All answers must be published on your blog by Friday, January 16. The title will be the one above.
Answer the following questions.
1. Where is Israel? Locate it on a map.
2. Why was Israel created?
3. Where are the Palestinian Territories? Locate on a map.
As background read the following article:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/world/july-dec08/israel_12-30.html
and check out the timeline:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/04/world/20090104_ISRAEL-HAMAS_TIMELINE.html
and a brief history of the conflict
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/studentactivity/20090109gazahistory.pdf
and answer the questions. Some of them need to be updated considering the article was written on December, 30. Therefore, check out the latest news.
1. What is happening in Israel and Gaza?
2. How many Palestinians have died and how many Israelis?
3. What is Hamas?
4. What was the U.S. response to the attacks?
5. What happened when Israel was declared a state in 1948?
6. What did Israel agree to in the Oslo accords?
7. How did Hamas come to power in Gaza?
Next read the article: "The New Meaning of an Old Battle"
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20090109friday.html
and answer the questions:
a. To which "old battle" does the article's headline refer?
b. What seem to be the hopes underlying Israel's assault on Gaza?
c. How would a clear Israeli victory affect the region?
d. How would a clear Israeli victory affect the United States?
e. Why does Iran have much at stake in the outcome of the current crisis?
f. How likely is it that the Israeli assault will be successful?
g. What are some of the divisions in the Middle East that this conflict has highlighted?
h. What happened in Lebanon in 1982? How are the Gaza attacks similar?
i. In what ways might the attacks on Gaza backfire?
j. Why does Mr. Abbas say he will walk away from the peace talks begun by President Bush in 2007?
k. What lessons has Israel learned from Lebanon?
m. In what way is the timing of this renewed battle beneficial?
n. How will the Obama administration be able to capitalize on the situation in Gaza?
Next, select a recent image (it must be copied to your blog) from the war and answer the following questions:
-What is going on in the photograph?
-Who is pictured?
-What can you learn about how the main subject in the photo is feeling from his or her facial expression?
-What might this person be feeling, given what is going on in the photograph?
-What might this person want to say to the "opposite side"?
Finally, write a letter from the person in the photograph to a corresponding person on the other side of the conflict, revealing the photographic subject's perspective on the situation. This letter must be handwritten on a 1/4 cardboard together with the photograph.
