The Middle East in Transition educational package is a good tool for helping students understand the complexities of the region in a broad context. The instructional guide and the videotape are divided into five topic areas as follows:

1. An Overview of the Middle East
   The materials provide an analysis of the historical developments of the region, focusing on the importance of religion and geography as forces for change. Special attention is given to political movements, such as communism and radical Islamicism, and the influence they have had on Arab countries in the post-colonial period.
2. U.S. Interests in the Middle East
   The U.S. has a variety of interests in the region that are addressed in this chapter. They are: the importance of regional stability, including the prevention of the spread of weapons of mass destruction; the U.S. connections with Israel; oil; and human rights and justice issues.
3. The Persian Gulf War
   Students are introduced to the Gulf War, America's largest engagement of military forces since Vietnam. The materials give an analysis of why Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait; they provide an explanation of the war from the initial invasion to the defeat of Iraqi military forces in March of 1991; and the materials offer thought provoking activities that discuss how the war has affected the Middle East.
4. The Arab-Israeli Conflict
   Students examine the extremely complex issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Subjects covered are: the formation of the Israeli state, the Arab-Israeli wars, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Camp David.
5. Other Middle Eastern Issues
   The materials focus on issues which go beyond the Arab-Israeli conflict. These include the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the scarcity of water, the Kurdish quest for autonomy and Iran's influence in the region.

Each topic is featured on the accompanying videotape which contains historic and current news footage as well as excerpts from the SCIS television programs of former Secretaries of State and Defense, former world leaders and former ambassadors to the UN. The news footage and the issues discussed by the secretaries are directly related to the instructional manual and the lesson plans. The instructional manual contains 276 pages and the videotape is 1 hour long. Both are divided into 5 segments.

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Free Downloads and Other Resources
NCSS Correlation Chart [PDF-format file]	Correlation of this package to NCSS standards. Explains which skills are developed in each lesson and the appropriate grade level for each lesson.
GPS Correlation Chart [PDF-format file]	Correlation of this package to Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) standards.
Index [PDF-format file]	Index to the Instructional Guide.
Updates	Updates to this package, additional activities and other resources, available in PDF.
Timelines	Timelines of recent events in this region and the world.
Infolinks	Other web sites with information about the Middle East and other regions of the world.

The updates are presented in PDF format, which requires the free Adobe^® Acrobat ^® Reader ^TM. Download Acrobat ^® here.