Palestinian Territories

Palestine (esp. West Bank & Gaza Strip)

Type of government: Parliamentary democracy

Current head of state: Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas  

Total population:

Gaza Strip: 1,657,155

West Bank: 2,568,555

% of population living in poverty: %

Gaza strip: % 70

West Bank: % 46

GDP: $12.79 billion

Capital: Jerusalem

Gaza Strip: Gaza

West Bank: Ramallah

Largest city:

Gaza Strip: Gaza

West Bank: Ramallah  

Coasts:

West Bank: none

Gaza Strip: 40 km

Major bodies of water:

West Bank: Dead Sea

Gaza Strip: Mediterranean Sea

Major rivers:

West Bank: Jordan River

Gaza Strip: none

Bordering countries:

Gaza Strip: Israel and Egypt

West Bank: Jordan and Israel  

Largest religion: Islam

Climate: temperate, mild winters, dry and warm to hot summers

Geographical features:

West bank: Hilly mountains everywhere  

Gaza Strip: Flat  

Gaza Strip (Yellow)

West Bank

Selected Current Event In Palestinian Territories:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority must choose whether it is interested in peace with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas. In a statement released shortly after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement signed an initial reconciliation deal with the rival movement, reiterated his recent remarks that peace with both Israel and Hamas was impossible. "The Palestinian Authority must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both. Hamas aspires to destroy Israel and fires rockets at our cities ... at our children," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"I hope the Palestinian Authority will make the right choice and choose peace with Israel," said Netanyahu. "The choice is in the hands of the Palestinian Authority. The deal between Fatah (the mainstream Palestinian movement until a 2006 election victory by Hamas) and Hamas, which took many officials by surprise, was thrashed out in Egypt and followed a series of secret meetings. The two groups shared a unity government until June 2007, when Hamas staged a bloody coup and took over the Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials choose peace with Hamas but Palestinian officials acknowledge that they must solve their differences with Hamas before they can go to the United Nations.

-- www.haaretz.com/news/

Slave students

 At Sewells Point Elementary school in virginia a fourth grade teacher taught a class on the civil war because it is the 150th  anniversary of the civil war. She had all the colored students in her class be slaves and all the white students be slave masters. She then held an auction for the slaves students and the Slave master students "bought them". The principal of the school had to apologize to the students parents.

Lebanon

Lebanon

Type of government: Republic

Current head of state: President Michel Suleiman, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati

Total population: 4,1431,01

% of population living in poverty: % 28

GDP: $ 58.65

Capital: Beirut

Largest city: Beirut

Coasts: 225 km

Major bodies of water: Mediterranean Sea, and Lake Damascus.

Major rivers: the Litani River, the Al Qasmiyah River,and the Nahr Barada River

Bordering countries: Israel, and Syria

Majority religion: Islam

Climate: mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers; Lebanon mountains experience heavy winter snows

Geographical features: The Biqa valley, and the Great rift system

 Beirut

Selected current event in Lebanon:

 “Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Wednesday called for overcoming Lebanese disputes through the use of dialogue.

“We are in need of a rapprochement between the Lebanese in order to achieve comprehensive reconciliation,” Mikati said on the anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War’s outbreak in 1975.
 
The PM-designate was quoted by the National News Agency as saying that the majority of the Lebanese people reject using “the logic of war and internal divisions.” “Ending war does not only happen through ceasefire but through learning the lessons of the past.” The Lebanese Civil War lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 130,000 to 250,000 civilian fatalities.” –nowlebanon.com

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

Type of government: Monarchy

Current head of state: King Abdallah bin abd al-Aziz Al Saud

Total population: 26,131,703

% of population living in poverty: %5

GDP: $622.5 billion

Capital: Riyadh

Largest city: Mecca

Coasts: 2640

Major bodies of water: The Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Persian gulf, and Arabian gulf  

Major rivers: none

Bordering countries: Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, United Arab Emirates

Largest religion: Islam

Climate: Harsh dry deserts with temperature extremes

Geographical features: Ad-Dhana Desert, Arabian Desert, An Nafud desert, and the Rub’al Khali desert

Flag of Saudi Arabia

Selected current event in Saudi Arabia:

“Over a hundred people have gathered outside the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Civil Services as anti-regime protests gain momentum in the Middle East powerhouse. The literacy campaign teachers held a rally in front of the Ministry of Civil Services in the Saudi capital on Tuesday, calling for full time employment.
Security forces asked the protesters to leave the place as soon as possible after they were given promises that their demands will be fulfilled.
Similar gatherings have been also held in several other cities in Saudi Arabia such as Taif and Tabouk.” –Tehran Times 

Syria

 Syria

Type of government: Republic under Authoritarian Regime

Current head of state: President Bashar al-Assad

Total population: 22,517,750

% of population living in poverty: % 11.9

GDP: $59.63 billion

Capital: Damascus

Largest city: Damascus

Coasts: 193 km

Major bodies of water: Lake al-Assad

Major rivers: Euphrates and Tigris Rivers

Bordering countries: Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, and Iraq

Largest religion: Christian

Climate: Hot, dry, sunny summers, and mild cold winters. Sometimes snow and sleet in Damascus.

 Temple Ruins at Palmyra

Selected current event in Syria:

“Syrian security forces opened fire to disperse thousands of protesters Friday, killing at least 10 people, witnesses said, as anger at the autocratic rule of Bashar al-Assad erupted again after weekly Friday prayers at mosques. Syrian security forces opened fire to disperse thousands of protesters Friday, killing at least 10 people, witnesses said, as anger at the autocratic rule of Bashar al-Assad erupted again after weekly Friday prayers at mosques.”
--msn.com

Jordan

Jordan

Type of government: Constitutional Monarchy

Current head of state: King Abdullah II

Total population: 6,508,271

% of population living in poverty: % 14.2

GDP: $27.13 billion

Capital: Amman

Largest city: Amman

Coasts: 26 km

Major bodies of water: The Dead Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and The Gulf of Aqaba

Major rivers: The Jordan River, and the Yarmuk River

Bordering countries: Syria, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and West bank

Majority religion: Islam

Climate: mostly arid desert; rainy season in west (November to April)

Geographical features: Dead Sea, Jordan River

Jordan Desert

Selected current event in Jordan:

There are protests happening in Jordan. One person was killed and 150 were injured. 57 were policeman, the Public Security Department announced on Friday. The protest of Jordan had been happening for two months when the first death happened.

Israel

Israel

Type of government:  Parliamentary Democracy

Current head of state:  President Shimon Peres

Total population:  7,473,052

% of population living in poverty: % 23.6

GDP: $201.3 billion

Capital: Jerusalem  

Largest city: Jerusalem

Coasts: 273 km

Major bodies of water: The Mediterranean sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Dead Sea

Major rivers: Jordan, Qishon, Yarqon, and the Yarmuk river  

Bordering countries: Syria, Jordan, West bank, Egypt and the Gaza Strip

Majority religion: Judaism

Climate:  temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas

Geographical features: Mt. Carmel, Mt. Hermon, Mt. Meron, and Mt. Gilboa

Flag of Israel

Selected current event in Israel: 

After the regime change of Egypt, Egypt’s new foreign minister Nabil al-Arabi said Egypt will demand that Israel pay the difference between the lower prices it received and market value on the natural gas it purchased under deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The new Oil minister said that Egypt had to renegotiate oil treaties. Arabi also threatened to review and amend security arrangements agreed to in the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, but he stressed that the two countries would have to agree on any changes.