The Middle-East-Conflict
Overview
what is the Middle-East-Conflict?
How did it start?
How has it developed?
What are the different approaches to the problem?
What is it? - Who takes part in it? -
Are there any solutions?
What is the Middle-East-Conflict?
Oldest regional conflict relevant for international politics which has not yet been
solved
Palestinians and Jews want the same geographical territory for their totalitarian rule.
The Middle East is trapped in a cycle of war and is suffering from lack of collective
security.
Developments have all contributed to the historically catastrophic suffering of the
people of the region.
The historic Palestinians-Israel problem.
The power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia has increased dramatically over the past few
months, with the Saudi Foreign Minister accusing Iran of “occupying” Syria, and
Iran pointing finger at the Saudis for its support of Islamic terrorist groups in the
region, and reminding it of its occupation of Bahrain to suppress its democratic
movement. Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nemer Al Nemer, to
death, which has further exacerbated the tensions with Iran, with the Shiites in
Lebanon and Iraq also protesting. In turn, Saudi Arabia has flooded the market with
its oil that has reduced the oil price by over 20 per cent, in an attempt to squeeze
Iran. Jaish al-Adl, an al-Qaeda-like terrorist group attacking Iran’s province of Sistan
and Baluchestan, killing scores of civilian and military people, and Iran has again
accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the group.
The utterly destructive policy of Turkey toward the threat posed by the Islamic
State (also known as ISIS and ISIL)
Turkey has regional ambitions, and to achieve them, it has chosen to support radical
Islamic groups. Turkish President RecepTayyib Erdogan is determined to topple the
regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria at any cost. His government support of
the Islamic State has been criticized harshly even by the opposition groups
there. Fifteen thousand foreign terroristsfrom 80 nations have used Turkey to enter
Syria. Send that many fighters with weapons to any country and the result will be
chaos and bloodshed. Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, has said that he
repeatedly asked Turkish officials, including the head of its intelligence, to seal off
Turkey’s borders with Syria and not allow the jihadists to pass through, but to no
avail.
The sectarian Shiite-Sunni war.
The rapid rise of terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, and to a lesser extent in
Yemen.
Political instability in Lebanon due to its parliament’s inability to elect the next
president five months after the term of the last president expired.
Syria
The countries counter that if Iran, China and Russia had not supported the Assad
regime, we would not have been in the current predicament. But, the fact is that every
dictator has some allies. All we have to do to see this is looking at the religious
dictatorship in Saudi Arabia that is supported by the West. Supporting the Assad
regime by China, Russia, and Iran is one thing, supporting the radical Islamic
terrorists, not only by ,Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies, but also by some
Western government when they were fighting mostly in Syria is a completely
different matter. Is it not true that human rights of the people of Saudi Arabia and of
its Arab allies in the Persian Gulf area are also violated systematically by these
regimes?
Finding a way for peace and collective security of the entire region
Instead of a blaming game and pointing fingers, one can think about finding ways for
peace.
If our choices are between bad - dictatorships - and good - democracy - we should
surely choose the latter.
But, in the deep crises that the Middle East is facing, one must choose between bad -
dictatorship - and worse - civil war, instability and bloodshed.
Is Iraq better off today than before 2003 under the bad dictatorship of Saddam
Hussein? Over the first nine months of 2014 alone, over 12,000 people have been
murdered by the Islamic State in Iraq, and many times over injured and displaced.
The casualties of Iraq’s invasion by the U.S. are even much worse.
Is Libya better off today than before Muammar Gaddafi was toppled by NATO?
Radical militia rule, the country has effectively been partitioned, and the central
government has no power.
Is Syria better off now than before it’s civil began in 2011? The against development
of democracy. 200,000 people have been killed in the sectarian war there.
Peace and security are the requisite conditions for social and economic development, which
in turn is closely linked with development of democracy and respect for human rights.
Without security, democracy and respect for human rights, there will be no economic
development.
Strategy for peace
The main problems in the Middle East are dictatorship, repression, corruption,
discrimination, humiliation, and the double standards of the West toward some
nations in that region.
Under such conditions, any strategy for peace must consider the following factors:
One, one must view the region as a whole, not as a collection of states, because all problems
everywhere are tied together. Without a comprehensive plan for the entire region peace and
security will not be achieved, and the terrorist groups will not disappear. Allowing the
Palestinians to have their own viable state is part of this view.
Two, terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State, cannot be eliminated by military means, or at
least by military means alone. The vast majority of 1.5 billion Muslims is moderate and
rejects Islamic fundamentalism. Muslim intellectuals have presented interpretations of the
Islamic teachings that are fully compatible with democracy and respect for human rights,
hence building a modern Islam. The problem is that repressive regimes support
fundamentalism, and crack down on modern Islam. The “Islamophobia industry” in the West
also argues that Islamic fundamentalism is the true Islam. But, the Quran of the pacifists is
completely different from the warmongers’. We should prevent Islamophobia.
Third, given the preoccupation with the Islamic State, every peace plan for Syria has been
forgotten, and everyone is thinking in military terms. But, to achieve real peace and defeat the
Islamic State, three steps must be taken in Syria. One is an immediate ceasefire between the
Syrian government and the moderate groups. Second is marginalizing the radical groups by
choking off their financial resources, blocking transfer of weapons and ammunitions to them,
and preventing new members to go there through Turkey. The third step is holding free
elections under the United Nations supervision. Forming a government based on ethnic or
religious considerations must be rejected. Everyone must have equal political and citizen
rights. If Syria’s government and armed forces are destroyed, the situation will be far worse
than what we see in Libya.
Fourth, Iran must play a direct role in fighting with the Islamic State. The power struggle
between Iran and Saudi Arabia benefit no one. The two countries, plus Turkey, must set aside
their claim to leadership of the Islamic world. Similar to the fundamentalists, the leaders of
these three nations have used Islam as a tool for power and war. Spreading the sectarian
Shiite-Sunni war is a result of such a view.
Fifth, Iran cannot fully participate in the struggle against the Islamic State, unless two major
issues are addressed first. Iran’s democratic movement is deeply concerned about Iran
becoming another Syria or Iraq. Iranians want a compromise with the West over Iran’s
nuclear program, which will lead to improved relations with the United States, and lifting of
the crippling economic sanctions against Iran. In other words, under the current conditions in
the Middle East, many Iranians prefer for now the stability and security of their nation under
the current regime to Iran becoming another Iraq or Syria. But, if the relations with the U.S.
improve, Iranian’ struggle for democracy will become more powerful. Thus, this is the ideal
time for reaching a compromise over Iran’s nuclear program, so that the focus can be shifted
to fighting terrorism and achieving peace in the entire Middle East.
