Reflection

The Middle East. Photo: WikiCommons

The single largest view I previously had of the Middle East which has now been changed during the course of the unit is that the Middle East is not a monolith.

For example, I was extremely surprised that Lebanon has 18 different religious groups represented in a parliament, with these religious groups comprised of a variety of ethnicities.

I also found it fascinating that Lebanon has been plagued by extremist Christian terrorists.

Prior to uncovering this, I had the default view that many in Western countries possess of all states in the Middle East, that they are exclusively comprised of Arab Muslims with Islamic terrorism has the only major religious extremism issue.

But in terms of which specific topic which challenged my preconceptions the most, it was the fortnight on Israel/Palestine.

I had previously thought those who were criticising Netanyahu and his government over the treatment of Palestinians were exaggerating, as he had avoided condemnation from many Western leaders who are supposedly bastions of human rights.

I was shocked to learn how openly the Israeli military were using violent techniques, like blanketing white phosphorus over Palestinian civilian population areas, without any penalties from the international community.

Having my preconceptions challenged so drastically in such as short amount of time made me feel both enlightened and uncomfortable.

But overall, I don’t think Israel or any other current state has had the most impact on the modern Middle East, rather from my studies in this unit I believe colonialism has had the greatest influence.

It was eye-opening to see how that with almost every country that was analysed in the weekly case study and via my assessments, the creation artificial state boundaries by colonial powers and their disregard for the traditional tribe system of power sharing has a direct link to sectarian conflicts and tensions that persist today.

I think going into the future, world leaders, policy makers and political scientists should be aware of this lingering colonial influence when devising solutions for regional issues.