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These kingly families were wealthy beyond
belief gaining millions of dollars annually from the sale of
oil to the world. The
political leaders of the Middle Eastern nations also shared
influence over the religion in their respective countries.
The Middle East as a region is Islamic, following the
teachings of Mohammad and the writings in the Koran.
Thus, nationalism took on two faces in the Middle East.
One facet is freedom from Western control and another,
religious nationalism to ‘purify’ their nation under the
Islamic faith.
This sense of political and religious
nationalism was paired with sentiment for the Jewish people
after World War II. As
you saw in the last module the Jewish people suffered through
the Holocaust. This
led many people and Jewish survivors worldwide to see the need
for a true Jewish state in their historical birthplace of
Israel. (See
Module 2)
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| The Arabic people of the area became furious at
the notion, angrily demanding no such state be created.
The United Nations ended up making the decision
in 1947 to split a nation of the Middle East, Palestine,
up into Arab and Jewish areas.
The Arabs violently revolted, and war broke out.
Israel, using guerilla tactics, spread out past
its borders provided to it by the United Nations,
leading many to question the creation of Israel in the
first place. Violence has erupted numerous times
afterwards, and nobody has made a conclusive argument as
to the fate of Palestine.
As a result, Palestine has been an area of much
violence and controversy to this day.
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