The Middle East: Conflict in Priorities

Login or Register to leave a comment.

Sign-up for free weekly updates from ForeignAffairs.com.

IN making judgments on the Middle East, or considering its problems or its reactions or its leaders, we must bear in mind that the "Middle East" is not a clearly defined geographical term; it exists chiefly in the minds of diplomats and its content on any particular occasion is determined by the particular problem under consideration. About a year ago The New York Times published four maps of the Middle East as defined by Secretary Dulles, the British Foreign Office, and two leading dictionaries. Each one of them encompassed a different area; in none did the borders coincide. For when you approach the Middle East in political, geographic or sociological terms you quickly discover that the area dissolves into its separate units, each marked by strong individuality.

It is also well to remember that there is no major issue on which the Middle East takes a single and unified view. In the Syrian crisis, Iran and Turkey have stood on one side, while the Arab world has stood on the other. The Israeli issue stirs scarcely a ripple of interest in Iran or Afghanistan. Certainly the incursions of the Soviet Union do not elicit a unified response. Even within the Arab world itself, there are a variety of reactions; part adheres to the Baghdad Pact, part does not. Yet situations such as the Syrian crisis can suddenly bring forth something like pan-Arabism, and people who were squabbling a few months before rally behind the façade of Arab unity...