Understanding the Middle East
Arab Revolt

Here is a great place to start when learning about this crucial time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.  Just put your pointer over termes and a window comes up to give you details.  Here is another site with lots of links built into the text but no pop-up windows.
Read the Balfour Declaration here.
Arab League

Lawrence of Arabia
Here in an introductory biography of his life from childhood to famous explorer.  He comes as close to a real life Indiana Jones as anybody.
Why don't they trust us?
Have you ever heard it said that those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat its mistakes?  Read what T.E. Lawrence said about Mesopotamia ( Iraq ) and hope that we have learned something.
Some more good advice from T.E. Lawrence on relations with Arabs of rural Syria.
You might find some interesting paralleles in the life of former Commander in Cheif Anthony Zinni. Read this intereview with Jim Leherer on PBS.
You might like to read his new book Battle Ready that he co-authored with Tom Clancy. Try to get it at your local library.
Here is a good site with lessons connected with the PBS movie.  Find out about the major players in this World War I theatre.

Ottoman empire
This is a map of the Middle East in 1914 just three years before the Paris Peace Conference and new lines were drawn.

Socialist  regimes

Bath Party