History: Middle East 

The State of Israel is a new nation. It was founded in 1948. But the land it sits upon has a long history. The land now called Israel has been known as Canaan, Judea, Palestine, and Jordan to name a few. Throughout time, many Empires have conquered the land and left an imprint. The controversy over Jerusalem has existed for many centuries. Both Arabs and Jews claim that the land is their heritage. Who has right to be there? Does history justify a right to claim the land? Does religion justify a right to claim the land?

Timeline Task

Questions to ponder:

• What have been some of the events and conflicts over the claim to Jerusalem throughout history?
• Are some events more important than others?
• Do Jews and Palestinians view the history of the area the same way?
• How are people’s views and attitudes influenced by how they interpret the events of history?
• What do you think are some of the injustices from history that affect this area?
• If you could pick one event in the history of Jerusalem to change (that would change the outcome of the events that have followed), what would it be?

Middle East Timeline Resources

History of the Israeli Palestinian Conflict
http://www.pbs.org/pov/promises/timeline.html

Jerusalem Through the Centuries
http://www.israel.org/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00w50

Islam: Empire of Faith Timeline:
http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/timeline.html

Heritage Civilization and the Jews Timeline
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/timeline.html

History of Conflict Timeline from BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/israel_and_palestinians/timeline/n  

The New Jerusalem Mosaic – scroll down for historical timeline
http://jeru.huji.ac.il/open_screen2.htm

Other history resources:

History of Israel
http://www.worldrover.com/history/israel_history.html 

History of the Palestine Problem
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo/history.html

The Origin of the Israel-Palestine Problem
http://www.wrmea.com/jews_for_justice/index.html

Selection of Historical Documents Concerning Palestine  (Islamic Association for Palestine)
http://www.iap.org/historicaldocs.htm