The Middle East has always been known as a place of conflict. Especially today, when there are so many terrorists that they make the news at least once a month, but this has been going on throughout its history. The reason for many of its problems comes from its diverse cultures and religions, this creates a kind of friction among them that doesn 't go away and does turn to violence. However, the Middle East has been able to keep its power because of its abundance of oil. For this, many countries must look away from its violence and make trade agreements with them. And it 's not only oil they have, every country in the Middle East has something that makes that place a necessity for other countries.
As I stated before the Middle East has very diverse cultures. Most are Muslims and speak Arabic, but there are also Christians and Jews. And for 150 years Islam was successfully able to govern all of its peoples as one political region, but it didn 't last forever. Beginning the tenth century the Arabs could no longer control their empire, and soon they were conquered by the Turks along with most of the Middle East. The Turks adopted the Islamic religion and ruled the Middle East, and the Christians and Jews received some hardship from them. The Turks slowly started to lose control of the Middle East and many of their empires were lost until there was one left, the Ottoman Empire. During their reign life for non-Muslims started to improve, but there was still friction among the religions. When World War I broke out the Ottoman Empire joined the central powers and when the central powers lost, the Ottoman Empire was divided by the allies. The only place that would not be controlled by the allies was the Arabian peninsula, which wa...
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...y kept they language and culture, which is Turkish. The Turks did not rule the Middle East forever, as I stated before, they lost control of them and after the World War I the Turks only kept Asia Minor and Istanbul. Iran’s people are Islamic but they are not Arabs. They kept their Persian background, and they have a Persian culture because 3,000 years ago Persians arrived in the area of Iran and Persia was part of Iran for 600 years. Cyprus is an island in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. This place was first discovered by Greeks in 1,200 BC. Today about four fifths speak Greek and are Greek Orthodox Christians and the one fifth left are Turkish and follow Islam. After gaining their independence in 1960, the island was split in two by civil war. One side wanted to unite with Greece and the other side refused to join Greece.
The knowledge and understanding of blood feuds helps in the develop understanding of the current conflicts in the Middle East. The Middle East conflict started after World War II when the United Nations handed the Jewish people land once owned by the Palestinians. A conflict has occurred with the Palestinians who live together with Israelis that has led to terrorism and tyranny. Israelis believe they must control the Palestinians to stop their terrorism; while the Palestinians use terrorism to seek independence from Israelis. Blood Feuds in Thull are similar to the situation in the Middle East and are violently depicted in Lincoln Keiser's "Friend by Day Enemy By Night."
Bilgin Pinar,‘‘Whose ‘Middle East’? Geopolitical inventions and Practices of security”, International Relations, Vol.18, No.1 (2004)
Arabic culture is very religious; family is one of the most important aspects of the Arab society. Most Arabic countries contain Muslims, Jews, ad Christianity, they pray about five times a day and have to wear certain types of clothes. We might see Arabic’s as all Muslims but Christianity is the second largest religion in the League, with over 20 million Christians living in countries. I know that Arabic culture is very strict on most things and I could not imagine my religion like that. My religion is Christian, but I am not as religious as the Arabic culture.
The Middle East served as the birthplace for many religions and cultures such as Islam and Christianity. This historical region has had substantial impact on the course of history. However, Christianity and Islam have their differences in expansion and their similarities in religious beliefs between the two religions.
“The main legacy of the Arab Spring is in smashing the myth of Arabs’ political passivity and the perceived invincibility of arrogant ruling elites” (Manfreda). This quote basically summarizes the goal and reason behind the Arab Spring. The general aim of the Spring was targeted toward Arab dictatorships (due to the belief that they held rigged elections), the police force and their brutal ways of handling things, the high unemployment rates and basic corruption within the regions (Manfreda). The protesters agreed that they wanted social justice, but they couldn’t agree on how everything should be reformed (Manfreda). The demonstrations began in December of 2010 in Tunisia when a man set himself on fire. He was protesting the humiliation he endured from the police force (Lesch, Haas 230). This is what triggered the beginning of the domino effect of the uprisings. The name, Arab Spring, was developed through the Western media and was chosen due to uprisings occurring in Arab countries (Manfreda). The name has been criticized because the term, “spring,” implies that the uprisings were a positive revolution, it generalizes the situation and makes it sound simplistic (Lesch, Haas 240). It also indicates that the revolts were a consequence of being part of the Arab world, when actually they were due to internal affairs within each region (Dalacoura). The way a lot of Arab countries are run now is due to the effects of these revolts. People’s lives have been changed detrimentally. The Arab Spring affected not only politics, but daily civil life in much of the Middle East.
Erupting in 1987, a revolt called the Infitada began in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This revolt was initially started by local Palestinians residents and was soon characterized by rock throwing as their only means of opposing the Israeli military forces. As images began to circulate of civilians armed with rocks fighting for their rights against the heavily armed Israeli forces in a one-sided conflict they began to win a substantial amount of sympathy for their struggle in the neighboring Islamic communities. A few years later in 1991, the Infitada had all but ended. Instead the increased Israeli repression during this epoch seemed to be laying the initial groundwork for future violence in the region. This time period between the end of the first Infitada and the beginning of the second contain key events that help explain why the outbreak of the second Infitada transpired.
In Islamic history, various events have occurred in different time periods that have led to the rise and fall of Muslim empires. Muslim kingdoms flourished in a cultural, social, religious, political, and intellectual aspect in their time periods, due to Thanks in large part to religious and political conflict between Muslims, whether they be Sunni or Shia,
own side for signing a deal which he had decided in 1974 not to sign
Islam changed the face of the Middle East by applying methods of unity through religion, advancement of education, and by giving women a place in their society. These changes all lent a hand in making the Middle East what it has become today, a culture full of people who are devoted to becoming better and is full of diversity with people from all walks of life who have all come to serve the same purpose though Islam.
The Arab world has been one of the most confusing areas known to the western world. Because of this confusion, the people of the Middle East have been made to suffer, not only at the hands of the west, but also by their own. Even though Arab and western world relations have been stabalizing, they are still long way off from achieving a lasting peace.
The article, “Why Is There So Much Conflict in the Middle East?” written by Mirjam E. Sørli et. al corresponds a great deal with the text Politics and Change in the Middle East as far as the reasons for conflict in the Middle East. Sørli et. al disputes the idea of “Middle East exceptionalism,” which says that there is something different about Middle Easterners that make them prone to violence and conflict (142). Sørli et. al says this is not true, but rather there are very simple reasons as to why there has been conflict in the Middle East. As stated, the lack of regional natural resources such as water, oil, and arable la...
Religion brings people together and helps establish a law for people to go by. Ever since man started walking on earth he has looked to religion to help explain his circumstances. Islam was developed in a similar way. The world was changing; people were exploring new lands and interacting with different people. Cultures were being mixed and opinions were changing. The Byzantine Empire and the Sassind Empire was the hub of cultural diversity so of course the Arabian Peninsula would be affected because that is where these two great empires crossed. New trade routes were being made and the Arabs were once again thrown into another cultural whirlpool. In the craziness a new religion emerged, Islam, which united the Arabs and made them stronger than ever.
The Middle East is a geographical and cultural region located primarily in western Asia, but also in parts of northern Africa and southeastern Europe (worldatlas.com). Ethnic groups such as Jordanians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Iranians all come from the Middle East. In this essay, topics that will be discussed are if all Middle Easterners are Arab or Muslim, what part of Asia is most of the Middle East located, if the Middle East is exclusively located in the Asian continent, and what stereotypes and/or generalizations may come up by the problematic geography of the region.
The Middle East has come along way since the rise of civilization thousands of years ago. Civilization emerged in the Middle East and northeast Africa along the river systems as agricultural societies grew in population and developed new forms of social organization. For the last two thousands years the west has been drawn to the middle east fascinated by the culture, religion, resources and politics. The Middle East has an immense impact on the world globally. My goal in this paper is to explain the ancient and modern significance of the Middle East and how it impacts the world in such a globalizing way.
...e Muslims, Christians, or Jews 90 percent of citizen members in the Arab League are Muslim populated, while only about 6 percent of citizens are Christians. Arabic is the official language of the Arab League although other languages, such as Kurdish in Iraq and in Syria, and Somali in Horn of Africa, are used among some of the Arab League citizens.