The 1962’s epic biographical-historical film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ which also is famous for having a cast of multi-nationalities-Zia Moheyudin and Omer Sharif-includes an opening scene of a young Lawrence filling colours in the desert maps. It’s this desert that has been the fabled illusion of the Arabian nights-mystified in literature and movies.
Today’s Middle East by far differs of what it presented a century ago-something that is diverse and even more difficult to comprehend. The present crisis and turmoil in the Middle East has been largely attributed to the internal power struggle and the international power politics being played at the hands of intervention and realpolitik.
Almost a century ago in 1916-1919, when the events unfolded the long history of the colonial powers (Britain) struggled to dismantle the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire though controlled by the Turks-promised the Arabs to for control over the Middle Eastern region when prompted to revolt against the Empire. Many analysts are of the view that had Turkey remained neutral Middle East would have presented a completely different scenario.
To strike the deal-in 1916 a young officer in the British army-Thomas Edward Lawrence
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Known, as Levant famously-the states of Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt and Turkey were entangled in such precarious division that still continues to serve the major ethnic and sectarian fault-lines in the region. Though today’s map of the Middle East presents a different set of lines and borders drawn in 1916-but presently, the problems that arose have been the sole consequence of ignoring the borders of the naturally present ethnic groups in the territory that have now been entangled in even more