Geographically there is no established boundry about this region and the latest criteria for the countries which should be included in Middle East is’Oil and Turmoil’.That means those countries which pump the crude oil and are rich with petro-dollars like,Saudi-Arab,Iran,Iraq,kuwait,Qatar,Bahrain,UAE,Oman and those countries which make headlines for disturbances like Lebanon,Syria,Egypt,Palestine(filistin to arabs and Israel to jews),Afghanistan,Jordan, can be included in Middle East.
This part had been the centre of battles much before the world wars because of Jerusalem,the holy city,which has the distinction of being the place of worship for three faiths,Judaism,Christianity and Islam.History is that all the three prophets,Prophet Moses,Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed visited this city and revealed the holy scriptures,holy Bible(old testament),holy Bible(new Testament) and holy Quran respectively to their followers.
During first world war it was most unfortunate that oil had not been found in Europe whose industrial economies so badly needed it.Clearly its abundance beneath territories whose people (arabs) had no idea how to extract,refine,distribute or use it argued strongly for foreign involvement.Petroleum anxieties were therefore publicly denied and rarely made the headlines during worldwar1 and worldwar2.By midcentury(1950)Middle East’s staggering crude oil reserves were fully appreciated.This way arab people’s faith in prophet Mohammed and islam also was appreciated.
Just as the first world war was fought with an eye to oil reserves in Persia(Iran)and Mesopotamia(Iraq)so in the second world war the new reserves in Arabia and the gulf figured hugely.Saudi and other gulf oil reserves were a liquid Goldmine.Proven and probable reserves with 1945 projections(to the extent of 100billion barrels)the Middle East looked to have more oil even than the USA.
In the 20th century Oil was power and no country understood this equation better than USA whose everexpanding economy was in 1945 still supplying 2/3rd of the world demand for oil.If an element of fortune was present in the US acquisition of Middle East oil reserves,nothing could be left to fortune in their defence.Arguably both world wars have been fought over oil and demonstrably both world wars had been won over oil.
Post worldwars the cold war between two super powers USA and Soviet Union was the result of huge oil reserves found in Middle East.Even the Iran-Iraq war for 8 years and the two gulf wars later on in which Saddam Hussain and Iraq were the prime target of George Bush senior and junior were for the control of oil wealth in Middle east.
Another big factor causing disturbance in middle East was the resettlement of jews in Arab territories(palestine) which were under british control that time.Nazi germany under Hitler’s rule was persecuting jews and some 6 million jews were killed and remaining were homeless and running here and there.So Britain took the responsibility of rehabilitating them in palestine,by then an arab muslim territory,with the tacit support of US.Although this was a power game,which was highly objected by arab muslims and became a turning point for endless disturbances,jews were made to believe that palestine was the promised land of their prophets and Jerusalem was their own 4000years old city and their property.At this time US possessed atom bomb while the Soviet union did not.
14-15 May 1948 jews declared Palestine(filistin 0f arab muslims)as their own country and named it’Israel’.Filistin arabs were made homeless and arab muslim owners of huge middle east oil reserves,Saudi arab and all gulf countries were angry but lacking military power of US and Britain,so they made a hue and cry in UN which is a US controlled and financed body,and gave lip-sympathy to palestinian cause.
Jihad has undergone a massive resurgence in the classrooms of a few prominent muslim intellectuals in 20th century,after the British and french colonial rule in Egypt,lebanon,Meccaa-Medina,filistin,syria,jordan,Iraq etc.A new kind of radical islam in the Middle East has cropped up.In Iran,Ayatollah Khomeini(1902-1989)relied on a militant interpretation of jihad,first to energize the anti-imperialist revolution of 1979(against Shah of Iran) and then for 8 year war with Iraq,and to help found the islamic militant group Hezbullah,whose invention of the suicide bomber launched an appaling new era of international terrorism.
In Saudi Arabia,Abdullah yusuf Azzam(1941-89),argued that’Jihad and the rifle alone’ was incumbent on all muslims.’No negotiations,no conferences, and no dialogues’Dr Azzam proclaimed to his students.These views laid the foundation for the Palestinian militant group Hamas,which has since adopted Hezbullah’s tactics against the Israeli occupation.His teachings had an extraordinary impact on one student of his class of Islamic philosophy in King Abdulaziz University,Osama Bin Laden,who called for a worldwide muslim campaign of Jihad against the West.He like Hezbullah and Hamas financed and led an international terror outfit named ‘Al Qaeda’.This campaign climaxed with the attacks on New York and Washington,D.C,twin towers and Pentagon,on September11,2001.
Muslim Brotherhood party of Egypt,Al qaeda,Muqtada-Alsadr of Iraq(Mahdi Army),Iran,Hamas and Hezbullah,Syria all seem to be propagating Jihad of extremist kind.The reason of this extremism is not purely Quranic verses which definitely reccommend for forgiveness and killing women and children is totally forbidden in holy Quran.
So,Middle East remains a crisis ridden place forever.Now in 21st century there is no challenge to US,the only super power of the world after the disintegration of Soviet Union.But Arab muslims feel cheated by US and Britain as long as filistin arab muslims are homeless.Muslims all over the world(one billion+)sympathise with filistinis and see this crisis as a conflict between christians and muslims.What will be the fate of jews in this conflict only God knows because in this whole crisis they are a religious minority surrounded by oil rich arab muslims allaround.