The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict Read online

  Part 3, “The Great War’s Spoils,” traces the impact of World War I on the Middle East, in particular the role of Britain and France in dividing up the region and creating new nations. The British promise to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine and the seeds of the Arab-Israeli conflict grow.

  Part 4, “A State for the Jews,” documents the establishment of Israel and its rapid growth. It also explains some of the consequences of the realization of the Zionist dream, in particular, the creation of a Palestinian refugee problem. Despite their defeat in 1948, the Arab states were unwilling to reconcile themselves to Israel’s existence, and Israel and Egypt soon found themselves at war. It’s here that you’ll also find out about the United States’s growing interest in the region’s security, which ultimately led to the deployment of troops in Lebanon.

  Part 5, “War and Peace,” covers the 1967 and Arab-Israeli wars and the eventual peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, Anwar Sadat’s assassination, and Israel’s war in Lebanon. The section also covers the Palestinians’ efforts to undermine Jordan and their exile to Lebanon, where they contributed to the descent of that country into civil war. The evolution of U.S.–Israel military ties is traced, too.

  Part 6, “Inching Toward Peace,” provides information on the Palestinian intifada (uprising) and the evolution of the Arab-Israeli peace process. It also covers the 1991 Gulf War and its aftermath.

  Part 7, “Why Can’t We All Get Along?” brings conflicts in the Middle East up to the present, covering the creation of the Palestinian Authority, Israel’s treaty with Jordan, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the deaths of King Hussein, Hafez Assad, and Yasser Arafat. A chapter is devoted to the history and politics of Jerusalem because it is a focus of the debate over the final status of the territories disputed by Israel and the Arabs. The history of the major Arab states is also reviewed with an emphasis on their policies toward Israel and each other. I also look at the long, violent record of Middle East terrorists that preceded September 11 and has continued afterward, as well as the U.S.–led war to combat them. The conclusion looks at some of the more-optimistic signs that conflict might one day end, as well as the less-hopeful developments that threaten this vision.

  Extras

  In this book you’ll find sidebars that add spice, facts, and trivia to the basic history. They are as follows:

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  Sage Sayings

  The “Who’s Who” and “Who Was Who” in the Middle East, past and present, share their insights and opinions here.

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  Tut Tut!

  Check these out for mistakes and misstatements that were made over the years in the region.

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  Mysteries of the Desert

  A lot of interesting information about the Middle East doesn’t always fit well into the main text, but it’s too important to leave out. It’s been placed here for your enlightenment.

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  Hieroglyphics

  Not sure what a word or term means? These definitions will come to your aid.

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  Ask the Sphinx

  These tips and bits of information make it easier to understand aspects of the conflicts.

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  Acknowledgments

  I want to thank Gary Krebs first for giving me the opportunity to write for the Complete Idiot’s Guide series and Randy Ladenheim-Gil for sticking with me on this topic and allowing me to branch out to other areas (see my Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding the Brain, co-authored by my father). Writing these books has enabled me to reach a far broader audience than I can in the more academic books I’ve written on these same subjects. I am especially grateful to Carol Hupping for slogging through the original version of this manuscript; to Lynn Northrup for her hard work in editing the second edition; and to Jennifer Moore and Keith Kline for their efforts on the third edition. They all helped make this a better book.

  When I suggested Daniel Pipes as the technical reviewer for the original edition, I knew I was getting one of the country’s best analytical minds and most respected Middle East scholars. I had no doubt that he would help make this a better book. This was one instance in which reality exceeded expectations, and I am very grateful to Daniel for putting so much time into helping with the first edition. I also want to thank Professor Bernard Reich for reviewing some of the new material under a severe time crunch, and offering his expert perspective on the issues. I can only aspire to achieve the stature of these two brilliant scholars.

  Special Thanks to the Technical Reviewer

  The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Middle East Conflict was read by experts who not only reviewed the contents of what you’ll find in this book but also added valuable insight. Our special thanks go to Daniel Pipes and Professor Bernard Reich.

  Dr. Daniel Pipes, who received his Ph.D. in history from Harvard University, is director of the Middle East Forum, a nonprofit organization that promotes American interests in the Middle East, and a senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the U.S. Naval War College; served in the departments of state and defense; and is the former director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

  Bernard Reich is professor of political science and international affairs and former chairman of the Department of Political Science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He serves as a consultant to various U.S. government agencies. Professor Reich is the author of numerous books, and his articles and reviews have appeared in journals all over the world. He has lectured on the Middle East and on U.S. foreign policy and related themes, on political risk, on oil and energy issues, and on terrorism and related matters for numerous United States government agencies and schools and for institutions in more than 50 other countries.

  Trademarks

  All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Penguin Group (USA) Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

  Part 1

  In the Beginning

  Much of the Middle East is desert sand. Underneath at least some of that sand is oil—the major fuel of the world’s modern industrial economies. From an economic standpoint, therefore, the region is important, but that hardly explains the attention devoted to it by the press, politicians, scholars, and the public.

  The Middle East is a fascinating place because of its rich history, much of which is glorious—filled with tales of Arabian nights, breathtaking artistic accomplishments, and important scientific innovations. The region’s history is also one of conflict: horrific wars, great empires, and religious crusades. Three of the world’s great religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—were born in this turbulent region, and this makes it a focus of attention, fascination, and veneration for hundreds of millions of people.

  Part 1 looks at these and other reasons for the interest in the Middle East. It focuses in particular on the birth of Judaism and the rise of the Jewish people as a power in the Middle East, their defeat and exile from their homeland, and their return to glory.

  Chapter 1

  Who Cares About the Middle East?

  In This Chapter

  A place of ancient and biblical significance

  Oil and war

  The scourge of terrorism

  Adding powder to the keg

  The media glare

  Lobbying for influence

  The Middle East is a huge geographical area with a large population in a strategic part of the world. It is also the birthplace of three major religions. For these reasons, it is not surprising that so much attention focuses on its affairs. Still, it is a distant and sometimes strange region whose violent history is reflecte
d in the following story.

  A scorpion came out of the desert to the banks of the Nile, whereupon he accosted a crocodile. “My dear chap,” he said to the crocodile, “could we form an alliance to get to the other side of the Nile?”

  The crocodile answered, “Do you think I am stupid? I would be at your complete mercy. You could sting me and kill me at any time during the crossing.”

  “Of course not,” said the scorpion. “I promise not to sting you, because if I did sting you, I would drown.”

  The crocodile thought for a second and then agreed this made sense and took the scorpion on his back. About midstream, the scorpion became agitated and stung the crocodile.

  As the two were about to go under, the crocodile turned to the scorpion and said, “Now we will both die. What possible explanation or logic is there for such an act?”

  “There is none,” said the scorpion, “this is the Middle East.”

  This story is retold often because it so beautifully captures the essence of Middle East politics. Anyone who is truly an expert on the region will admit that no one can predict events because of the seemingly illogical or irrational behavior the parties there often exhibit. It is possible, however, to explain what has happened in the past and what’s occurring now to get a sense of what the future might hold. The question you might ask first, however, is “Why do we care?” There are some very good reasons why.

  Birthplace of Religion

  The Middle East is the birthplace of monotheism, the belief in one god, and, more specifically, of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Other faiths, some long abandoned, also originated there, and we can see their legacy in places such as the tombs of the Pharaohs in Egypt. The Middle East is also an area where the tales told in many sacred texts come alive.

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  Hieroglyphics

  The Middle East, sometimes referred to as the Near East, encompasses all the countries of Asia south of the former Soviet Union and west of Pakistan up to and including Egypt. The total population of these nations is nearly 300 million.

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  I am reminded of the scene in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark in which the Nazis have stolen the Ark of the Covenant—the sacred chest that contained the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Nazis have taken it to a remote island to open it in hope of learning its secrets. Archaeologist Indiana Jones seeks to prevent the Nazis from doing this and threatens to blow up the ark. Jones’s rival calls his bluff by saying that the two of them are just passing through history. But the Ark is history. Everywhere you go in the Middle East is of ancient and biblical historical significance.

  Map of the Middle East.

  Travelers to the Middle East get that same feeling because it is difficult to take a step without your foot touching a piece of history. Such experiences are perhaps most dramatic in Jerusalem—a city holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

  Here are just a few of the sites you can find there:

  Christians can visit Gethsemane, where Jesus was arrested by Roman soldiers, and literally walk in his footsteps along the “Way of the Cross”—the Via Dolorosa.

  Muslims ascend the Haram ash-es-Sharif (which in Arabic means “the Noble Enclosure,” and which Jews know as the Temple Mount), remove their shoes, and express their devotion to Allah inside the Dome of the Rock, a shrine built around the rock on which Abraham is said to have bound his son Ishmael (Jews and Christians believe it was Isaac) to be sacrificed before God intervened. This is also the place where the Koran says Muhammad ascended to heaven.

  No place in the world is holier for Jews than Jerusalem. In the Old City, they stand on 2,000-year-old stones and pray before the Western Wall, part of the retaining wall of the second great Temple, which was erected on the ruins of the first Temple, built by King Solomon.

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  Hieroglyphics

  The Temple Mount was an area of roughly 40 acres on Mount Moriah on which the Jewish Temple was built in approximately 950 B.C.E. The Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E. by the Babylonians and rebuilt 70 years later. It was razed by the Romans in 70 C.E. The Muslims subsequently built the shrine known as the Dome of the Rock on a plaza above the Western Wall in 691 C.E. and added the Al Aqsa Mosque 20 years later.

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  Millions of people make pilgrimages to the Holy Land each year, and the competing religious claims contribute to the political conflict that exists in the region.

  Cradle of Civilization

  Beyond religion, the Middle East provides a rich heritage in virtually every field of human endeavor—from architecture to music to mathematics to philosophy.

  Consider these:

  The first urban civilizations appeared nearly 5,000 years ago in the valleys of the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates.

  The pyramids in Egypt are perhaps the most famous, durable, and fascinating structures ever built.

  One of the earliest written legal codes was drawn up by the Babylonian ruler Hammurabi in the year 2000 B.C.E.

  Egyptian craftsmen discovered glassmaking in about 1600 B.C.E.

  Advanced principles of geometry, algebra, and trigonometry were developed by Arab mathematicians.

  Long before the English language was developed, Arabic literature had produced important works in poetry, history, medicine, and astronomy.

  The invention of paper came to Europe through the Arabs.

  Lubricating Policy

  Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often dominates the news, other Middle Eastern nations also warrant attention because of the impact that their policies have on the United States and, often, on the entire world. For the past several decades, for example, the United States has relied heavily on the Middle East for oil. The impact of this reliance was felt most directly during the oil embargo the Arabs imposed on the United States as punishment for its support of Israel in the 1973 War (see Chapter 16). The dependence of the United States and its allies on oil drew attention to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Iraq, and Iran, and continues to heavily influence U.S. foreign policy in the region.

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  Mysteries of the Desert

  Dates in this book do not use the conventional nomenclature of the Gregorian, or Christian, calendar; that is, B.C. for Before Christ and A.D. for Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord). Because many people do not accept Jesus as their Messiah, they often use B.C.E. for Before the Common Era and C.E. for Common Era.

  The Jewish calendar begins counting years not from the birth of Jesus, but from the year Earth was created, as calculated by adding up the ages of people in the Bible back to the time of creation. (Jews acknowledge that this is not scientific, but they use it anyway.) The new year on the Jewish calendar begins in October 2005, which will be the Jewish year 5766.

  The Muslim era is dated from the Hegira (see Chapter 4). In the year 639 C.E., Caliph Umar I created a lunar calendar starting with July 16, 622. The years were subsequently numbered A.H. for the Latin Anno Hegirae, “in the year of the Hegira.” A little more than a thousand years later, the Ottomans shifted from a lunar to a solar cycle and thereby created a second Hegira calendar with different dates. Several countries, such as Iran, use a solar calendar along with the lunar Hegira calendar, but nowhere does the former replace the latter.

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  U.S. and European companies discovered the oil, developed the oil fields, and built the infrastructure for the oil industry. After gaining their own emancipation, the Arab states eventually nationalized the foreign oil companies to take control of this resource for their own financial and strategic interests. Knowing that they sat on the world’s largest oil reserves and had the power to affect the global economy by turning on and off the spigot gave the Arab oil-producing nations influence for the first time on world affairs and the global economy.

  In recent years, the United States has begun to import increasing amounts of oil from nations outside the Middle East—from such producers as Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, and Nigeria. T
his shift has reduced the ability of the Arab states to dictate policy and prices. Today, only about 22 percent of U.S. oil supplies come from the region; nevertheless, the fact that the Arab states sit on the greatest pool of oil in the world ensures that Middle Eastern nations will continue to be of strategic importance to the West.

  Shifting Sands

  The Middle East also attracts attention because it is the scene of repeated conflicts that directly or indirectly affect American interests. Almost every border in the Middle East, from Libya to Pakistan, from Turkey to Yemen, is either ill-defined or in dispute. Events in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait have involved the intervention of U.S. troops, and nothing focuses the attention of the public like American lives endangered abroad. The United States has been deeply involved in each of the Arab-Israeli wars, but has also fought its own Middle East wars, the 1991 Gulf War with Iraq and the 2003 Iraq War (see Chapter 20).

  During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States each formed alliances with competing Middle Eastern states, and each rise in tensions opened the possibility of wider conflict. The most dramatic example occurred in 1973, when the USSR’s allies Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on America’s ally, Israel (see Chapter 16). During the fighting, President Nixon placed U.S. forces on a nuclear alert in response to threats from the Soviets. Some historians believe that was the closest we have ever come to a nuclear war, other than the Cuban missile crisis.