xvFor the better part of a century, the Middle East consistently has been a focal point
of armed conflict and political tension. Although constituting only a small percentage
of the world’s landmass and population, the region has endured and has produced far
more than its share of turmoil. The Contemporary Middle East: A Documentary History
illustrates the reasons for the focus of the world’s attention on this area by presenting
documents central to the region’s past and thus ultimately to its future.
This volume takes as its starting point World War I, or the Great War, which
ended the old ways of life in Europe but as a byproduct also opened a new chapter
of increased international intervention in the Middle East. In the early twenty-first
century, many aspects of major news events—from sectarian divisions in Iraq and
Lebanon to the seemingly endless conflict between Israelis and Palestinians—stem
directly from the decisions made by world leaders, most of them in London and Paris,
during and shortly after that war.
Since the first events documented here, conflict has been chronic in the areas of
the Middle East where international intervention has been most intense. One obvious
example stands out—the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state in the midst of a
region otherwise dominated by Arab Muslims. The current round of conflict between
Arabs and Jews is now nearly a century old, and despite progress on some fronts, it
shows no sign of abating. Iraq and Lebanon represent examples of countries torn by
internal sectarian conflict resulting from European decisions after World War I in cre-
ating new countries comprised of disparate societies with no unifying, common
national interest. The consequences of intervention after the postwar period can also
be seen in today’s headlines. For example, Iran’s reported determination to acquire
nuclear weapons is partially driven by memories of U.S. intervention a half century
ago, and the Western-sponsored attempt to implant democracy in Afghanistan follows
nearly three decades of war resulting from an invasion by the Soviet Union.
This litany of international intervention is not to say that the people of the Middle
East always have been the hapless victims of outside powers. The view of the West
imposing strife on otherwise innocent people does, however, stand as a central element