2. There aren't too many items of value in the Middle East. But one thing they do have is oil, and lots of it. Since it's only thing they have that others want, it's the only thing that they are able to sell. Every country in the face of the earth uses oil. This makes the Middle East's oil extremely valuable.
4. Egypt and Mesopotamia survived by growing near water because you need water to survive, and the Middle East is a giant desert, so water is extremely scarce.
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Water is a source of conflict in the Middle East because there is so little of it. So they are always arguing on how the water should be distributed
Egypt and Turkey are making plans to re-route some water to them, but Israel, Palestine, Iraq, and Iran are all objectin to their plans because then they get less water, which they already have little of.
When one country controls a water source, they choose how it is distributed across the land and how much neighboring countries get. The GAP is controversial because it plans to take water directly out of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the main water source for most of the Middle Eastern states. Turkey is so determined to continue because if they control the water of the Middle East, they practically control the Middle East.
These issues have changed very little in the past years
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2. There aren't too many items of value in the Middle East. But one thing they do have is oil, and lots of it. Since it's only thing they have that others want, it's the only thing that they are able to sell. Every country in the face of the earth uses oil. This makes the Middle East's oil extremely valuable.
3. Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia seem to have a lot of oil. Everywhere else in the Middle East seems to be pretty lacking. This definitely affects which countries get more attention from the media, because they are controversal areas.
http://www.jeffboulton.ca/BBB%204M1%20Map%20-%20Oil%20and%20the%20Middle%20East.jpg
4. Egypt and Mesopotamia survived by growing near water because you need water to survive, and the Middle East is a giant desert, so water is extremely scarce.
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