Leaders of the Middle East

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Leaders of the Middle East

• Filling in the Geographer Chart

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Ayatollah Khomeni

• Shiite Muslim (Ayatollah is a Shia scholar)
• against pro-western regime of the Shah of Iran
• Leader of Iranian Revolution in 1979
• declared Iran Islamic Republic
• Sharia (Islamic Law)

Iran 1979-1989
3
Bashar al-Assad

• President of Syria
• Baath party
• originally presented himself as a reformer, but
  began to oppress free speech
• March 2011 protests against Gov. arose, orders
  given to crush it
• not friendly to US

Syria 2000-present
4
Benjamin Netanyahu

• Current PM of Israel
• Bibi
• currently hostile with Iran over the threat of
  Nuclear weapons
• 2012 officially recognized right of Palestinians
  to have their own state
• went to MIT

Israel PM 1996-99 and 2009-present
5
Gamal Nasser

• Second president of Egypt
• led the Egyptian revolution of 1952
• in favor of liberating Palestine
• built Aswan Dam, backed by USSR
• not a fan of US

Egypt 1956-1970
6
Hamad Karzai

• Current president of Afghanistan
• became prominent after removal of the Taliban
• worked with US
• accused of corruption and not doing enough to
  rebuild and put down the neo-Taliban

Afghanistan 2004-Present
7
Hosni Mubarak

• Fourth President of Egypt
• ousted during protests of the Arab Spring
• pressure from west for democratic reforms
• corruption and imprisonment of protestors
• currently imprisoned for life

Egypt 1981-2011
8
King Abdullah

• King of Saudi Arabia
• did not allow US troops in Saudi Arabia during
  Gulf War
• against US support of Israel
• tolerance for religious diversity
• attacking domestic terrorism
• diversifying economy
• 2011 announced women could have right to vote in
  2015
• wants US to stop Iran
• strict Sharia

Saudi Arabia 2005-Present
9
Mahmoud Abbas

• Chairman of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation
  Organization)
• Fatah Party
• calls for peaceful solution to conflict with
  Israel BUT will not stop militant groups

Palestine 2004-Present
10
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

• Shia (Mother is a Seyyede, believed to be direct
  descendant of Muhammad)
• in the Iranian Revolution
• modest life
• anti-relations with US and anti-UN
• supporter of Nuclear policy
• encourages more children and earlier marriage
• strongly Islamicist, Sharia
• corruption

Iran 2005-present
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Muammar Gaddafi

• Wanted a United States of Africa
• chemical weapons and WMDs
• Feb. 2011 protests against his rule began
• fundamentalist Islam,
• pro-Palestine,
• supported anti-Western terrorist groups (IRA, in
  SEAsia, S. Africa Mandelas ANC party)
• Socialist
• Sharia
• anti-Berber

Libya 1969-2011
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Gaddafi Style Icon
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Osama Bin Laden

• Founder of al-Qaeda
• Islamic Jihadist behind September 11 attacks
• restoration of Sharia
• need for violent Jihad against US
• elimination of Israel
• wanted US withdrawal from middle east
• believed US culture corrupt

Afghanistan 1979-2011
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Saddam Hussein

• Baath Party
• overthrown by US because threat to US interests
  in area
• nationalized Iraqs oil
• invaded Iran in 1980 (after Iranian revolution
  overthrew Sunni Minority, allies with Iraq)
• Western nations supported Iraq-afraid of Islamic
  fundamentalism
• ceasefire in 1988
• 1990 invaded Kuwait (needed to support his
  economy after war with Iran)
• 1990s Shia and Kurdish uprisings-crushed by
  security forces
• no-fly zone established
• violations led to air strikes in 1993 and 1998

Iraq 1979-2003
15
Yasser Arafat

• President of Palestinian National Authority
• PLO anti-Israel in 60s-70s
• more recently worked toward peace with Israel
• Nobel Peace Prize in 1994
• developed the PLO into a state-within-a-state in
  Jordan
• kicked out of Jordan and then Lebanon and moved
  to Tunis
• 1988 PLO denounced terrorism
• PLO supported Iraq in Gulf War

Palestine 1996-2004
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Arab Spring Timeline

• Make an illustrated timeline of the Arab Spring
• Begin with 17 December 2010 and continue through
  the present
• For each date
• Give the specific date
• Give it a title
• Write 2-3 sentences describing what occurred
• Make a symbol representing the event