POST-DECOLONIZATION SOUTHWEST

ASIAThe Middle East

Developments in the postwar Middle East were dominated mainly by the following factors:

The independence of former colonies and mandates

The region’s strategic and economic importance as the world’s key source of petroleum

-Two thirds of the world’s crude oil is produced in the Middle East

-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), founded in 1960, is dominated by states from the Middle East

Contradictions existed between the urge to modernize and a desire on the part of many Middle Easterners to preserve Islamic tradition

-Islamic fundamentalism has been dominant in countries such as Iran (after 1979) and Afghanistan (after 1989)

The destabilizing effect of the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948

The competition between the United States and the USSR for influence in the region during the Cold War

The persistence of dictatorship, authoritarian rule, or human rights abuses, even in countries that are technically democratic

Independence, oil-based wealth, and geostrategic importance made the states of the Middle East more assertive in the 1950s and 1960s

The most famous example of this new Arab nationalism appeared in Egypt, which became an independent republic in 1952

By 1954, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser had taken control of the government

A great booster of modernization, Nasser was an equally great proponent of pan-Arabism

He labored to create a United Arab Republic that would link all Arab nations together in a cooperative commonwealth

This effort failed, but Nasser was successful in modernizing his country

He also stood up to the West, nationalizing foreign-owned or foreign-controlled industries and businesses

In 1956, Nasser took the bold step of declaring Egyptian ownership of the Suez Canal

The move prompted the Suez crisis, in which French, British, and Israeli troops tried to seize the canal

The United States and USSR, however, wishing to avoid a serious armed conflict in the region, forced the British, French, and Israelis to withdraw, leaving the canal in Egyptian hands

The end result was a huge blow to the diplomatic prestige of France and Britain

Because Nasser was anti-British, he chose to strengthen ties with the Soviet Union, at least temporarily

Soviet advisers and engineers brought technology and weaponry to Egypt; they also constructed the Aswan Dam, the world’s largest

However, when the Soviets attempted to exert too much control over Egyptian politics, Nasser expelled them

Nasser died in 1970 He was succeeded by Anwar el-Sadat,

who drew Egypt closer to the United States, and in 1978, became the first Arab leader to recognize the state of Israel

Sadat was assassinated by Islamic militants in 1981

Afterwards, Hosni Mubarak served as Egypt’s president

Along with freedom and independence, the most dramatic postwar development in the Middle East has been the establishment of the state of Israel as a homeland for the world’s Jews

Earlier in 1917, the British had issued the Balfour Declaration, in which it publicly had stated the British government’s intention to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine – whose population, during the late 1910s, was 90 percent Arab

Despite the fact that the British allowed only limited Jewish emigration to Palestine, in order to keep from provoking the Arabs, thousands of Jews flooded into the region, many of them illegally

By 1939, the Jewish proportion of the population had risen from 10 to 30 percent

After World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust, however, international sympathy for the Jews, along with strong U.S. support, led to the establishment of the state of Israel, in May 1948

It is also important to remember that it was the journalist, Theodore Herzl, who clarified and gave political weight to the concept of Jewish nationalism - or Zionism - and a national home for the Jews in Palestine at the first Zionist Congress at Basle, in Switzerland, in 1897

He won wide Jewish backing for it, and tried, at first unsuccessfully, to encourage the British Government to support it

Herzl had witnessed the Dreyfus Affair and believed that Jews could never be safe in a Christian-dominated and anti-Semitic Europe

A Jewish homeland was needed

In September 1894, an anonymous note to the German military attaché in Paris was found, leaking French army secrets

Panic-stricken and spurred on by a virulent anti-Semitic press, the government named the alleged culprit - a brilliant young army captain, Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew

Dreyfus was innocent It was truly a case of prejudice over facts Herzl witnessed mobs shouting “Death to the

Jews” in France, the home of the French Revolution, and resolved that there was only one solution: the mass immigration of Jews to a land that they could call their own

Thus, the Dreyfus Case became one of the determinants in the genesis of political Zionism

The state of Israel was proclaimed by the Jewish leader, David Ben Gurion, on May 14, 1948, and officially came into being on the 15th, after British Mandatory rule ended at midnight

The founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948 stirred up Arab outrage and plunged the Middle East into war

The Israelis had to fight a war in 1948 simply to keep the state that had been given them

This had the effect of displacing millions of Palestinian Arabs, who scattered to Jordan, Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East

In 1964, the Palestinian diaspora gained a semblance of leadership with the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a terrorist group and political movement led by Yasser Arafat

The Arab states fought several wars against Israel, most notably the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973

Each time, Israel, with a supremely trained, highly motivated army and strong backing from the United States, defeated the Arab coalitions decisively, taking much territory away from several Arab states in the process

PLO terrorism was frequent, most infamously, a PLO squad assassinated members of the Israeli Olympic team in 1972

Not until 1978, when Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt, encouraged by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to recognize Israel in exchange for the return of the Sinai Peninsula, was there an end to outright war in the region

Following Egypt’s lead, a number of moderate Arab states began to recognize Israel during the 1980s

However, problems remained

Throughout the 1980s, the Palestinian population of Israel staged a continuous uprising called the intifada

These demonstrations and protests often led to bloodshed

At the same time, various terrorist groups acted against Israel as well

This placed Israel in a difficult position: in order to avoid utter social collapse and a total breakdown of security, it – despite being a democracy, theoretically committed to human rights – roughly felt compelled to use violence against civilian agitators who, although hostile and sometimes dangerous, were poorly armed and often minors

In 1993 and 1994, the Israelis and Palestinians signed historic peace agreements, one of which called for Palestinian self-rule in parts of Israel

The United States attempted through the 1990s to mediate between the two sides and to keep the peace process alive

Nonetheless, tensions remained high, and the peace effort collapsed in 2001, amid violence from both sides

Periodically, since 2001, peace efforts have continued but the issues of land, autonomy, and security have made the peace settlement difficult

As a general rule, Middle Eastern regimes tended to be authoritarian and dictatorial

Many Middle Eastern states, such as Morocco, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, were monarchies

Strongman dictatorships were also common, as in Syria (under Hafez Assad and his family), Libya (Colonel Muammar Qaddafi), and Iraq (President Saddam Hussein)

Even in democracies such as Egypt and Turkey, the perceived need to combat Islamic extremism has led to a certain heaviness of political control: elections are not completely open, civil rights are somewhat constrained, and the media are not entirely free

The most powerful dictatorships in the Middle East were those of Iran and Iraq

Since 1920s, Iran had been ruled by the secular, modernizing Pahlavi shahs

The last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ruled from 1941 to 1979

The Shah used Iran’s oil wealth to industrialize and modernize

Like the Turkish government, the Shah’s regime opposed Islamic traditionalism, encouraging Western dress, Western education, the unveiling of women, and the eradication of Islamic law

The Shah became an ally of the United States

Unfortunately, the Shah relied on repression to carry out his modernization campaign: dissidents were ruthlessly suppressed by the secret police (SAVAK), and the regime was decidedly antidemocratic

By 1979, the Shah was in poor health, and his popularity had plummeted

He left the country to seek medical treatment, but died of cancer in 1980

In the meantime, in 1979, the Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an Islamic fundamentalist the Shah had exiled years before, returned to Iran and took control of the country

This Iranian Revolution transformed the country into an anti-Western (particularly anti-U.S.), theocratic dictatorship

The new regime held American hostages captive for a number of months in 1979 and 1981

At the same time, Iran went to war with neighboring Iraq

The Iran-Iraq War lasted from 1980 to 1988, and devastated both countries

Khomeini died in 1989 The theocracy he created remains in

place, although periodic protests against it have occurred

In June 2009, the controversial presidential election in Iran provoked what is now known as the "Green Movement”

The disputed election produced a second term for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

As the controversy raged, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decreed that the election result was valid

Ahmedinejad was thus sworn-in in August

However, the election split the Iranian polity deeply

There are many Iranians who want greater political freedoms and liberties

Yet the theocratic government still rules

Iraq came under the control of Saddam Hussein in 1979

Although his title was “president,” Hussein was one of the most powerful dictators of the Middle East

Originally sponsored by the United States because of his opposition to Iran, Hussein turned his brutality against his own people, his neighbors, and the United States

During his war with Iran, he used poison gas, drafted teenaged children to fight in his armies, and killed many civilians

He viciously persecuted his nation’s Kurdish minority

In 1990, he invaded the oil-rich state of Kuwait and appeared ready to do the same to Saudi Arabia

In the first major conflict of the post-Cold War era, the United States led a military coalition that pushed Hussein out of Kuwait in the Gulf War (1991)

Casualties were estimated to be over 85,000

Beginning in 1991, United Nations trade sanctions were put in place, in an effort to force Hussein to comply with the terms of the 1991 cease-fire agreement, which included the abolishing of chemical and biological weapons programs

Due to Hussein’s continued refusal to cooperate with United Nations’ inspectors in their search for weapons of mass destruction, the United States invaded Iraq in 2003

After a trial, Saddam Hussein was executed in 2006 for crimes committed in a brutal crackdown during his regime

Religious fundamentalism experienced a revival during the late 1900s and early 2000s

In Afghanistan, Islamic fundamentalism led to the creation of a strictly theocratic government under the Taliban

Though the Taliban was toppled by the United States military after the events of 9/11, the organization still exists and is still trying to regain power in Afghanistan

The world first became aware of the Taliban in 1994 when they were appointed by Islamabad to protect a convoy trying to open up a trade route between Pakistan and Central Asia

The group - comprised of Afghans trained in religious schools in Pakistan along with former Islamic fighters or mujahedin (fighters against the Soviet invasion) - proved effective bodyguards, driving off other mujahedin groups who attacked and looted the convoy

They went on to take the nearby city of Kandahar, beginning a remarkable advance which led to their capture of the capital, Kabul, in September 1996

The Taliban's popularity with many Afghans initially surprised the country's warring mujahedin factions

Ordinary Afghans, weary of the prevailing lawlessness in many parts of the country, were often delighted by Taliban successes in stamping out corruption, restoring peace and allowing commerce to flourish again

Their refusal to deal with the existing warlords whose rivalries had caused so much killing and destruction also earned them respect

The Taliban said their aim was to set up the world's most pure Islamic state, banning frivolities like television, music and cinema

Their attempts to eradicate crime were reinforced by the introduction of Islamic law including public executions and amputations

A flurry of regulations forbidding girls from going to school and women from working quickly brought them into conflict with the international community

Such issues, along with restrictions on women's access to health care, also caused some resentment among ordinary Afghans

And while the Taliban have been removed from power, their continued existence raises an important question: Can the conflict between the forces of modernization and forces of traditionalism be reconciled or will continued conflict be the rule of the day?