November 29, 2017

Seventy years ago today, on Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations agreed to divide the historic land of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state, allowing for the formation of the nation of Israel. The Jews in Palestine and most western nations accepted this plan, but Palestinian Arabs and many Arab nations rejected it.

Jews parade a captured Arab vehicle through Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, the day the Jewish state of Israel was established in the historic region of Palestine. Credit: © Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection

Palestine had been under British control since 1917, and the United Kingdom supported the creation of a Jewish state in the Biblical Holy Land. Sympathy for the Jewish cause grew during the Holocaust, the killing of millions of Jews during World War II (1939-1945). In 1946, the newly created United Nations drafted a partition plan that divided Palestine into different Arab and Jewish sections, while the city of Jerusalem came under international control.

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The United Nations partition plan of 1947 divided Palestine into Arab and Jewish areas. The Jewish area became the independent nation of Israel in 1948. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Israel officially came into existence on May 14, 1948, under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion. On May 15, Arab armies attacked Israel, aiming to destroy the new nation. By early 1949, Israel had defeated the Arabs and gained control of about half the land planned for the new Arab state. Israel incorporated the gained territory into the new country, adding about 150,000 resentful Arabs to its population. Hundreds of thousands of other Palestinian Arabs settled as refugees elsewhere, and Arab-Israeli conflicts and tensions have occurred ever since. Today, only small areas of the planned Arab state—the Gaza Strip and the West Bank—are under nominal Palestinian Arab control.

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Palestine today consists of the nation of Israel and the Arab areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel partially occupies the West Bank. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

September 29, 2016

Archaeologists excavating at Çatalhöyük, an ancient town in present-day Turkey, have recently discovered a unique 8,000-year-old figurine buried beneath the floor of a home. The figurine is one of only a few intact (unbroken) examples of such sculptures ever found in the region. The discovery provides a fascinating glimpse into the ritual life among citizens of Çatalhöyük, one of the world’s earliest known cities.

Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

People lived at Çatalhöyük between about 7,200 and 5,500 B.C., during the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age). During this period, the first farming communities arose in the ancient Middle East. Archaeologists estimate that ancient Çatalhöyük had a population between 5,000 and 10,000 people. Many consider it to be the world’s first true city. The people grew grain and herded sheep and goats. Çatalhöyük is famous for the spectacular art preserved inside the houses. Archaeologists have discovered thousands of small figurines at Çatalhöyük. Many are found broken from sites that appear to be refuse dumps for the town. Almost all of the figurines are fashioned from clay and depict animals, such as antelope, cattle, lions, and leopards. A smaller number of clay figurines are fashioned into human forms, and of these, the vast majority represent females. Human female figures are often depicted with greatly oversized breasts and buttocks, which may represent fertility. Human figurines carved from stone (the newly found figurine is made from marble) are uncommon at the site, and undamaged examples are even more unusual.

Archaeologists with the international Çatalhöyük Research Project discovered the new figurine this summer during excavations at one of the site’s earliest houses. The figurine depicts a woman with exaggerated physical features. It is about 18 inches (45 centimeters) long and carved from a single piece of marble. It weighs about 2 pounds (1 kilogram). The figurine was discovered in a niche (small space) in the floor of a house, covered with a large, flat piece of obsidian (volcanic glassy rock), a valuable stone for the citizens of Çatalhöyük. Archaeologists believe the figurine was intentionally placed in this spot, perhaps as part of a fertility rite or other ritual. They suggest the figurine may represent a mature woman of great wisdom or a family matriarch. Archaeologists believe such wise older women held high social status in Çatalhöyük society.

The site of Çatalhöyük is largely unpopulated today. The remains of the ancient city were covered up long ago. Today, archaeologists continue to excavate and make new discoveries at the site, which exists as two large mounds rising over the surrounding plains. Archaeologists do not fully understand why Çatalhöyük declined toward the end of the 5000’s B.C.

September 13, 2012

Anti-Amercian protests have spread across the Middle East and North Africa, in the wake of the violent anti-U.S. demonstrations in Egypt and Libya on September 11. Today in Yemen, demonstrators stormed the grounds of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, the capital, and burned the American flag before being driven back by security forces. In Egypt, protests erupted for a third day outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo, where at least 70 people were injured in scuffles with police. In Iran’s capital, Tehran, crowds chanting anti-American and anti-Israel slogans demonstrated outside the Swiss embassy, which handles U.S. interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Washington. (The United States has not maintained diplomatic relations with the Iranian government since revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held a group of Americans, primarily embassy employees, as hostages.) Protesters also staged demonstrations in Iraq, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia. In Afghanistan, officials have reportedly suppressed Internet access to prevent users from viewing the offending video online to forestall public unrest.

The Middle East and North Africa (World Book map)

The United States ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed on September 11 in an attack on the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other victims died as rioters attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire. In Cairo on September 11,  an angry mob scaled the wall of the U.S. embassy and pulled down and burned the American flag. The violence in both Libya and Egypt was initially linked to a highly inflammatory, anti-Islamic film.

The film, Innocence of Muslims, was reportedly written and produced by an anti-Muslin filmmaker, possibly of foreign extraction, living in California. A 14-minute trailer for the film was posted on the video-sharing website YouTube. However, U.S. officials are investigating whether the attack in Libya was triggered by the inflammatory film or whether it was pre-planned by some terrorist organization to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Additional World Book articles:

• Diplomatic corp
• Foreign Service
• Iran 1979 (a Back in Time article)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)

May 23, 2012

Heavy turnout marked the first of two days of voting in Egypt‘s first free presidential election. The election is also the first competitive presidential election in the Arab world. Thirteen candidates were vying for the right to become Egypt’s first democratically elected leader following the 2011 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt as a dictator for nearly 30 years. Mubarak was swept from office by massive public demonstrations during a period of protest and political unrest in several Middle Eastern countries that was referred to as the “Arab Spring.” Mubarak routinely stood for election, often winning an overwhelming share of the vote, but the elections were widely considered as shams by independent observers.

The presidential candidates include both Islamists (who favor a government based on Islamic law) and secularists (who favor the separation of government and religion). Some of the candidates served under Mubarak. If none of the candidates captures 50 percent of the vote, the top two winners will face each other in a runoff in mid-June. The presidential election followed a three-week campaign that included Egypt’s first American-style television debate. Chief among the issues in the race was the increase in lawlessness and crime since the abolition of Mubarak’s police state.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protest against the government of President Hosni Mubarak in January 2011. The sometimes violent demonstrations led to Mubarak’s resignation in February. (© John Moore, Getty Images)

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military dictatorship that took control of the government after Mukarak’s ouster, has promised to hand over power after the election of a new president and the ratification of a new constitution. However, many Egyptians remain suspicious of the military, which has muzzled opposition to its rule and controls a sizeable portion of the country’s economy. In April, an administrative court suspended a committee appointed to draft a new constitution. Military officials have also indicated their unwillingness to submit to full civilian rule.

Egypt held elections for its new parliament in late 2011 and 2012. Islamist parties won an overwhelming majority of seats in the People’s Assembly, the lower house. The Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, took approximately 40 percent of the seats, and the ultraconservative Salafist Nour Party won 21 percent.

Additional articles in World Book:

• Tahrir Square
• Egypt 1922 (a Back in Time article)
• Egypt 1981 (a Back in Time article)
  
• Egypt 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a Special Report)

The government of Israel has approved the construction of 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem. Another 2,700 units are to be authorized later in August. The announcement drew immediate condemnation (criticism) from Palestinian leaders, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian nation. On August 9, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama criticized Israel for moving forward with the building of some 900 housing units in another part of East Jerusalem.

Western Wall and Dome of the Rock (upper left). Copyright George Chan, Photo Researchers

Control of East Jerusalem has long been an issue between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. East Jerusalem is the site of the Western Wall (Wailing Wall), one of the most sacred sites in Judaism, and the Dome of the Rock, one of the most holy of Muslim shrines. The Western Wall is what is left of the wall that surrounded the Temple Mount, on which stood the Second Temple described in the Bible. According to Islamic tradition, the rock enclosed by the Dome of the Rock–which sits on the Temple Mount–is the spot from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

Additional World Book articles:

• Abbas, Mahmoud
• Islam
• Jews
• Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

The United Nations is moving 26 nonessential staff members and their families from Syria due to the turmoil and violence there. The Syrian navy continues to shell the Syrian port of Latakia despite calls from Turkey and other Middle Eastern nations to halt the offensive. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began the assault on August 14 in response to massive antigovernment demonstrations in the city. His government claims that its forces are attempting to round up armed gangs that moved into Latakia to rob and terrorize the residents. The assault is the latest in a brutal crackdown attempting to end a five-month-old uprising against the Assad regime.

On August 15, the government of Turkey demanded that Assad withdraw his military from Latakia or face an unspecified reaction. Days earlier, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and recalled his ambassador from Syria’s capital, Damascus.

The uprising in Syria is part of what international affairs experts call “the Arab spring.” Similar popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt brought down long-standing governments earlier this year. Activists continue to battle oppressive governments in Libya and Yemen.

Additional World Book articles:

• Mubarak, Hosni
• Qadhafi, Mu`ammar al-