Similarly, while the arrangements made by the British lasted a relatively short timeframe, the dividing up of land necessary to mark off territory for such constitutional authorities had a more permanent effect. In Iraq, for example, the grouping of ethnic Kurds with Sunni and Shi'a Arabs within the same monarchy territory proved disastrous, as continuing ethnic strife led to the eventual dissolution of the state and the rise of events leading to the wars of the last decades of the 1900s and the first decade of 2000. The establishment of Palestine, and the subsequent favoring of Jewish immigration to the region, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state following WWII and the Holocaust, placed people of distinctly different belief systems and ethnic grudges in close proximity together (Grenville, 428-429, 431-437). This pattern of drawing up of territorial arrangements that suited the British interests rather than accounted for Arab differences even occurred in places where there no significant oil reserves such as Afghanistan. The disastrous results of these activities led to political violence that has lasted more than half a century.
The French influence in the Middle East proceeded along a different, but also unfortunate, vein. They established influence in Syria and Lebanon, and ruled with an iron...
This resulted in nationalist movement arising in those countries which eventually inspired calls for independence across the region (Grenville, 425-426).
During the Suez Canal crisis, and the independence movements which followed across the Middle, the reaction of the European powers was consistent with their approach to the region previously. They largely withdrew their men and materials, to avoid further costs associated with putting down independence movements, but declared their right to intervene in the region in order to ward off the Soviet influence and protect their access to oil. This paternalism further offended the population, who were left behind to suffer under the rule of corrupt kings such as the shah, but told that Europe had a right to the spoils of their territory. This was exacerbated by Europe's support of the Jewish state. The hard feeling engendered among the Arab population was eventually turned into, in Iran, and elsewhere, an Islamic revolution which has led to the difficulties in maintaining peace in the region over the past generation.
References
Grenville, J.A.S. (2005). History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century (First Edition). London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
