ArabIsraeli Conflict contd Biography

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Arab-Israeli Conflict (contd)/ Biography 8
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989)

• History 106
• May 22, 2009

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Reminder

• NO CLASS OR DISCUSSIONS MONDAY, MAY 25MEMORIAL
  DAY HOLIDAY
• Readings this week (Week 8) Bentley and Ziegler,
  chapter 39 Ayatollah Khomeini on Crimes of the
  Shah, 1976. Continue reading either Dumb Luck or
  Jasmine.
• New Study guides for Jasmine and for Dumb Luck
  now on line.
• Final exam is scheduled for Wednesday, June 10,
  1015-1215. Ill have the instructions and essay
  question handout available by June 1.

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Some Websites of Interest

• Excerpt from Marjane Satrapis great graphic
  novel Persepolis about growing up in Iran
• Brief history of modern Iran
• Iran Chamber Society with sections on art and
  culture, history, and social issues

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Israeli Occupation after 1967 War

• Israels seizure of Gaza Strip, the West Bank of
  the Jordan River, East Jerusalem and the Golan
  Heights made them military rulers over a million
  overwhelmingly Moslem Palestinians.
• It also heightened resistance among groups linked
  together in the Palestine Liberation Organization
  (PLO).

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Israel as Regional Superpower The Consequences

• 1978 Camp David AgreementsEgypt recognizes
  Israel
• Arab Nations Fear Israels Military Power
• Palestinian Resistance
• Secular Yasir Arafat and the PLO
• Islamic Hamas (in Palestine) and Hezbollah (in
  Lebanon)

The first Intifada, a period of Palestinian
resistance against Israel, began in 1987.
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Facts on the Ground

• As a result of agreements in the mid 1990s, the
  PLO agreed to recognize Israels right to exist.
  Israel less clearly agreed to accept the creation
  of a Palestinian state.
• By the new century, a Palestinian Authority under
  the leadership of Yasser Arafat had limited power
  in the West Bank and Gaza.
• However, a Second Intifada began late in 2000
• In 2007, following an election victory in Gaza,
  Hamas took over control of that territory.

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Solutions and Obstacles

• A two-state solution?
• Oslo agreements 1993 and 1995
• Israel and Palestine as two nations with secure
  borders and viable territorial boundaries

• Obstacles
• Israeli settlements
• Palestinian demands for a right of return to
  Israel
• Control of Jerusalem
• Palestinian divisions and radical Islam
• Israeli right-wing opposition

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Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

• Part Two

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A Little Vocabulary

• Ayatollah A high-ranking Moslem cleric, one
  allowed to issue religious edicts
• Farsi The main language of Iran. (Iranians are
  not Arabs, who speak Arabic.)
• Jihad StruggleThis can mean any form of
  struggle, from efforts at personal self-control
  to holy war.
• Koran The sacred book of Islam
• Mullah Religiously educated man, in particular
  the clergyman leading a mosque
• Sharia The system of Islamic law
• Shia and Sunni The two main branches of Islam.
• Ulama Collective term for Moslem legal scholars

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An Extremely Brief History of Iran (Persia)

• Iran, the modern nations name, dates its
  independent existence back about 2500 years to
  the ancient Persian empire centered on Persepolis
• Islam has been the dominant religion for over
  1000 years most Iranian Moslems are Shia,
  whereas most Moslems in the Arab Middle East and
  South Asia are Sunni.

Ruins of the ancient Persian city of Persepolis,
which rose about 500 years before the birth of
Christ.
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An Extremely Brief History of Iran
(Persia)--continued

• Persia escaped Western colonization and remained
  independent, but it was historically pressured by
  Britain and Russia.
• In 1926, Riza Shah Pahlavi was inaugurated as
  Emperor.
• Riza Shah modernized and secularized Iran,
  employing dictatorial means.
• During World War II, his son, Mohammad Riza Shah,
  followed him as Emperor.

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Oil, the CIA and the Third World Iran 1953

• Prime Minister Mossadegh nationalizes
  Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
• CIA coup Operation Ajax video clip, c.10
  min, on coup
• Shah of Iran as American ally until 1979 Islamic
  Revolution

Violence in Tehran, 1953, during CIA-organized
coup against nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad
Mossadegh.
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The Reign of the Shah Tyranny and Modernization

• SAVAK, the Shahs dreaded secret police, tortured
  prisoners and committed massacres
• At the same time, however, his modernization
  programs opened opportunities, especially for
  young women.

YouTube clip744 Shahs interviews with Mike
Wallace, 1974 and other times
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Khomeini in Opposition

• From his youth in the 1930s on, Khomeini was an
  opponent of the Shahs secularism and Western
  orientation
• He called for active involvement of religious
  leaders in government.
• Many other religious teachers opposed political
  involvement.
• He also preached a mystical doctrine of the
  emergence of a perfect man as philosopher-ruler.

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Khomeini Jailed and Exiled

• As a leading Iranian cleric, Khomeini protested
  strongly in the early 1960s against the Shah. He
  was jailed twice and sent into exile in 1964.
• 14 years in exile, mostly in Iraq, then in France

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Khomeinis Return February 1979

• Khomeini returned to Iran after the Shah had fled
  the Islamic Revolution.
• The Shah had named a provisional government, but
  Khomeini rejected it "I shall kick their teeth
  in. I appoint the government. I appoint the
  government by support of this nation."

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The Islamic Revolution 1979

• Modern organizing of an anti-modern revolution
• From tyranny to chaos
• Embassy Hostage Crisis
• At Right American Plane after Failed Rescue
  Effort
• Outbreak of Iran-Iraq War Sept. 1980
• YouTube clip on Islamic Revolution6 min, 30 sec

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Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988

• This deadly war eventually became, like World War
  I, a war of attrition with armies facing each
  other across battlefields fighting for small
  areas in between.
• Both sides resorted to brutal tactics, but Iraq
  almost surely employed gas warfare, a crime in
  international law.
• At right, Iranians fight off an Iraqi tank
  attack.
• The US at first tended to side with Iraq. In the
  mid-1980s, however, the Reagan Administration
  made secret overtures to Iranthe so-called
  Iran-Contra affair.

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Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran

• Popular Rule or Allahs Rule?
• Islam or Nationalism?
• Pragmatism or Extremism?

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Iranian Leadership after Khomeini

• Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989
• Iran as a popular republic
• Iran as a nearly-failed state
• Iran, the Arab World, Israel and the United States

Above Supreme Leader Ali Khameini
Below President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad