As far back as I can remember events in the Middle East have been important in the news reports of my life. I was born in the year of the Suez Crisis. The first news reports I recall of bombing and fighting were from Beirut. Later, as a student, I followed the Islamic revolution in Iran then afterwards, as a parent, worried whether the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would extend to threaten my children. And now, in my dotage, I watch the horrors unfolding in Israel and Gaza.
Over and above the reports of dreadful deeds I have constantly had the unpleasant feeling that I really do not understand the roots of these conflicts, cannot determine which of the actors may have good intentions and which harbour only bad and, in general, I have had the awareness that I only have a sketchy appreciation of the factors at play in this on-going and seemingly never-ending nghtmare.
In an attempt to improve my knowledge, I bought this book by the Lebanese journalist Kim Ghattas and am very pleased that I did. This is the story of events over the last two generations which have led us to our present situation. She makes the case that the Islamic Revolution in 1979 was a turning point in this area, as is the ongoing Iranian/Saudi Arabian rivalry which has been kept active by stoking the fires of Islamic sectarianism.
It is dreadfully sad to watch the recent history when modernisation of many of the Arab states was halted and reversed; democratic rights, and especially womens’ rights, were lost and the growing secular rule of law was replaced by theocratic powers. Many at the time, especially those on the left in Europe, thought that the removal of Kings, Princes and other dictators could only result in better societies. They were wrong as theocratic states have shown themselves to be worse; less open, less free and more brutal and intolerant.
This error that the Left made in the 1970/80’s seems to be being made again. As Iran, through its murderous proxies of Hamas and Hezbollah , continues its genocidal war against Israel many on the left think that this can be seen simply through an anti-imperialist anti-colonial lens. They are wrong again; this is an extension of a long-standing plan for the area which does not include any space for Jews in it.
Although the book was written before the present crisis, and does not specifically concern the Israel-Palestine conflict, it does reveal an important backstory that needs to be understood better, Despite the horrors that we presently see, if people march blindly to drums that they don’t really understand, then even more atrocities await us.
Looking back in sadness 