The Middle East... why is it a mystery to us?

So many parts of our life are tied into the Middle East, yet we know so little about it...why is this? The Middle East is a very complex region, it fact just calling it the "Middle East" is over simplifying things.
Think of all the different ways we are tied to this Region; take for instance religion- Judaism Christianity and Islam. Wars and other global conflicts; listing Israel, The Persian Gulf War, The Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is only the begnining of a very long list of our Military and Political involvement.
In order to better learn about this region will we be doing a number of different activities. First as a class we will watch MSNBC's special on the Middle East, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17722026 so if you were gone watch this on your own and take notes on the developments of the region and compare Shiite and Sunni Muslims
Then we will start the "project" for this region, a webquest created by another school which does a very good job of providing you the opportunity to learn about the region.
http://home.earthlink.net/~lazarski/home/Midest1.htm
Go there and read the instructions... and get to work!