2: From the Muslim Conquest to the Nineteenth Century

Available for over a year

The second of ten programmes examining the origins and tracing the history of the Middle East conflict takes the story from the Muslim conquest of the region in the Seventh Century AD through to the early Nineteenth Century. Presenter Jonny Dymond is joined by historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of ‘Jerusalem: The Biography’, and Eugene Rogan, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford University. They discuss the coming of Islam, the establishment of Arab rule, the significance of the Crusades, the Twelfth Century Muslim commander Salah ad-Din (Saladin) who fought the Crusaders , the persecution of Jews in the Diaspora in the Middle Ages and their relationship to the Holy Land, the Ottoman conquest of the Holy Land in the Sixteenth Century, and the nature of society there under Ottoman rule in the following centuries. 'How Did We Get Here? Israel and the Palestinians' is a BBC News Long Form Audio production. The presenter is Jonny Dymond and the editor is Penny Murphy. The Radio 4 commissioners are Hugh Levinson and Dan Clarke. The studio engineers are Neil Churchill, James Beard, Rod Farquhar, Mike Regaard and David Crackles.