The Middle East- Rhetoric and Reality
When I first started teaching, it was during the height of the Vietnam War. Many of my students had relatives in the army and they were complaining about the war and were taking notice of the growing anti- war movement. Looking for a teachable moment one day I pulled down the wall map of the world and asked students to show me where Vietnam was. None of them could find it.
If you are a teacher of social studies, current events, or geography, the current environment regarding the Middle East is a vast teachable moment for a wide variety of reasons.
One obvious reason is the upcoming presidential election. Both candidates are trying to position themselves as Pro- Israel and strong on combating terrorism. Even though the final debate on foreign policy is more than a week away, you can access each candidate’s position from their web sites. (Although their views may change during the campaign.)
Other hot issues ripe for discussion include whether Iran is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons capability and whether or not they would use it. With regards to Israel, it seems that many nations are deferring to either the US or Israel (or both) to “handle” the Iranian crisis. It should be noted that the Israeli government has never acknowledged whether they in fact have nuclear weaponry but most governments believe that they do. Read this document from George Washington University regarding the Dimona nuclear site.(http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/israel/documents/reveal/index.html)
Another front and center issue is Syria. Assad is waging a civil war to maintain power and it looks like the “Arab Spring” has not been as successful there as it has been in Egypt.
Of course there is the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the US military presence in Iraq.
For divergent media coverage of Middle Eastern affairs, have your student view the Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) and AL Jazeera (www.Aljazeera.com).
The Council on Foreign Relations also often covers items pertinent to Middle Eastern events ( www.cfr.org). Recent articles include a story about Turkish- Syrian Relations and a piece by Foreign Minister Salehi about Iranian foreign relations.
The library of the University of Chicago has excellent lesson plans and activities for high school teachers looking for resources about the Middle East.
The Best of History web site, prepared by Canadian educators, also has useful materials. (http://www.besthistorysites.net/index.php/modern-history/middle-east-conflict)
The web site of the United Nation may also, from time to time, have material to aid in the student’s exploration about the current conflicts throughout the Middle East. http://www.un.org/en/
Please do not hesitate to recommend other relevant web sites to this blog and your colleagues.
c. 2012 j. margolis
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