Table Of ContentTHE CONTEMPORARY
MIDDLE EAST
THE CONTEMPORARY
MIDDLE EAST
A WESTVIEW READER
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T H I R D E D I T I O N
WITH A SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION BY
Shibley Telhami
EDITED BY
Karl Yambert
New York London
For Hallie
First published 2013 by Westview Press
Published 2018 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The contemporary Middle East : a Westview reader / edited by Karl Yambert ; with a special
contribution by Shibley Telhami.—3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8133-4839-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8133-4840-7 (e-book)
1. Middle East. I. Yambert, Karl.
DS44.C575 2012
956.05—dc23
2012033625
ISBN 13: 978-0-8133-4839-1 (pbk)
C
ONTENTS
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Preface to the Third Edition xi
Acknowledgments xiv
A Note on Editorial Matters xvi
Summary of Recent Events, 2011–2012 xviii
I. HISTORY AND PERSPECTIVES
1 The Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East 6
Colbert C. Held and John Thomas Cummings
Within its regional unity, the Middle East possesses great cultural diversity.
Differences of language, religion, and ethnicity create a complex mosaic of
peoples.
2 The Roots of Arab Bitterness 24
Arthur Goldschmidt Jr. and Lawrence Davidson
Varieties of Arab nationalism all share a consistent distrust of the West, based
on bitter historical experience.
3 Islamist Perceptions of US Policy in the Middle East 37
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad
Islamism is a worldview in which the US support for Israel in particular is un-
derstood to be part of a larger Western effort to keep Muslim states weak and
subservient.
4 Global Energy and the Middle East 47
Steve Yetiv
Access to Middle East oil will become even more critical as oil supplies
dwindle, even as the region’s flow of oil is vulnerable to several sources of
major disruption.
v
vi Contents
5 New US Policies for a New Middle East? 55
William B. Quandt
The Bush administration’s ambitious plan to remake the Middle East fell
short and left the United States facing many obstacles in pursuit of its goals
in the region.
6 Cairo Speech 67
Barack Obama
President Obama seeks a “new beginning” by addressing sources of tension be-
tween the United States and the Muslims of the world.
II. ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS
7 Israel and the Arabs, and Beyond 91
Robert O. Freedman
Israel has battled Arab states since its founding and now faces a threat beyond
the Arab world in Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas, two militant ene-
mies of Israel.
8 The United States and Israel 99
Bernard Reich and Shannon Powers
Broad support of Israel by the United States is accompanied by disagreements
on many specifics of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
9 The Palestinians 120
Glenn E. Robinson
Contradictory promises to Jews and Palestinian Arabs set the stage for in-
evitable conflict following the 1948 establishment of Israel.
10 Sharon’s Fence 132
Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar
Ariel Sharon’s “security fence,” new settlements, and unilateral withdrawal from
Gaza were designed to deepen Israel’s hold on the West Bank.
11 Whither the Palestinians? 139
Samih K. Farsoun and Naseer H. Aruri
The millions of Palestinian refugees and their right to return are not always
represented by those Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories.
Contents vii
12 Ethnicity and Nation-Building in the State of Israel 150
Calvin Goldscheider
Israel’s pluralistic society is shaped by Jewish communities outside the State of
Israel as well as by Palestinians within territories administered by Israel.
13 Syria’s Threat to Israel 162
Hirsch Goodman
Syria’s threat to Israel consists chiefly in its serving as a conduit for Iranian aid
to Hamas and Hezbollah.
14 The Iranian Nuclear Threat Against Israel 167
Steven R. David
Even given scenarios in which Iran might launch a nuclear attack against Israel,
or Israel might preemptively strike Iranian facilities, Israel will likely allow Iran
to become a nuclear state.
III. IRAQ AND IRAN
15 Pashtunistan: Afghanistan, Pakistan—and Iraq 189
Stephen Tanner
America’s battle against the perpetrators of 9/11, Osama bin Laden and
al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was derailed by turning attention to Saddam
Hussein and Iraq.
16 The Land and People of Modern Iraq 199
Phebe Marr
Iraq must contend with the separatist tendencies of Shiite Arabs and Sunni
Kurds, who were ruled until recently by a Sunni Arab minority.
17 Impacts of the Iraq War 209
James DeFronzo
The Iraq War damaged US moral standing internationally, strengthened
Hamas and Hezbollah, and established a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government
friendly to Iran.
18 America’s Troubled Moment in the Middle East 218
William L. Cleveland and Martin Bunton
In the aftermath of the Iraq War, the policies of Barack Obama toward Iraq
and Iran have been surprisingly similar to the policies of George W. Bush.
viii Contents
19 Maliki Consolidates Power in Post-Saddam Iraq 234
Phebe Marr
Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki shored up his position by steering a secu-
lar, nationalist course rather than a sectarian one, and by negotiating America’s
exit from Iraq.
20 The Iranian Revolution and Its Consequences 247
David W. Lesch
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 established a Shiite theocracy next door to
Saddam Hussein, prompting him to invade Iran and begin the eight-year-long
Iran-Iraq War.
21 Islamic Republic of Iran: Political Dynamics and Foreign Policy 259
Mark Gasiorowski
Iran’s political culture contains an undercurrent of distrust of foreigners even as
Iranian moderates in particular occasionally reach out to the West.
22 Iran’s Regional Foreign Policy 270
Manochehr Dorraj
The US rebuff of Iran as a member of the “axis of evil” contributed to Iran’s
strengthened ties with Russia, China, Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
23 Iran, Israel, and the United States 279
Scott Ritter
The Israeli lobby influences US foreign policy to regard Iran as a regional
threat, but the United States would do better to normalize relations with Iran.
24 The Iranian Predicament 284
Michael Axworthy
The United States rejected Iran’s 2003 “Grand Bargain” that would have
committed Iran to a two-state solution with Israel and to a peaceful
nuclear program.
IV. THE ISLAMISTS
25 Islamists and Democracy: The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood 300
Marwan Bishara
The Muslim Brotherhood’s history of charitable work translates into strong
party organization in post-Mubarak Egypt, even as traditionalists and radicals
disagree over the Brotherhood’s course.
Contents ix
26 Talking to Terrorists: Hamas and Hezbollah 307
Mark Perry
Terrorist groups that participate in elections and governments and that have
constituencies to answer to, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in
Lebanon, can be negotiated with.
V. THE ARAB SPRING
27 The Arab Spring, 2011 330
Eugene Rogan
The trajectories of the Arab Spring are followed in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and
Yemen, where longtime rulers were ousted, and in Bahrain and Syria, whose
regimes remain in power.
28 Egypt: Mubarak and After 342
Arthur Goldschmidt Jr.
After the end of Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule, Egypt’s first-ever free na-
tional elections resulted in some major surprises.
29 Bashar al-Asad, Syria, and the Arab Spring 353
David W. Lesch
Despite warning signs, Bashar al-Asad of Syria did not expect the Arab Spring
to wash over his country, and he still brutally puts down what he considers to
be foreign-inspired uprisings.
30 The Arab World at the Intersection of the National and
the Transnational 360
James L. Gelvin
While certain transnational factors in common made Arab states vulnerable to
protest, national variations ensured that the Arab Spring would follow diver-
gent courses.
VI. LOOKING FORWARD
31 The Contemporary Middle East: Some Questions, Some Answers 372
Shibley Telhami
A noted authority addresses questions about Iraq, Iran, the Arab-Israeli con-
flict, Syria, and Egypt.
