POLS 3447 Final Study Guide

* Part 1 * 80 fill-in the blanks (30% and 10 possible extra credits points) * 30 from review sheet * Part 2 – Pick one out of 2 questions * Arab-Israeli conflict up to 1947 * Persian security, with the CIA intervention from 1950-1953 to the Gulf war in the 1990s * Part 3 – Essay * Challenges facing obama admin in middle east in second term * Persian gulf security * War on terror * Arab Israeli * How has it evolved since 1990

* Countries who voted NO to Palestine being a non-voting observer state at the United Nations * Canada * Czeck Republic * Marshall Islands * Micronesia * Palau * Nauru * Panama

* Obama’s policy has been called “leading from behind” * Multi-dimensional approach * Trying to find consensus * Criticism * Pro: being smart considering the volatility of the Middle East * Con: not using America’s power effectively * Obama’s address in Cairo – 2009

1-6. In 1950 the government of Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh nationalized the AIPOC (Anglo-Iranian Persian Oil Company) owned and operated by Great Britain.

The Eisenhower administration finally decided to take action owing to the perceived growing threat of communism in Iran and in August 1953 launched Operation Ajax to overthrow Iran’s democratically elected government.

Many observers believe this set the stage 25 years later for the onset in November 1979 of the 1979-81 hostage crisis between Iran and the United States

7-16. During the latter half of the 1950s the United States sought to find a balance in the Middle East between support for Arab nationalism and its western allies.

Following the announcement in September 1955 of an arms deal between Egypt and Czechoslovakia the United States sought to win Egypt back by agreeing to finance the building of the Aswan Dam.

Following the withdrawal of this offer in July 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez canal which resulted in the invasion of Egypt the following October by Israel in collusion with Great Britain, and France.

Subsequently, in March 1957 the United States adopted the Eisenhower Doctrine to combat communism in the Middle East.

17-21. The United States also tried to shore up militarily the northern tier of the Middle East in the mid-1950s by supporting the creation of the Baghdad Pact that besides Great Britain included these four regional states Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey.

22-28. In the early 1960s the Kennedy administration was noted by its diplomatic overture to Egypt by putting the Arab-Israeli conflict in the ‘Ice-box’ and by looking to support the political ‘________________________________’ in the Third World.

This occurred during a time (1958-1967) when the Middle East was involved in the so-called “Arab Cold War” which involved political clashes and subversion between moderate/pro-West regimes such as Iran and pre-July 1958 Iraq against radical Arab regimes.

This conflict heated up in the Fall 1962 when Nasser sent military forces to support a radical military regime that had seized power in Yemen.

POLS 3447 -2-

29-38. The June 1967 war was sparked when in May 1967 Egypt closed the straight Tiran to Israeli shipping. According to William Quandt during ensuing crisis the United States gave Israel a “yellow light” to go to war.

The Arab League responded to the defeat of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan by Israel at the August 1967 Khartoum conference when it adopted the so-called “three nos” policy—calling for no peace, no negotiation, and no recognition of/with Israel.

In November 1967 the UN adopted Resolution 242 calling an exchange of “land-for peace.”

39-44. During the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war some Arab members of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) implemented an oil embargo against the United States.

In the aftermath of the war the U.S. diplomatic strategy was to drive a wedge between Egypt and Syria and the Soviet Union.

The diplomacy of this strategy began with the convening of the Geneva conference in December 1973, which legitimized Henry Kissinger’s tactic of “step-by-step” diplomacy, which resulted in the signing of the Sinai I Accord in January 1974, and the signing of the Israeli-Syria disengagement agreement in May 1974.

45-47. In September 1978 President Jimmy Carter helped mediate the signing of the Camp David Accord between Egypt and Israel that required Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula within three years.

48-51. From 1982-1984 the U.S. deployed peacekeeping forces to Lebanon following the June 1982 Israeli invasion that sought to destroy the political-military infrastructure of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) in this country.

Subsequently, during the 1980’s the Reagan administration tried to pursue the so-called Jordanian option until the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in December 1987.

52-60. Following the British withdrawal at the end of 1971 “East of Suez” the United States adopted during the 1970s the “Twin Pillars” policy in the Persian Gulf based on selling weapons to Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Under the 1980 Carter Doctrine the United States built up military facilities on the Indian Ocean Island of Diego Garcia, created the Rapid Development Force, and signed arms-for-access agreements with the governments of Somalia, Oman, and Kenya.

During the mid-1980s the Reagan administration covertly sold arms to Iran after which to restore U.S. credibility Washington agreed in 1987 to reflag Kuwaiti oil tankers.