July 17th, 2006

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Politics, Travel
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I Don’t Understand the Middle East

You want to know what the business world thinks of you? We think a hundred years ago you were living out here in tents in the desert chopping each others heads off, and that’s exactly where you’re gonna be in another hundred. –Bryan Woodman, Syriana

I’m just going to come right out and say it. I’ve paid attention to newscasts, I’ve read Wikipedia articles, watched movies and asked lots of questions of people from that part of the world. I just haven’t been able to come to grips with the thousands of years of history and sundry (and shifting) political alliances.

Maybe I’m just slow, but I think the average citizen needs to expend a tremendous amoung of effort to get even a superficial understanding of the region. High school failed me miserably in this regard.

I can’t even decide which side of the Israel/Palestine debate I should be on. All my liberal friends portray Israel as a vicious interloper and oppresor, while all my conservative friends portray Palestinians as terrorists. I have a basic understanding of the conflict and its history, but not enough to make a really informed decision.

And that’s just Israel and Palestine. Then we’ve got Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and the rest of the nations.

If I’m painting them with the same brush, I am. It’s the Complicated for Westerns Brush. I want to be able to sort them out, and understand the huge political, social and religious differences among them. One way is to travel to the region, and it’s definitely on my list. Some countries, of course, are safer than others these days.

As it turns out, there is a Middle East for Dummies. Maybe I’ll start there.

UPDATE: If I’m lucky, maybe I can head on down to the Whitehouse and have President Bush explain what the f@!k all this s#&t is about.

Comments: 10 Responses so far

Norlinda
July 17th, 2006
12:04 pm

I don’t think it’s a matter of whose side you’re on—I think choosing sides and therefore deciding who is right or wrong is one of the biggest reasons why the Middle East issues will never be solved. Isn’t it better to put aside blame and figure out what each side needs (as opposed to want) and work from there?
And are there unbiased resources out there to learn about the “true” issues? I really doubt it.

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Metro
July 17th, 2006
12:43 pm

Normally the quote “A plague on both your houses” suffices.

But in this immediate situation, it’s simple. Hizbullah, for most purposes a terrorist group, violated national boundaries to kidnap two Israeli soldiers.

In response the Israeli army has blown away the infrastructure of the country of Lebanon and killed over 150 civillians, despite having successfully negotiated the release of hostages in the past.

This our prime minister chooses to call a “measured and justified” response.

There are definitely historical complexities to the overarching situation, but choosing sides is easy here. It’s as if the US invaded Canada to avenge the New York tunnel plot.

I urge Canadians to address the Prime Minister on this issue. Write to him here.

And read Cold Desert’s blog. He lives in Beirut and is living first-hand what we’re seeing on the news.

Israel and its neighbours have the right to live and thrive peacefully. But in this specific case Israel is dead wrong.

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WCG
July 17th, 2006
1:41 pm

It’s not very complex. What it comes down to is the God Gave Us This side, and the No He Didn’t God Gave US That side. The details about who smote whome first are just window dressing: nobody will be happy until they get all the land in the middle east because they are the chosen people and God said so. Furthermore, to let the other guy have it not only makes God very angry, but it sort of sullies the whole area because those other people are dirty and unclean (because God hates them). It’s all very Grade 8, and I have a hard time understanding the inability to just get over it already. On both sides.

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gigglechick
July 17th, 2006
2:24 pm

seriously. i have no clue either. pretty much the only thing that goes on in my head when i see it on the news is “eh. they’re nuts. we’ve all just gotta stop.”

then i change the channel

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Randy Charles Morin
July 17th, 2006
3:04 pm

I think your liberal and conservative friends are both correct and that’s the problem.

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jd
July 17th, 2006
5:26 pm

WCG,

i don’t think the situation can be explained as easily as you have tried. in fact, only a small percentage of israelis are religious jews (so it’s hard to claim that they are there because they think God told them to be there), and many of them are willing to trade land for peace (so it’s hard to claim that they are fighting for land because God told them to).

you could also look at a current map of the country and then consider how different that is from what God promised the jews. what they have now is a lot smaller. and they are fine with that. so, again, it’s hard to argue that israelis are working under the idea that they have a God-given right to something.

let me suggest a different reasoning. the israelis do not think that God told them anything. instead, they think that for a long time before and really during the Second World War the rest of the world told and then showed them that they needed to have their own country. few really wanted to help them out (at best) and a lot of people wanted to kill them (at worst).

all i’m saying is that God is not whispering in the ears of most israelis. that is not what motivates them. however, how they go about their business is not something i could do a fair job of defending.

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Loo
July 17th, 2006
8:31 pm

Wow, talk about biting off more than anyone can chew on a blog post. I took a course on the Ottoman Empire that relates to a lot of the deep seeded conflict festering here. One, the Ottoman Empire was never a country. Although Muslims ruled it, each religion in the Empire functioned as their own entity - kept peace amongst the various groups (sort of). That is why Jerusalem has quarters (Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim) all Ottoman cities were like that. Second (and this is a big one), Iraq, Syria, Jordan (which really was just wilderness with nomads passing through) and Palestine were all lumped together as the Arab (and later Syrian) provinces - if you will. Lebanon was a rebel’s hang out (except Beruit). If you travelled back about a hundred years the idea of nationalism and separate identities didn’t exist - hence when you fire a missle at Palestine, you fire a missle at all of them. Notice Turkey is not involved - that is also tied up in their history rather than modern secularism. Lastly, these cities, although part of the Ottoman Empire, were surrounded by dangerous warring bedouin tribes, living beyond them was unsafe, so these cities such as Jerusalem, Beruit and Damascus had there own political heavyweights that the Ottoman officials had to suck up to. They are like the ‘Godfather’ and you don’t mess with them. Although they rarely ruled directly. The modern day versions run the Palastinian territories - they may or may not have an interest in peace - they will use religion, but notice that muslim clerics are rarely quoted (unless,of course, they are puppets of these guys). Religion is a trump card, but not a motivation for many of these leaders. Have to see about Hamas, but I doubt they are much different - Just a new ‘godfather’ type rising to political power now and needing to create a show of force to gain acceptance. Twenty years from now the dumb west will be calling their leader the answer to peace. Ha. It will never end as long as these guys run the show. Btw any Palestinian opposing these guys has long gone from the area - too dangerous. Man, I should worry about writing this.

A look at Ottoman history could clear a lot of this up.

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Pete Quily
July 17th, 2006
8:43 pm

you might want to find someone who sees blame on both sides, it’s not just one side. Or reading bloggers or MSM types that see the strengths and weaknesses of both sides.

If you’re interested in some blogosphere reaction outside of the US, here’s some collective blog’s on the subject

list of Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli bloggers covering the crisis
http://truthlaidbear.com/mideastcrisis.php

list of Jewish bloggers doing the same
http://jblogosphere.blogspot.com/

list of Lebanese bloggers doing the same
http://lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com/
http://lebanonheartblogs.blogspot.com/

http://cedarsawakening.blogspot.com/
Egyptian bloggers

http://www.bigpharaoh.com/
http://sandmonkey.org/

Other blogs

Middle east news and analysis http://www.imra.org.il/
http://www.michaeltotten.com/
http://www.billmon.org

you could also check out the big religion chart compares quite a few religions including the local area ones
http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm

and far from me to be defending bush, but this is one time when he told the truth i.e. the “”What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it’s over”. It is a true statement of fact (would be more accurate in adding Iran to the mix).

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andrew
July 17th, 2006
9:30 pm

try Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilization. it’s a highly readable history of the middle east.

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Billy
July 24th, 2006
2:33 am

The Jews were given the land of israel for 50 years and then told to get out after wwII well guess what there still there hmmmmmm really makes u think

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