire, a million Iranians and Iraqis had died. Then in 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait in an attempt to seize its oil fields. 

The Persian Gulf War 
When Iraq invaded Kuwait, fears began to mount that it would also invade Saudi Arabia, another major source of oil. This would have put most of the world's petroleum supplies under Iraqi control. Economic sanctions imposed by the UN failed to persuade Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. Then, in early 1991, a coalition of some 39 nations declared war on Iraq. After several weeks of fighting, the Iraqis left Kuwait and accepted a cease-fire.

Disarming Iraq 
As part of the cease-fire arrangements in the Persian Gulf War, Iraq agreed to destroy its weapons of mass destruction. However, in 2002 Saddam Hussein once again came under suspicion of developing such weapons. The UN Security Council issued a resolution threatening Iraq with "severe consequences" unless weapons inspectors were allowed into the country. Iraq complied, but some UN members suspected that the Iraqis were not fully cooperating with the inspectors. So, in March 2003, a coalition led by the United States and Great Britain sent troops to disarm Iraq by force. After four weeks of fighting, Saddam Hussein's government fell. 
The Kurds 
Fear of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction rested in part on the experience of the Kurds. For decades, Kurds have wanted their own separate country. 

But their traditional lands cross the borders of three nations- Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. In the past, the Turks responded to Kurdish nationalism by forbidding Kurds to speak their native language. The Iranians also persecuted the Kurds, attacking them over religious issues. In the late 1980s, however, the Iraqis took persecution to new level when they dropped poison gas on the Kurds, killing 5,000.   Several international organizations, including the UN, are working to end the human rights abuses inflicted upon the Kurds. 
Terrorism in the Middle East 
Many Middle Eastern terrorist organizations have roots in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Groups such as the Palestine Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and Hizballah have sought to prevent a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. They want a homeland for the Palestinians on their own terms, with the most extreme among them denying Israel's right to exist. Afghanistan became a haven for international terrorists when Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi Arabian millionaire involved in terrorist activities, moved to Afghanistan in 1996. There he began using mountain hideouts as a base of operations for his global network of Muslim terrorists known as al-Qaeda. 
Political and Economic Change in Latin America 
After World War II, rapid industrialization, population growth, and a lingering gap between the rich and the poor led Latin American nations to seek aid from both superpowers. At the same time, many of these countries struggled to move from dictatorships and military control to democracies. 
Cuba
 In the 1950s, an unpopular dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who had U.S. support, ruled Cuba. Cuban resentment led to a popular revolution, which overthrew Batista in January 1959. A young lawyer named Fidel Castro
 
led that revolution. At first, many people praised Castro for bringing social reforms to Cuba, improving the economy, and raising the standard of living for many Cubans. Yet Castro was a harsh dictator. He suspended elections, jailed or executed his opponents, and tightly controlled the press. When Castro took over U.S.-owned sugar mills and refineries, the United States ordered an embargo on all trade with Cuba. Castro then turned to the Soviets for economic and military aid. 
 In exchange for Soviet support, he backed Communist revolutions in Latin America and Africa. Soviet aid to Cuba ended abruptly with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. This loss dealt a crippling blow to the Cuban economy. But the aging Castro refused to adopt economic reforms or to give up power. 

Nicaragua
 Just as the United States had supported Batista in Cuba, it had funded the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza and his family since 1933. In 1979, Communist Sandinista rebels toppled Somoza's son. Both the United States and the Soviet Union initially gave aid to the Sandinistas and their leader, Daniel Ortega (awr-TAY -guh). The Sandinistas, however, gave assistance to other Marxist rebels in nearby El Salvador. To help the El Salvadoran government fight those rebels, the United States supported Nicaraguan anti-Communist forces called the Contras or contrarevolucionarios. The civil war in Nicaragua lasted more than a decade and seriously weakened the country's economy. In 1990, President Ortega agreed to hold free elections, the first in the nation's history. Violeta Chamorro, a reform candidate, defeated him. (Ortega was reelected to the presidency in 2006.)
Argentina
 Argentina had struggled to establish a democracy. In 1946, Argentine workers supported an army officer, Juan Peron, who won the presidency and then established a dictatorship. In 1955, the military ousted Peron and drove him into exile. Peron returned to power in 1973, but ruled for only a year before dying in office. In 1976, the generals seized power again. They established a brutal dictatorship and hunted down political opponents. For several years, torture and murder were everyday events. By the early 1980s, several thousand Argentines had simply disappeared, kidnapped by their own government. Groups like the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo) demanded to know the fate of their relatives. 
In 1983, Argentines elected Raul Alfonsin (ahl-fohn-SEEN) president in the country's first free election in 37 years. During the 1980s, Alfonsin worked to rebuild democracy and the economy; Carlos Menem gained the presidency in 1989 and continued the process. He attempted to stabilize the currency and privatize industry. By the late 1990s, however, economic problems intensified. In December 2001, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) refused to provide financial aid to Argentina. Then President Fernando de la Rua resigned in the face of protests over the economy. Eduardo Duhalde, who tried to deal with the economic and social crisis, succeeded him. In 2002, Argentina had an unemployment rate of about 24 percent. The country defaulted on $132 billion in debt, the largest debt default in history, and devalued its currency. In 2003, Argentina struggled to regain its political and economic footing. In elections that year, Nestor Kirchner became the new president of Argentina.