Chapter 24 : The Middle East Following World War II, independent nations arose in the Middle East as European influence declined. Huge oil reserves brought economic growth to some nations but also drew the area into the cold war struggle. Arab nations united in opposing the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. Israeli forces, with financial aid and military assistance from Western nations, were able to defend their territory and even extend it. Israel and its Arab neighbors began to make peace in the 1970s, but tensions remained in the Middle East. By the early 1990s, Israel had agreed to give back some of the territory it had taken in the 1967 war in return for guarantees of peace and security. The peace process moved slowly and was often marred by violence from opponents of peace on both sides. In the early 1990s the United States was drawn into the Persian Gulf War with Iraq when Iraq's president Saddam Hussein attacked neighboring countries.