North Africa and Southwest Asia

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North Africa and Southwest Asia
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21 Countries
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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Sub-regions
• North Africa
• Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan
• Eastern Mediterranean
• Turkey, Lebanon, Israel

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Arabian Peninsula
• Saudi Arabia, Yeman, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain,
  Kuwait
• Central Mediterranean
• Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Palestinian Territory

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Difficult area to define precisely
• Generally dry and arid
• Mostly Islam (93)
• Geographic variation

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Only some have Oil Some wealthy, others poor
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Some highly urban, others rural
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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Climate and People
• Driest region in the world
• Very hot during day (130F in the shade in
  places!)
• Can drop below freezing at night

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Climate and People
• People live in 3 types of places
• Oases (drought resistant plants and some
  irrigated groups)
• Along the 3 major rivers
• Nile, Euphrates and Tigris (fertile crescent)
• Limited mountainous regions
• Atlas mountains, S.W. Arabian Peninsula
• Turkey and Iran (Zagros Mountains

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Oasis at Souf, Algeria
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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Climate and People
• People live in 3 types of places
• Oases (drought resistant plants and some
  irrigated groups)
• Along the 3 major rivers
• Nile, Euphrates and Tigris (fertile crescent)
• Limited mountainous regions
• Atlas mountains, S.W. Arabian Peninsula
• Turkey and Iran (Zagros Mountains

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Islam

• Emerges 7th century
• Rapidly spreads (and unifies the Arabian
  Pensinula)
• Continues to spread beyond Saudi Arabia
• Iran (Persia)
• North Africa
• Spain
• Eastern Europe
• Pakistan
• South East Asia
• One billion (1/6 of world population) adherents

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Islam
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Islam

• IslamSubmission to the will of Allah
• Allah is the Arabic word for God.
• Muslimone who submits
• Archangel Gabriel reveals the principles of the
  religion to the Prophet Muhammad

Mecca, Saudi Arabia
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Islam

• Muslim belief
• Allah begins to reveal himself
• To Adam, Abraham, Moses others (Old Testament)
• Jesus, John the Baptist (New Testament)
• Muhammad (ultimate revelation)
• Muslims see a direct linkage between the peoples
  of the holy book (Bible) and Islam
• But Islam is the correct religion because
• Ultimate revelation

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Islam

• 3 theological foundations
• Quran revelations from Archangel Gabriel to
  Muhammad i.e., words of God
• Hadith Muhammads words
• 9th century Scholars codify into six recognized
  collections of tradition
• Accounts of Muhammads deeds
• Sunna the beaten path or custom of Islam

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Islam

• 5 central principles
• Belief in Allah
• As the only God and Muhammad as his prophet
• Daily prayer
• Dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, evening
• Public calls to prayer from the Mosque

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Islam

• Fasting (Ramadan)
• Fast from sunrise to sunset for one month each
  year
• No food or water
• Purpose Purification and family/community
• Iftar Breaking the fast
• Exceptions for sick, traveling may substitute
  days

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Charity (Zakat)
• At least 2.5 of wealth to be given to the ppor
• Progressive higher if wealthy
• Based on the recognition of the injustice of
  economic inequity
• Pilgrimage (Hajj)
• Mecca -- birth place of Muhammad
• Medina site of Muhammads Mosque and burial
  place
• Note Jerusalem also holy to Muslims
• Where Muhammad ascended into Heaven

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Sharia
• Islamic religious law
• Guides life according to the Quran
• Some Muslims believe no other law is necessary
• Islam does not recognize a separation of religion
  and the state
• Some Islamic countries are Theocratic (Government
  controlled by religious authority) States
• e.g., Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Iran
• Other Islamic countries are secular
• e.g., Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Turkey, Tunisia
• Great diversity of practices and observation in
  Islamic Countries

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Two major groups of Muslims
• Division goes back to death of Muhammad in 632
  and who should be the successor
• Sunni (90)
• Clerics choose who succeeds Muhammad
• Shia (Shiite) (10)
• Blood relative to succeed
• Ali, Muhammads son in law
• Geography of see next slide.
• Conflict and cooperation,
• Intermarriage, mixed tribal groups, mixed regions

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Geography of Shia and Sunni
Shia Iran, southern Iraq and southern Lebanon.
Smaller Shiite communities in Saudi Arabia and
Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as well.
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Islam

• Islamic Fundamentalism
• Object to Western Culture
• Liberalization of womens roles
• Globalization of western culture
• Open sexuality, consumerism, hedonism, economic
  inequality
• undermining important Islamic values
• Family, community
• Seek reaffirmation of traditional values

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Islam

• Most Muslims share this view (3 groups)
• Moderates
• Some contradictions here also
• Elements of western culture also consumed in
  Islamic countriesespecially by moderate Muslims
• Fundamentalists
• strict interpretation of Quran
• Simple, prayerful life
• Focus on family, community
• Traditional gender roles and respect for elderly
• Insolate themselves from the West

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Islam

• Islamists
• Violent revolution against
• All powerful and insensitive West
• Islamists
• Greatest threat to the stability of the Middle
  East?
• Only country overthrown by Islamists was
  (arguably) Iran
• But significant presence in a number of countries
  (e.g., Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan
• Were traditionally nationally focused
• Metastized into global movement with Al-Qaida and
  arguably Iraq.

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Islamism and conflict

• Complex issues
• Not all Islamic terrorists are Islamists
• Terrorist versus Freedom Fighter
• Who chooses the label?
• State sponsored terrorism?
• Terror as tactic

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Islam

• Attractiveness of Islamist philosophy for violent
  overthrow
• Economic and Political Injustice in these
  countries
• Recruits
• young urban men from poor neighborhoods
• descendents of displaced farmers and nomads
• Refugees from various conflicts
• Living in crowded, polluted, chaotic conditions
  in largest cities
• Dont believe in their governments
• See their governments being helped by the U.S.

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Islam

• Attractiveness of Islamist philosophy for violent
  overthrow
• Economic and Political Injustice in these
  countries
• Leaders
• Educated
• Disenfranchised politically/economically
• unless they go along with the system
• Frustrated with inability to fix the system

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Islamism --Philosophy

• Poor conditions in Arab world because
• Governments have moved away from Islam
• Governments have become secular
• West hates Islam
• You have moved away from Islam
• Return to Islam
• Return to the Glory Days when Islam was a major
  influence in Global Affairs
• Corruption will disappear
• Life will be good
• You will be respected
• Need to destroy the West because the West doesnt
  want this to happen

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Flash Points
• Israel and Palestine
• Iraq
• Lebanon

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Palestine (British mandate)
• 1948 Divided among Israel, Jordan and Egypt
• For creation of a Jewish State.
• Zionism movement toward creating a Jewish State
• Late 19th century
• Theodor Herzl (originally a cultural/political
  idea rather than religious)
• Realization of a deep religio-cultural
  identification with Palestine among Jews
• 1890s Palestine rural Arab backwater
• No sense of Palestinian identity
• Some early Jewish communities living among the
  Arabs

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Concept of Zionism begins to circulate
• 1917 Balfour Declaration
• U.K. declares its support for a Jewish Homeland
  in Palestine
• Civil and religious rights of the existing non
  Jewish population (93) but not Political Rights
• Increased flow of Jewish Immigrants
• Non Jewish community feels threatened (dominated
  or expelled)
• Riots 1920, 1921

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1930s Large increase in Jewish Immigration
• Arab Rebellion
• Arab guerrillas attach Jewish Settlers and UK
  soldiers
• Violent reprisals by settlers and army
• Results
• First Martyrs on Arab side
• e.g., Iz-al-din-al-Qassam (formal name of
  military wing of Hamas)
• Collective punishment
• Demolish homes of the families of Arab fighters

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1939 UK begins to limit Jewish Immigration
• Jewish violence against the UK army
• Terrorists or Heroes First Jewish Martyrs and
  leaders
• UK hands over the issue to the United Nations
• UN resurrects idea of partition
• But Arabs living in Palestine poorly represented
• 1947 Jews offered 55 of the land
• Owned 7 at the time
• 450,000 Arabs would be in a new country that they
  didnt want

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• May 1948 Israel becomes a country
• Issue one Israels right to exist
• Arab View
• Israel is an intolerable intrusion into their
  world
• Imposed from the outside.
• Israel view
• Biblical/Cultural
• U.N. Mandate
• Necessary to protect Jews from a future Holocaust
• 6 million slaughtered during WW II by Nazis.

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1948 War Israel versus Egypt, Syria, Jordan and
  Iraq
• Issue Two Right of Palestinians to a country
• Result of war Israel occupies 78 of Palestine
• 750,000 Arabs flee during war
• Many ejected with military terror, massacres
  and forced removal
• End up in refugee camps
• Jordan, West Bank (part of Jordan in 1948), Gaza
  Strip (part of Egypt in 1948)
• Still there!
• From the refugee camps a unified sense of a
  Palestinian People emerges
• Including resistance movements, Yasser Arafats
  Fatah movement

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1967 Six Day War Israel versus Egypt, Jordan
  and Syria
• 3 Major Impacts
• Occupied Territories
• Israel occupies the West Bank, Gaza, Golan (part
  of) and E. Jerusalem
• So Palestinians find themselves under Israeli
  Government again
• Greater Israel and the Settler Movement
• Some in Israel claim West Bank and Gaza as part
  of a greater Biblical Israel
• Beginning of Settlement Process
• i.e., locate Israelis in West Bank and Gaza,
  eject Palestinians
• Palestinians
• other Arab Countries cant win their freedom
• 1st Insurrection (revolt) in West Bank led by
  Yasser Arafat (PLO)

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1973 War Israel versus Egypt, Syria
• Strategic reality changes
• Israel wins but Egypt, Syria Armies fight much
  better
• Israels army no longer considered invincible
• Syria, Egypt realize cannot destroy Israel
• Have to come to terms
• Palestinians realize cannot destroy Israel
• Now argue for Palestinian Country in West Bank,
  Gaza, and East Jerusalem
• Chance for Peace!

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1979 Egypt makes peace with Israel
• Gaza remains part of Israel
• Palestinians not part of the peace deal

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Palestinians dont accept Israels occupation
• Humiliation
• Identity checks, Body searches, Verbal abuse
• Restrictive movement between refugee camps and
  Israel
• Collective punishment
• Settlements
• 1977 5,000 Israelis in Occupied Territories
• 2005 250,000 Israelis in Occupied Territories
• 1st Intifada (uprising) 1987
• Palestinian youth versus Israeli Army (bullets
  and broken bones!)
• In West Bank/Gaza as opposed to International
  Opposition by PLO

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1990
• Israeli Labor Party (and others)
• Cannot suppress the Intifada
• Need to make peace with PLO ( Fatah)
• Hamas, Islamic Jihad emerge from Intifada
• More radical than Fatah.

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1993 Oslo Peace Accord
• Create a Palestinian State
• Begin with Gaza and a few areas in West Bank
• Gain trust first --Deal with hard issues later
• Good ideas but no clear path!
• Settlers?
• Jerusalem?
• Final borders?
• Right of Return for refugees?
• Water?

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 1995 some progress
• Yitzhak Rabin -- Israeli Prime Minister
  assassinated
• By right wing Israeli
• Peace deal begins to unravel
• Settlements continue
• Arafat corrupt and inept administrator
• Some newer Israel leaders not interested in peace
• Violence continues (chicken and egg!)
• Hamas starts suicide bombing
• Israel heavy handed responses
• 2nd Intifada
• Sept. 2000 Ariel Sharon visits Haram As-Sharif
  (Temple Mount)

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• 2000-present
• U.S. ignores issue
• Problem festers
• More suicide bombing and heavy Israeli response
• Brutality of the violence increases
• Various attempts at truces (now holding for 2.0
  years)

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Hamas elected as Government in 2005
• Doesnt accept Israel right to exist
• Fatah widely viewed as corrupt
• War in Lebanon 2006
• Hezbollah versus Israel
• May have led to a strategic change of perception
  on the ground
• Israel and Iran?
• Civil war between Hamas and Fatah
• Hamas now controls the Gaza
• Fatah controls the West Bank
• President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) Fatah
• Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas)

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Remaining issues
• Territory
• Palestinians want all West Bank, Gaza and E.
  Jerusalem
• Israel not acceptable
• Settlements
• Palestinians remove all Israeli settlements
• Israel incorporate settlements in Israel
• Security/Violence
• Continued sporadic violence on both sides

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Remaining issues (Cont)
• Jerusalem
• Palestinians E. Jerusalem as Capital
• Israel United Jerusalem under Israel control
• Local autonomy for Palestinian neighborhoods
• Palestinian Refugees
• Palestinians Right of return for those (
  families expelled in 19483.1 million)
• Israel no right of return
• Arab countries should pay because they started
  the wars

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Iraq
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Iraq

• Major Players
• Moqtada al Sadr
• Shia cleric,
• v. popular in Sadr City (1.5m Slum in Baghdad)
• Madhi Army
• Part of Government
• Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
• Most Senior Shia Cleric
• Nouri al-Makiki
• Prime Minister (Shia)

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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq)
• Kurd
• Little power
• Other Groups
• Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution
• Badr Brigade (in the south)
• United Iraqi Alliance (Largest Political Group in
  the Government)
• Al-Dawa party (Islamic)
• Supreme Council (Badr Brigade)
• Sadr (Madhi Army)
• Some Sunnis
• Sunni Awakening
• Sunnis who are now paid by the U.S. to police
  their tribal territory

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Iraq

• Iraq
• Size of California
• Large areas of irrigated farmland
• Major oil reserves (2nd only to Saudi Arabia)
• 27 Million people
• Most people live in the eastern half see map
• On the alluvial plains of Tigris and Euphrates
  Rivers
• Generally divided into 3 major groups
• Kurds 15
• Sunni 20-30
• Shia 40-60
• Reality is more complex

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Iraq
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Iraq

• Culture and nationality
• Interwoven between
• Religious Shia, Sunni, Christian, etc.
• See map
• Tribal 1,500 tribal groups
• See map
• National identity?

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Iraq

• Culture and nationality
• Tribal 1,500 tribal groups
• See map
• e.g., Tribes of Fallujah
• Survived for 000s of years by joining together
  for defense
• 16th Century Ottoman Empire co-opts them
• British defeat them in battle but never
  controlled them
• Iraq Monarchy 1921-58 bribed them
• Saddam feared them (bribes, perks etc)
• Bu Nasir tribes (NNW of Baghdad in Tikrit)
• Saddams Republican Guard and other security
  services came from those tribes

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Iraq

• Sunni
• Dominated country economically/politically
  throughout history
• Occupied the best agricultural land
• No oil reserves see map
• Oil North of Sunni Area (Kirkuk)
• Oil South of Sunni Area (Basra), Persian Gulf
• Shia and Kurds
• much poorer
• Both suffered from economic, political, and
  cultural discrimination from the Sunni
• Both suffered substantial violence under Saddams
  regime

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Iraq
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Iraq

• Who were/are we fighting
• Sunni vs U.S.
• (nationalists, Bathists)
• Shia vs U.S.
• nationalists
• Islamists (al Qaeda in Iraq) vs U.S.
• Local and foreign
• Criminal groups vs any target of opportunity

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Iraq

• and who else was/is fighting?
• Sunni vs Shia (power struggle)
• Shia vs Shia (power struggle)
• (in southBadr B. Madhi army for control)
• Foreign Islamists vs Shia
• Ie., against the Shia to foment civil war
• Sunni vs Islamists
• Sunni Awakening
• Kurds versus Sunni, maybe Shia Government also

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Iraq

• So what to do?
• No easy answer
• Victory
• What do we mean by victory?
• Victory over whom?
• What would victory look like?
• Democracy?
• Whos democracy?
• Ours or theirs?
• What would it look like?

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Iraq

• Immediate withdrawal
• What does that mean?
• Power vacuum
• Remember the Taliban! or Kymer Rouge (Cambodia)
• Do we have a responsibility to Iraq to leave some
  semblance of stability?
• Movement toward withdrawal
• Maybe by 2011
• Everyone is scared of U.S. withdrawal
• Everyone wants the U.S. to withdraw!
• What would be the nature of the withdrawal
• Complete, partial, bases?
• What happens then?

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Iraq

• The Surge
• The surge is working Sunni tribes turning away
  from Al Qaeda violence is down
• The surge is not working what is the purpose of
  the surge?
• Give some room for national political unity Not
  really happening
• Why did the Surge work (in that violence is down
  and Al Qaeda is on the run)?
• More troops and a change in strategy allowed
  military to permanently secure territory
• Sunni Awakening (defend tribal areas, attack Al
  Qaeda in Iraq paid by U.S)
• Unilateral cease fire by Moqtada al Sadr
• New strategies for identifying and eliminating Al
  Qaeda leaders

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Iraq

• But, little real power sharing between Sunni,
  Shia, Kurdish groups
• ie., government (as we know it) is not
  effective!
• Local solutions may lead to civil war over the
  longer term., ie., arming tribes
• Current peace is very fragile
• Dependent upon Iran (to an extent)
• Dependent upon Al Sadr
• Continued pacification of Sunni Awakening via
  salaries from the U.S. military
• Shia dominated government has been very slow to
  integrate these groups into the military, police
  force
• New Sheiks (as opposed to traditional Sheiks)
  emerging as power brokers

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The Geography of Islam in South Asia and the
Middle East
Shia Iran, southern Iraq and southern Lebanon.
Smaller Shiite communities in Saudi Arabia and
Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as well.
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North Africa and Southwest Asia

• Part of the global war on terror
• Fight them there so we dont have to fight them
  here?
• What does this mean?
• Yes,
• but not necessarily in a linear way
• We may be defeating and growing both a
  nationalist and Islamist insurgency at the same
  time
• i.e., Foreign troops on our soil
• i.e., U.S. imperialism
• Indefinite war!