Many Middle Eastern civilizations heavily impacted certain educational advancements, conflicts, religious ideals. Today I will be discussing different Middle Eastern countries' history and how it is integrated into the world we know today.
During the "Islamic Golden Age" a period attributed to the 8th through 16th centuries Arab scholars made astounding breakthroughs in many different educational aspects.
The Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies' Science in the Middle East states, "Arab scientists of the 12th century conducted experiments in their pursuit of scientific inquiry. Using intuition they made and tested hypotheses, and sought proof to verify their theories. Such experiments were systematically repeatable and yielded quantitative measurements." The process in which they are describing is the scientific method, something all scientists use regardless of area of expertise. It's the basis of accuracy that modern science provides today.
Important advances were made to mathematics as well; Baghdad was one of many cities under the rule of the Muslim empire that played a big part in these advancements. It was here that scholars translated Aristotle's teachings and invented algebra.
Due to the Empires residing in the Arabian Peninsula migrating their capitals to Mediterranean cities, the peninsula, which holds religious cities such as Mecca and Madinah, fell from its high rank politically. Many different tribes tried to gain the region's powers, but it wasn't until Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud conquered the region in 1932 that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established. According to CFR Education, "Ibn Saud owed much of his rise to power to military and political support from the fundamentalist Wahhabi movement, which follows a strict interpretation of Islam’s teachings and laws. The alliance between the Saud family and Wahhabi clerics continues to this day, with religion playing a powerful role in Saudi politics." It's important to note that Wahhabism is a very violent practice geared towards scaring and hurting people into what they believe to be "pure" and "true" Islam. This as well as the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in 1938, provided the country with valuable resources and immense power.
"View of the Holy Shrine and the City of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, taken in 1881 by Muhammad Sadiq Bey. (Supplied photo)" photo taken from Arab News "How an Arab Took Makkas First Photos"
Peace has tried to be negotiated between Arab countries and Israel under The Oslo Accords. Wikipedia defines The Oslo Accords as, "a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)..." There are two versions of these accords, the first one was signed in Washington DC in 1993, and the second one was signed in Taba, Egypt in 1995. The two accords began the start of the Oslo Process, a process whose main goal is making peace treaties based on Resolutions 242 and 338 of the UNSC (United Nations Security Council). The peace the first accord brought was short-lived as Israel's Prime Minister was assassinated by Yigal Amir who was opposed of the accords.
For more info about this topic visit here:
Although the conflict between Palestine and Israel may seem new, Arab countries and Israel have always had a feud. While this can be credited to religious differences as Arab countries are often modeled after beliefs geared towards Islam and Israel was created and given independence to be a Jewish homeland, this rivalry is also a conflict of land. Israel's victory in the War of Independence, which took place in 1948 according to Brittanica caused thousands of Palestinians to leave the country due to the loss of land.
This is far from the last time Israel and Arab countries fought over land as the Suez Crisis followed soon after these events. The Suez Crisis happens after Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser takes over the Suez Canal for Egypt, a canal already jointly owned by Britain and France. To counter this Britain, France, and Israel invade Egypt. The United states, with it's own motives, threatened Britain and France into calling a ceasefire. The effects of this conflict changed the power balance between these nations as, according to CFR Education, "Israel became even more alienated from it's Arab neighbors, and Egypt became a leader in the Arab world for resisting the invading forces. Britain and France lost the canal and much of their remaining influence in the region. In their place the United States emerged as the Middle east's preeminent foreign actor."