Origins of the Middle East Conflict

To understand the Nation States of the Middle East as they are today, we need to look at the forces that shaped the Modern Middle East:

• The breakup of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of WWI.
• The Arab-Israeli conflict is a clash between two nationalist movements: Arab Nationalism and Jewish Nationalism.

We will look at the history of these two movements. Both occurred independently of each other, but in the same time frame.

They collided because they manifested themselves on the same piece of land known as Palestine claimed by both as the indigenous people to the land.

(NOTE: This class is 8 sessions - held on Zoom on Mondays and Thursdays. The instructor will provide reading material prior to each session - generally, 1 or 2 magazine articles of about 5 pages each for each session.)

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Instructor: Charles Mamane

Charles Mamane is an engineer by training, but the history of the Middle East conflict has been his interest and passion for most of his adult life.

Born in Morocco, having lived in France, Israel and more recently the United States for the last 50 years, he brings a unique perspective to the history of the Middle East conflict. As a young man, he served in the Israeli Defense Force for 3 years, participating in the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

He has a BA in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, a MS in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon, and an MBA.