Background to the Middle East

       When asked about one thinks about international terrorism today most people would immediately think of terrorist groups located in the Middle East or maybe just the Middle East in general. While you are correct in saying that most terrorist groups are located in the Middle East, but people lack the knowledge or understanding the goals of these groups or why they are even here. While some exist just to fight Western philosophies and lifestyle, majority of these militant groups exist to bring a single stable Arab state for Islam. These views and many others stem violence in the region, and European and American interference definitely does help ease the situation. This reading provides key information and insight to the Middle East and how religion, interpretations, and the West drastically changed the region, not for better, but for worse.  

Map of the Middle East

     The author went into great detail into explaining why the Middle East today is so unstable. Immediately the author explains why if one does not understand the regions people and their religious beliefs then one cannot fully understand why there is so much turmoil there. He then gives a brief overview and history of the regions main religion and main cause of violence and terrorism, Islam. The religion divides into two main groups, Shiite's and Sunni. These two have been fighting for centuries to determine which belief is more correct and which one should rule over a nation (Islam teaches that religion and state are one). This plus eventual Western interference and their conflicting religions caused complete and utter chaos, which we would come to call The Crusades. This is the beginning of the militant views towards the West. However that's not the only reason that started terrorism in the Middle East, in fact there are a plethora of reasons. According to the author majority of these  reasons stem from:

Western spheres of influence

• Religion- Besides internal Islamic fighting, other religions, mainly Judaism and the creation of Israel created extreme tension in the region, where both religions claim Jerusalem as their holy city.
• Western Influence: The Crusades, World War I and II led to the breaking up of the singular Ottoman Empire and went back on their initial promise of the creation of a unified, single, Arab state. They instead broke up the Middle East and set up spheres of influences and led to revolts and terrorist attacks by the people of their respective nations.
• Palestine/Israel: The Zionist movement led to Jewish families moving to the area of Palestine and both Jews and Arabs were wary of each other. At the time it was illegal for the Jews to set up their own self-government for their community. After WWI and the creation of Israel this infuriated the Arab community and after WWII when a heavy influx of Jewish families were flooding the new Israel to escape Hitler, the Arabs couldn't stop the amount of them from entering the area. This creation of a Western supported and created Jewish state is, well by that description alone, against everything the Arab community stands for. The Palestinians and other neighboring countries were up in arms against this nation.

The reason why all of this information is important is because without it, as an individual who is from the West and non Islamic, I could never understand what they fight for or why they fight and I could not have an intelligent conversation or argument of the current situation in the Middle East. I also believe that without this knowledge we can't possibly think of a potential solution, let alone commit to attempt to help a country located in the Middle East. Even if we did come up with a solution, I doubt that it would be accepted there. As history has proven, why should the nations in the Middle East trust a Western nation like us? What have we done to show them that we aren't going to take back our word like the British did? We haven't earned their trust, and politicians don't understand that. They don't want Western help, as far as they're concerned the West has done nothing but lie, exploit and force their Western views on them. Politicians lack this knowledge, without the understanding on how things work, they can never make a solution to the problem with the Middle East, which is why every "solution" they have attempted has failed or backfired.