Global perspectives on contemporary issues

Colonialism in the Middle East

Colonialism has a long history in the Middle East. Muslim Turks, known as the Ottomans, had colonized almost the whole of the Middle East beginning in the 13th century and continued to rule the region right up to the end of the First World War. The Ottoman rule ended when Turkey, allied with the Central Powers, was defeated in WWI, and the victors led by Britain and France, decided to carve up the Middle Eastern territories between themselves.

During the War, Britain had promised the Sharif of Mecca independence for the Arabs, in exchange for their support against the Ottomans. Later, they reneged on the promise and instead in the Belfour Declaration (1916) promised the creation of a separate homeland for the Jews in Palestine. After the War, a mandate system was evolved which envisaged "supervision" of the former Arab provinces by the members of the League of Nations," with limited autonomy for the local Arabs. As a result, five new mandate states were created: Britain took over Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan (now Jordan), while France took Syria and Lebanon. The 'mandate' was a thinly disguised form of colonialism and all effective political powers rested with the European powers. The conflicting policies of the colonists and the prospect of a Jewish state in their midst enraged the Arabs and various nationalist movements that had previously risen against the Ottomans started to confront the Europeans. When the Jewish state of Israel was finally created on Arab territory in 1949, with the full support of the colonial powers as well as the United States and Soviet Union, it set the stage for continuing conflict. The festering conflict has still not been resolved and is the cause of major strife around the world, and is at least partly responsible for the rise of Islamic terrorism.

The legacy of colonialism in the Middle East is, thus, one of conflict, terrorism, betrayal, maneuvering for the control of oil reserves and proxy wars between various powers. Positive aspects of colonialism are hard to find, except for the contentious opinion that the local people of the Arab territories were not ready for self-rule at the time and would have descended into civil wars in the absence of a benevolent 'guiding hand' of the colonial powers.

In the post World War II period, the Western colonial powers blatantly supported dictatorial regimes in the Middle East in order to retain their control of the region's vast oil resources. The role of the imperialist power has been taken over by the United States from Britain. The U.S. government's lop-sided support of Israel has prevented it from playing the role of an honest broker, besides encouraging Israel into taking increasingly extreme position on issues such as withdrawal from the occupied territories and Jewish settlements. The role of the Western powers has not been exemplary on other fronts in the Middle East either. For example, the U.S. cynically supported Saddam Hussain in his war against Iran during the 1980s. When he was emboldened into occupying Kuwait, the U.S. realized blatantly that he had to be stopped leading to the first Gulf War.