Middle East: full of failing states

The season of Arab discontent continues this week as Syrian tanks struggle to contain protesters aimed at removing President Bashar al-Assad. Putting the events in perspective, Congregation Shaaray Tefilla in Lawrence hosted Bar Ilan University professor Mordechai Kedar. “The Middle East is full of failing states,” said Kedar, a fluent Arabic speaker who has appeared numerous times on Arab television to give the Israeli point of view.

Kedar said that one difference between Middle Eastern and European nations is the element of unity, a prevalent trait in countries such as Britain and France. In contrast, Middle Eastern nations are comprised of numerous groups or tribes, thus contributing to disagreement among its many constituents.

“Its three main problems are illegitimate states, illegitimate borders, and illegitimate regimes,” Kedar said. Some of the more obvious examples include Iraq, which counts 10 religious and ethnic groups; Afghanistan with 11 ethnic groups; and Sudan, where Kedar counts some 600,000 tribal and linguistic groups.

“If you go to Europe, you can see that Europe also is not such a big success in uniting or unification of different groups,” Kedar said. “The Soviet Union fell apart according to ethnic lines, and Spain also is not a big story of success of unifying different groups.” Kedar said that some European nations have made attempts at creating common identity among their citizens, with Spain as an example.

The Spanish national anthem consists of music but no words. The reason for this is because Spain has many different autonomous communities and provinces that never reached an agreement on the language of the song. The name for the song was also never settled, and it remains without a title. “So Spain as well is not a big success of uniting all those groups in the Iberian Peninsula,” Kedar said. “So what do we expect?

That something which failed in Europe will succeed in Afghanistan or Iraq?” Kedar argues that many Middle Eastern borders were shaped by European nations. “Borders were marked regardless of the population,” Kedar said.

A century ago, the Ottoman Empire dominated the region. After its defeat in the First World War, states such as Syria, Iraq, and Jordan were carved out of the empire by the victorious European states.

“The American role in the Middle East should be encouraging groups in the Middle East to have independence at the expense of the states,” Kedar said. “This would the biggest and the best contribution to peace because every state which is big on a homogenous group will live in peace within itself and within its neighbors because when they leave each other alone, they live in peace.” Audience members were impressed by Kedar, and his knowledge of the borders that contributed to today’s conflicts.

“Some of the realities many of us here might not have been aware of, such as the importance of tribalism in the various Middle Eastern countries and how that really informs the actual dynamics between the peoples who live there,” said Lawrence resident Shimon Felder.

“It is wonderful to hear a speaker that is so knowledgeable about the events in the Middle East,” Aliza Leibowitz said. “He did not really touch on the subject of Israel as far as I recollect. He touched more on the dynamics of the countries around Israel and how they were developed in the twentieth century.”

“My field of research doesn’t include Israel,at least not the Jewish population of Israel. I do look at the