In the News, 2021: MIDDLE EAST

HEIGHT in feet of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (above) in the United Arab Emirates. That’s more than twice as tall as the 1,250-foot-tall Empire State Building in New York City.

_{Source: The Skyscraper Center}

The Middle East, a region mostly in Asia, is the site of some of the world’s oldest civilizations. It’s also the birthplace of three major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, three were in the Middle East: the Great Pyramids of Giza (Egypt), the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Iraq), and the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria (Egypt).

NUMBER of migrants in the Middle East in 2016, up from 25 million a decade earlier. It’s the region in the world with the fastest-growing population of displaced people seeking refuge from war, conflict, and upheaval.

_{Source: Pew Research Center}

Many Middle East observers now believe that the peace process that has been pursuing a “two state solution” for Israelis and Palestinians since 1993 is nearly dead. The Trump administration has long said that helping both sides agree to a peace deal was a priority, but the plan it released in June 2019 focused more on Palestinian economic development than on a political solution that would resolve the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.