War and Peace in Middle East - Essay Example

 War and Peace in Middle East Introduction The paper talks about war and peace in Middle East in the backdrop of religious ruling and two types of nationalisms. It starts with the dominance of Egypt in yesteryears on Middle East and discusses about Western influence. Then the consequence that resulted in the formation of Jewish state as well as Jewish nationalism can be seen with simultaneous discussion of struggle between both types of nationalisms as well as nations. The paper ends with recognising the fact that the Jewish nationalism resulted in democracy in Israel, but Arab nationalism did not give rise to democracy in Islamic states of Middle East. Even in Palestine, the democracy is nominal and armed groups rule over the country. Politics of Peace: War and Peace in Middle East Middle East has its own recognition on the globe for sensitive political developments. The area is well known for its rich oil resources and for its religious divisions between the people. Starting with the important and North African Country in Middle East; Egypt played vital role in the activities of Arabian countries in the history of the area. Many activities of the Arabian countries revolve around Egypt till the occurrence of revolution in 1952. The country was under the ruling of Khedives and kings for years together. Hence, it made the country fully corrupted and it remained backward. Simultaneously, European countries like Britain and France eyed Egypt for business opportunities. In the course of time, the revolution ruined the country and the later situations were totally different. The socio economic conditions were changed. The fertile land in the country remained unused and people have become poor and even begged for food. Thus the country was trouble torn for a long time (Peter Mansfield, 1965). The rest of the Middle East is always in news due to political and socio economic equations. According to David Fromkin (1989), the boarder quarries between the countries like Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Jordan make the area hot and the countries frequently exchanged fire at their boarders. More or less, UK, USA, Russia, and France involved in the daily activities of above mentioned countries. The developed countries considered the Middle East as a play ground for their battle enthusiasm keeping in view that it is rich in oil resources. The proposal of alliance between Turkey (Ottomans) and Germany was a cause for Russia’s unhappiness and it provoked Britain to invade Turkey and bagged a bitter experience. As a result, the involvement of Europeans from 1922 in the Middle East resulted in rise of Arab nationalism. That made all Arabian countries in Middle East to act as one against the acts of Europeans but did not ensure the establishment of a country like Israel in case of Jews. In the above course of activities, UK wanted to make Husain as the king of Saudi Arabia to control the area of Middle East. However, it was not possible due to the socio political situation at that time. Consequently, UK has to maintain its army troops there for years together and it become burden to that country. In the course of time, Britain and other European countries wanted to mend the situation in Middle East according to their wish. As the religious differences between people resulted in disputes between states, to exploit that situation UK implemented Balfour declaration to advocate Jewish national home in Palestine. Consequently, substantial part of Palestine has become the land of land mines and thousands of people were killed in Wars between Israel and other Muslim dominated countries in Middle East. As Palestinians want to rule themselves from Gaza and the Israel wants to control them, the deviations between the two races always put the area in blood bath and concept of Arab Nationalism has been strengthened. (David Fromkin, 1989). Important Countries in Middle East Despite the strengthening of Arab Nationalism, there are six nations which play major role in the activities of Middle East; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. They work under one umbrella named Gulf Cooperation Council. Though the people of all states follow Islam there are small differences in the form of sects. Shias and Sunnis are two important sects and Turks differ from these two. Shias are dominant in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and in the rest of the states like Qatar and Iraq, Sunnies are the majority. Religion as well as nationalism plays the key role in maintaining foreign policies between neighbouring countries. The countries with Sunnis population like to maintain good relation with the country which has the same race. Thus race also has important role in the foreign policies of Middle East. As a result the concept of Arab Nationalism rose and existed due to the existence of Israel but not on the grounds of being same nation (Ihsan D Dagi, 2001). Apart from the consideration of religion and race, according to Roger Owen, the politics and activities in Middle East revolve around identity and recognition. After the fall of Ottoman Empire in Turkey, despite emergence of Arabic nationalism the people fought for their identity and recognition. As a result, it caused Israel-Palestinian conflict thus creating uncertainty about the peace in the region. The concept of Arab nationalism fortified by the emergence of Israel as the birth of that country is due to Jewish nationalism and the Arab countries fought as they were as single nation against Jews. Consequently, the political, military, socio economic and foreign relations of the countries in the Middle East were affected accordingly. The democracy, election process and the relationship between the states were influenced by Arab nationalism. Particularly, the nationalistic feeling in the people of Palestinians unified them and they are being led by Hamas and Fatah to fight with Israel. Thus one can understand that the political situation in the modern Middle East is also under the influence of the Arab nationalism as well as the control of people who play politics according to fight against Israel; both militarily as well as diplomatically (Roger Owen, 2009). Hence, the emergence of a country has decided the direction of politics in Middle East. Zionism creates new society In addition to above mentioned aspects and due to international politics as well as local ones, the unification or self recognition desire among people, who feel that they belong to a different category in Palestine, under the ruling of Arabs led towards Zionism. Israel is the best example for the state which exists with a particular ideology (Zionism) in modern world. According to Benn Halpern and Jehuda Reinharz (1998), Jews declared a nation in the form of Israel in 1948. At the time of declaration, they have declared that they are moving with fundamental ideas of Zionism to protect themselves from Islamic society. Israelis also struggled for their self recognition and they wanted to save their religion and that burning desire of Jews, created a nation that cares for Zionism in the country. After the establishment of Israel, Jews were identified as free birds, but the Arab states did not recognize Israel. As the world recognized Israel as country, with its severity and specially being a successful Zionism state, the Jewish people fought with Palestinians. In the course of time and after wars between Israel and Arab countries, both Israel and Palestine found enough area to exist as country, but the Palestine has not been developed as much as Israel (Ben Halpern and Jehuda Reinharz, 1998). Zionism vs. Arab Nationalism Both Zionism and Arab Nationalism have identity in the world from 20th Century as they changed the scenario of the Arab world with their activities and influenced socio political situations in various states of Middle East. The Zionism can be termed as Jewish nationalism in the wake of emergence of Israel. However, there is a large difference between nationalism and Zionism. Arab nationalism proved that the people having nationalistic feelings need not live in a same country, but Israel has formed with the sole intention of being a home for Jews in the world. As the Zionism is feeling of the Jews, who sought self recognition and keep up their religious stature, the Jewish nationalism has been mixed with Zionism. Before the First World War, the present area of Israel was the home land for Jewish, which was ruled by Ottoman along with Syria. The Jewish people from many countries collected money to emerge as Jewish and wanted to establish their home land. Thus the deviations between the two countries are continuing till date. As the Arab nationalism also emerged almost in the same way as Jewish nationalism due to rule of ottomans and that has been fortified due to the establishment of Israel. Ottomans treated Arab youth like slaves and they have to join army forcibly by the ruler. As the rulers are Turks and not Arabs, the ideological deviations rose between rulers and the ruled. Ottomans treated the Arabs as slaves and even punished the leaders of that community. The Arabs were under the pressure of the rulers resulting in losing their identity, and they didn’t have a chance even raise to their voice. The humiliation from the Turk rulers unified the Arabs and they moved to form their self identified home lands. After number of struggles in Ottoman Empire between 1915-16 Husain Ibn Ali, the peer of Mecca was made as the leader of Arabs with the help of McMahon, the British high commissioner in Egypt on the condition that the Arabs had to support the Britain in war. Thus the Arabs fulfilled their desire of nationalism with the help of British and later they helped UK in World War II (ICS, 2008). Religious impact on politics in Middle East and the Democratic Government After World War II, due to Arab domination, Islam plays major role in the politics of the states in the Middle East. As Mark Tessler (2002), said that the rulers in the Middle East won’t allow the people to look towards democracy, as most of the countries are under rule of kings and dynasties or in the hand of dictators like Saddam Husain in Iraq, King Husain in Saudi Arabia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. The people in those countries dare not to question the rulers. Politics and the religion have the strong bond in these countries. For the past 25 years, Islam is influencing the democracy in these countries. In the above backdrop, strong Muslim youth associations, Study groups, financial institutions, Welfare organizations emerged in many countries. Hence, all the rulers in Middle East are not in a position to think away from Islam and religious affairs. But there are some ideological differences in the people regarding Islam and democracy. Democracy says that the people are the supreme for the state, where as in Islam the god is the supreme for the country and the government rules the country on the name of god. Hence, the establishment of democracy even in the presence of nationalistic feelings was not possible till now. However, in contrast, the Jewish Nationalism in Israel resulted in democracy (Mark Tessler, 2002). References: Ben Halpern and Jehuda Reinharz, 1998, Zionism and the Creation of a New Society, New York, USA: Oxford University Press. David Fromkin, 1989, A Peace to Eng all Peace, New York, USA: Henry Hold and Company ICS, 2008, Zionism and Arab Nationalism: Background Information, Retrieved on 15th February 2009 from Ihsan D Dagi, 2001, Radical Politics in Middle East, ir.metu.edu.tr, Retrieved on 14th February 2009 from Mark Tessler, 2002, Islam and Democracy in the Middle East: The Impact of Religious Orientations on Attitudes Towards Democracy in Four Arab Countries, Comparative Politics, Volume 34, Retrieved on 14th February 2009 from Peter Mansfield, 1965, Nasser’s Egypt, UK: Penguin. Roger Owen, 2009, State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, Second Edition, Spring Lake, MI, USA: ebookmall.com Read More