OUR CENTURY OF MIDDLE EASTERN CHANGES Since the Sykes-Picot Agreement

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

Mark Sykes 

                           

Francois Georges-Picot

The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement drew up artificial borders for the nation states of the Fertile Crescent after the worst war people ever   knew about, WWI when 20 million died and 20 million were wounded.  Both Arabs and Jews fought in that war with both aiding England.  This was a treaty made after a series of secret agreements were made between Britain, France and Russia with a later addition of Italy that was entered into from 1914 at the beginning of WWI to 1916.  They were looking ahead, providing for the postwar partition of the Turkish Empire (Ottoman Empire.)  This affected Palestine and Syria.  This "Treaty" consisted of an Anglo-French memorandum started on March 9, 1916, after negotiations between Sir Arthur Nicolson and later Sir Mark Sykes (for Britain) an Georges Picot (for France.)  

It provided for the complete dismemberment of Palestine, with the Upper Galilee under French control, the Hanran, a  French-protected  Arab State, Transjordan and the Negev, a British-protected Arab State, the Haifa Bay area under British control, and the remainder of central Palestine (from Nazareth to Hebron) an Anglo-French-Russian condominium. 

The Oslo Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process. On September 13, 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists.  Negotiator Mahmoud Abbas signed a Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, commonly referred to as the “Oslo Accord,” at the White House.  Hamas, terrorists of the Palestinian Arabs of today, are those living in Gaza today, the land that Jews moved completely out of in the name of peace.  They continue to fight against Israel to this day.  

           

 It was the time when the  large Kurdish tribe had created a large state in northern Iraq were demanding similar land for their self-determination in Syria and Turkey  as well.  Their Kurdistan, a mountainous region, was divided up among Turkey, Iran and Iraq.  We Jews had been living amongst them since the time of Ezra of the 5th century BCE.  Ezra was a member of the priestly family (J1 haplogroup) of Zadok, and was a scribe working for the Persian government.  Rabbis put his spiritual level on par with Moses.  He had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon as a teacher.  

The Jews living in Kurdistan spoke an Aramaic dialect spoken up to modern times, which is close to the language of the Babylonian Talmud and the speech of the Nestorian Christians in Kurdistan.  

Toward the end of the 19th century, the Jewish community was estimated to number 12,000 to 18,000.  living in many villages and towns as merchants, peddlers, and craftsmen.  During the 20th century, their number increased in Persian Kurdistan, to 12,000 to 14,000.  After 1948 when Israel was created, the great majority of Kurdish Jews from all areas emigrated to Israel, many settling in or near Jerusalem.  

The USA invaded Iraq in April 2003 and overthrew Saddam Hussein which brought on the rule of the country's Sunni minority to an end.  For the 1st time, an Arab country was headed by a Shi'ite regime.  He needed bringing down, for his people and for Israel's safety as well. 

 ISIL or ISIS originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda terrorism and participated in the Iraqi insurgency following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces at the behest of the United States.

Shi'ite Iran, the revolution in Iraq was good news, enabling Tehran to deepen its penetration of its western neighbor, improve their leverage over its economic, military and diplomatic areas and raise their regional standing.  Now the Sunni world and the Shi'ite world became an issue as to who was the leader. 

 The 2nd Lebanon War took place in 2006 when Iran's Shi'ite proxy, Hezbollah terrorists, fired rockets and missiles into Israel for 34 days in a row.  This was a worry to the Sunni Arab states, which looked like the Shi'ites' strength was growing.  Hezbollah terrorists were now in the Syrian Civil War from 2013 fighting in Tripoli and bombing around Beirut.

Then along came ISIS, established in western Iraq who took territory on the Syrian side.  This showed their goal and grew in power because of the weakness in Baghdad and Damascus.  Their extremeness in their interpretation of the Koran and extremeness in cruelty to people didn't help their position as they thought it would.  

The Arab Spring, starting in December of 2010.  was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, starting with protests in Tunisia.  

Obama speaking at Cairo University 

USA's problem was the Obama's administration's reliance on conciliatory diplomacy which sent their weakness across the region which also encouraged radical forces and states to step up their pace.  In September 2013, they decided not to take military action against Bashar Assad's regime in Syria AFTER they had used chemical weapons.  This was considered a watershed moment:  it violated a code of unwritten understandings and undermined America's regional standing. 

Russia took advantage of the situation and their standing in the region is now enhanced.  They are more than assertive, trying to take back a dominant role they once had.  China is also having their effect on the region.  

                                                                 

 Israel has a lot of challenges in the 21st century.  UZi Rabi, commentator back in 2015, foresaw Israel finding a common denominator with countries like the UAE that he mentioned in his 2015 article.  We in 2020 are able to witness a peace accord happening between the 2 states, uniting for their own benefits and interests, and uniting against such matters as COVID 19 and Iran. This has tabled Israel's plans to become responsible for the Jewish towns and cities in Judea and Samaria as planned located in the eastern side.  We also have peace with Egypt since March 26, 1979. For them Israel gave up the Sinai.  We had peace with the  Jordan-Israel peace treaty of October 26, 1994. Twenty-six years ago, the treaty was signed in the Wadi Arava along the border between the two countries with President Bill Clinton as the witness. It has endured because it has strategic value to both countries and the United States.We had been at war with Egypt.  We were not with the UAE, but their state is very close to iran.    Uzi also thought that there was hope for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Morocco to make peace with Israel as well.  We shall see.  Lots of events have taken place since the Sykes-Picot Agreement.  

Resource: http://www.centre-robert-schuman.org/userfiles/files/REPERES%20%E2%80%93%20module%201-1-1%20-%20explanatory%20notes%20%E2%80%93%20World%20War%20I%20casualties%20%E2%80%93%20EN.pdf

Magazine: The Jerusalem Report, 6/29/2015  The 21st century Middle East, commentary by Uzi Rabi.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Israel_peace_treaty

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/10/23/25-years-on-remembering-the-path-to-peace-for-jordan-and-israel/