Highlights

After WW2, the British split the Palestinian mandate into 2: It retained the fertile & politically sensitive region towards the west of River Jordan (Palestine) and handed over the eastern part to Abdullah as Emirate of Transjordan.

When WW1 ended, the allies were pondering what to do with the Ottoman Empire possessions. Three were high contentious: The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, The Skyes-Picot Agreement, The Balfour Declaration

Eventual demise of the Ottoman Empire was brought about by its decision to join WW1 on the side of the Central Powers. They signed armistice in 1918.

Middle East is the only region of the plant where 3 continents meet: Europe, Asia, Africa

The Middle East is widely associated with the word 'Arab'. This, unfortunately, adds little to our understanding of the region. Before the emergence of Islam almost 1,400 years ago, an Arab was someone, almost certainly a nomad, who lived on the Arabian Peninsula. Around them dwelt such varied Semitic peoples as Syrians, Persians, Egyptians, Jews, Babylonians and so forth, all speaking their own languages. With Islam the situation became more complex because Arabic, the language of the Arabian Peninsula and now the Quran, became the formal language of much of the Middle East. This has left us with only one reasonably coherent definition of an Arab: someone who speaks the Arabic language.