The Formation of Arab Nations

Have you ever been to the Middle East? Well, if you haven't, you sure are missing out on a lot. There is one thing for sure, you are missing out on those Arab Springs. Yes, I said it, Arab Springs, which are getting into a big issue. Arab Springs is a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across the Middle East in early 2011. The people in the Middle East are uprising their rulers’ choices of their decisions and hoping to have a democracy. There were many countries, which overthrew their government, like Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya. There are still many countries, which is still ongoing to overthrow their government like Syria and Bahrain. During the process with the conflict in the Middle East, there is a lot of questions to answer, the causes, succesful uprising and ongoing uprisings, and how it affects the United States.

Despite current misconceptions of the tensions between Muslims and Jews, the current political conflict began in the early 20th century. The Palestinians, both muslims and christians, lived in peace for centuries. Control of the city had historically, since 637 AD, been under Muslim control with guarantee of Christians’ safety, right to property, and right to practice religion. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to European nations colonizing many of its former lands, and the British gained control of Palestine. Social and political issues prompted European jews to flee from political unrest from their homes in Europe, and migrate to Palestine. Seeing the influx of Jews as a European colonial movement, the Arabs fought back. The British couldn’t control the violence, and in 1947 the United Nations (UN) voted to split the land into two countries. The continued political unrest in the Middle East is the cause of United States involvement.

In the Middle East, each country has it’s own form of government. These forms of governments have been consistently changing throughout time. Throughout all the revolutions and overthrows, the national identity of the Middle East has slowly changed, some parts more than others. Over many years, overthrows in countries such as Egypt and Libya have led to a more democratic government. However, many other countries such as Iran and Iraq have remained more oppressive. The Middle East is still changing to this day. For example, Egypt recently overthrew their president Hosni Mubarak. There are also many protests currently going on in Libya.

The Arab Spring was a series of uprisings in the Middle East beginning in the year 2011. The results of these revolutions are still being felt in places present day such as Syria. The wave of uprisings began in Tunisia and slowly spread throughout the regions, with notable long lasting campaigns involved in countries such as Syria, Libya and Egypt. The hope of political scientists at the time was that the Middle East has had enough of tyranny and oppression and was finally taking control to overthrow the aggressors and institute democratic change. This was simply not the case, as Tunisia was the only success story and the rest of the nations involved had their uprising crushed, or the country went into a period of a prolonged civil war. There

The Arabs took this opportunity to start an uprising. The fighting continued for twenty years until France, in 1936, agreed to let go of their political influence, but they would keep a military presence there and could benefit economically, which meant they controlled the oil. Four years later France fell to the Axis powers and consequently so did Syria. Since the, now Free French, troops needed support along with the British, they agreed to leave the region completely if they helped them win World War 2. After the Germans were defeated, the French, reluctantly, kept their word and left the region. This, however, did not subside the fighting; what was once a battle for freedom turned into an ideological battle between Shias and Sunnis. Eventually some stability was gained and a proper government was set up. In 1971 Hafez Al-Assad was elected president and the country went from being a democracy to a monarchy. He groomed his first son to take over the country once he died but his son passed away in a car accident before he did. Hafez’s second son, Bashar Al-Assad, took control of the country in 2000 and he has remained in power ever since. Prior to the Arab Spring, there were outbursts, but none significantly affected his regime. Once the Arab Spring began, however, the people of Syria, mainly Sunnis, revolted against Assad. At the same time, The United States pulled troops out of Iraq leaving them without any structure or

The State of Israel formerly known as Palestine is known as one of the most conflict infected areas. Problems between the Palestinian Arab population and the Israeli one constantly happen. But how did this come to be? Palestine was an area that was home to an Arab majority prior to World War II, but do to many factors the Jewish population increased. These factors included heavy migration into Palestine after the establishment of the British mandate and the Balfour Declaration, which was signed in 1917. Migration increased as well due to anti-Semitism in Europe and the Holocaust. Due to Britain’s lack of control of migration, and problems arising in the region as well, the decision was given to the U.N. It was a partition plan in 1947 between the Arabs and the Jewish population, but soon after that Israel declared its independence.

Frequently, issues such as human rights violations occur around the world that people are not aware of. It is therefore a great importance to seek knowledge ourselves beyond mass media outlets and our own governments. Previous research suggests, the history of the Palestinian conflict goes back generations. In 1918 when World War 1 had ended, the British gained control of the Palestinian territory. The UN had no intention of displacing or changing anything within the land, but they decided that the Jews needed a safe place to reside after the holocaust. Therefore, many Jews immigrated to Palestine after the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917. It stated that Palestine welcomed Jews into their homeland (Said, 1999). The fall of the Ottoman empire encouraged the number of immigrants to that in 1947, the total number of Jews in the area was “650,000” (Avineri, 1981; Said, 1999). The Palestinians were surely grateful for the number of people immigrating to their land because they needed their

The Arab Israeli conflict has been an issue for over many years. After the events of the Holocaust, many people believed that the Jews deserved a safe home to stay. Because of the Jewish background that says that God promised Abraham's descendants the land of Israel. By 1947, Palestine was full of Jews that were trying to escape the persecution known as the Zionist Movement. The Jews liked the idea of having a Jewish homeland. However the local Palestinian population of Muslim Arabs felt that the constant immigration was threatening their way of life. The conflict between the Arabic and Jewish populations had been constant for many years before the holocaust. It only came to light in the years after it ended.

On May 4, 1948, the Middle East changed as we knew it. Israel had become an official nation in the land where Palestinians once resided. Jewish people needed a place to reside after the persecution of over six million Jews. The British government, because it was in control of Palestine, allowed the Jewish people to reside in Palestine. This caused great tensions in the Middle East. In 1948-1949, there was a war between Israel and the Arab states. This war resulted in 700,000 Palestinian refugees. The Palestine-Israel conflict has been in effect since May 15, 1948. In 1967, Israel controlled 78% of what was Palestine, and the number is even higher today. (http://auphr.org/index.php/news/5100-palestinian-loss-of-land-1946-2012) Auphr (Americans

In 1920 after the end of WWI the Allies agreed on a plan to dissolve the Ottoman Empire and break it into multiple regions. Any time a plan like this is implemented by outsiders it is usually fraught with fighting and civil war. As the borders were changed and control of these different regions was given to Britain and France, there was dissatisfaction. There were attempts by the Arabs and form independent states but were unsuccessful because they lacked military and economic power to break free from European control. Interestingly enough one problem even the British could not handle was between the Zionist and Arab nationalists in Palestine, a problem that is so deeply seated in ideology a solution seems impossible. Although the Arabs were unable to form independent states with opposition from the Europeans this all ended after WWII when they removed themselves from the region. In 1948 Israel was founded and was the beginning of a new conflict between the Israelis and the

The Arab world seemed to have been poised for an era of political and cultural renewal. The 2011 uprisings that toppled long-reigning dictators inspired hope to those within the region and the rest of the world that change may finally come to the Middle East. Like many eager journalists and intellectuals during the Arab Spring, Juan Cole, a history professor at the University of Michigan and a popular political blogger, had high hopes. “A new generation has been awakened,” Cole writes in his latest book, “The New Arabs,” which chronicles the positive new historical dynamic is taking hold in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. In 2011, Westerners expected the Arab world to “spring” into democracy. But like most at the time, Juan Cole was wrong.

Over the past decade, wars and interventions in the Middle East have broken up existing states, fostered sectarianism and destroyed infrastructures, creating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. After years of revolutionary upheaval, the Arab world 's old system is on the verge of collapse. The United States and other countries bear the blame for this emergence and growth of the indigenous movements like the Taliban, AL-Qaeda, and IS. Order in the Middle East has been undermined by corrupt and illegitimate governments, abundance of energy resources, inadequate educational systems, and various religion-related and secular problems. Outside action have added to the problems, from poorly drawn national borders to recent interventions. In

The Arabians and the Jews have not been in good terms leading up to this war. A combined forced of Egypt, Jordan and Syria invaded Palestine taking over the Arabs and some of the jewish towns. The aftermath of this war was Arabians lost their land and no state was created for them, while the Jewish state gained about 60% more land that previously belonged to the Arabians. “As many as 750,000 Palestine Arabs had fled from their villages and cities in the new Jewish state or have been expelled by Jewish forces, becoming refugees.” (Gershom 11) This war was the start up war that lead to the Six Day War and had very significant changes that came with it. For example Egypt claimed the Gaza Strip, forcing many civilians to flee due to the Gaza Strip being controlled by Egypt. This also starts conflict with Egypt and the Israeli State's leading up to the Six Day

Although the people’s voice is being heard and changes are being made, blood flows down the streets as people are being killed violently everyday. Many people believe it would have been more beneficial if the Middle East had completely avoid the Arab Spring or at least have gone a more passive road. Through the history of the region, leaders of Arab countries have anchored their position to later become rich and

The Arab Spring has been a life changing phenomena, not only for the people who are attempting to overthrow their governments but for political scientists everywhere. The events originating in the North African country of Tunisia have led to the snowballing of several other Middle Eastern, predominantly Muslim, nation states. The figurative breaking point might have finally been reached as the oppressed peoples of the Middle East have risen up to overthrow long-standing dictatorial governments in hopes of revolutionary change; change that is subject to the will of the people.