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How the Colonial Divisions of the Middle East Are Dissolving

(Jerusalem Post) Amb. Freddy Eytan - The Sykes-Picot Agreements signed in 1916 by France and England divided the Middle East arbitrarily. The current situation is the result of the clumsy policy of the West, a misunderstanding of the Arab world and the Islamists, and an indifference to the fate of Israel. The division into zones of influence by France and England did not take into account the local populations. Demographic, socio-cultural, and religious aspects were ignored. Several Arab tribes found themselves separated and dispersed in different states. The Kurds and the Druze sought in vain a territory, and the Maronite Christians sought alliances. There was a strengthening of the Alawite minority over the Sunni majority in Syria, and domination of the Sunni minority over the Shi'ite majority in Iraq. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the most important or the only concern in the region. There are real security problems that justify defensible borders on the Golan Heights and in the Jordan Valley. We need to convince European chancelleries of the strategic value of the Jewish state in the defense of the West itself. Faced with the new geopolitical situation, the IDF will have to maintain its presence in Gaza, in southern Lebanon, and on the heights of Mount Hermon, until the day when Israel wins its case and is finally able to live in absolute security without fearing a new nightmare scenario such as that of Oct. 7. The writer, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, is a former Foreign Ministry senior adviser who was Israel's first ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
2024-12-17 00:00:00
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