Circle the area on this map
A. Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. Israel is bordered to the southwest by Egypt, to the west by the Mediterranean Sea, to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria and to the east the by the West Bank – territory it captured from Jordan in a 1967 war and has occupied ever since.
B. Iran’s officials condemned last week’s announcement and warned the UAE it faced a “dangerous future.” Iran is a majority Shia Muslim state and fierce rival to other gulf nations ruled by Sunnis, Islam’s largest religious sect. The gulf states of Oman and Bahrain supported the UAE deal, and Israel said they could be the next to formalize ties.
C. The UAE is ruled by a council of Shiekhs who are absolute monarchs of the seven emirates comprising the nation. Israel is a parliamentary democracy. But, about 2.6 million Palestinian Arabs in the occupied West Bank cannot vote for the Israeli parliament. Officials worry that large numbers of Arab voters would threaten Israel’s status as a Jewish state.
C. The thousands of Israeli Jews who moved into enclaves on the West Bank were upset that their settlements would not officially become part of Israel. Arabs who have been demanding a separate Palestinian state were upset that the UAE made the deal without consulting them. They worry their struggle is losing unified support of other Arab nations.