TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
The Concept of Peace
The Middle East
History
Peoples of the Middle East
Religion of the Middle East
Economy of the Middle East
Endnotes
CHAPTER TWO
THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
Introduction
Nature of the Conflict
The Suez/Sinai War (1956)
The June 1967 War
The War of
Attrition (1968- 1970)
The Arab
– Israeli War of October 1973
Conclusion
Endnotes
CHAPTER THREE
JIMMY CARTER’S
PEACE EFFORTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Background
to Jimmy Carter
Early
Political Career
His
Campaigns for Governorship Election
The
1976 Presidential Campaign
Peace
Efforts of Jimmy Carter
The
Camp David Accord
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER ONE
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
The Concept of Peace
The
idea and search for peace is as old as humanity. Human societies have been
fraught with conflictual contradictions that have necessitated the desire for
peace. Such efforts have over the years found expressions through anti-war
sentiments and the development of peace movements or peace ideas.
There
is a tendency in peace and conflict studies to conceptualize peace as the
conserve of war. War and peace are two sides of the same coin. In other words,
peace is defined as the absence of war.1 There is peace because
there is no war and there is war because there is no peace. Many philosophers
see peace as a natural, original, God given state of human existence. Peace
from the philosophical stand point is the pre-corruption state of man in the
society as God has established it. Consequently, peace is a state of
perfection, an earthly expression of God’s kingdom that is yet to be corrupted.
St. Augustine of Hippo distinguished between two cities, namely; the city of
God, which is founded on perfect heavenly, peace and spiritual salvation, and
the earthly city of man, which is founded on appetitive and possible impulses
which is corrupt and torn with strife.2
Sociologically,
peace refers to a condition of harmony where there is no social antagonism. In
other words, peace is a condition in which there is no social conflict and both
individuals and groups are able to meet their needs and expectations.
Politically,
according to the University of Peace, peace is a political condition that makes
justice possible more strictly.3 Politically, peace entails
political order that is, the institutionalization of political structures. As
political order, peace entails that government minimally employ the right
means, such as the police and the armed forces in dealing with citizens usually
because there is no threat to the interest of the ruling class by the
underprivileged class.
After
giving these definitions from different aspects, what then is peace? Peace is a
process involving activities that are directly or indirectly linked to
increasing development and reducing conflict, both within specific societies
and in the wider International community.4
Forms of Peace
We
can identify four forms of peace process namely; peace keeping, peace
enforcement, peace making and peace building.
A. Peace Keeping: The concept of peace
keeping was developed by the United Nations at the start of the cold war in the
14th century because of the failure of the original collective
security system, envisaged by the organization and the decreasing disagreement
among the major powers. Peace keeping operations are essentially a practical
mechanism developed by the United Nations to contain and control armed
conflicts and to facilitate their resolution by peaceful means.
The function of peace keeping is carried out by lightly armed
soldiers. Such forces play several roles. They can interpose themselves
physically between warring parties to keep them apart. They can also be peace
keepers who often try to negotiate with military officials on both sides. This
channel of communication can bring about tactical actions and understandings
that support a cease fire.5 Peace keeping deploys an international
military force which under the aegis of an international organization such as
the U.N to prevent fighting usually by acting as buffers among combatants.6
Peace keeping is a process whereby a group of soldiers are sent to a country
where there is fighting in order to prevent more violence. Peace keeping forces
are usually made up of troops from several countries. Peace keeping forces have
generally been unable to make peace, only to keep it.
B. Peace Enforcement: When we talk about
enforcement, we refer to the process whereby people in authority enforce a law
or a rule. They make sure that rule is obeyed usually punishing people who do
not obey it. Peace enforcement is somehow related to peace keeping but in more
serious terms. With all the contributions that peace keeping efforts have made,
they have sometimes been able to halt fighting quickly or to keep the peace
permanently. The mounting fractions with the reactive, passive peace keeping
approach led to an upsurge of support for the idea of proactive peace
enforcement. Peace enforcement involves heavily armed forces with great
authority to restore and maintain the peace. Such forces do not just only
intervene where fighting has already broken out. They could also be deployed to
imperiled countries before trouble starts, thereby putting the aggressor in an
uncomfortable position of attacking. It is important to note that the concept
of peace enforcement was also brought into play by the United Nations.
C.
Peace Making:
According to Webster dictionary, peace making are efforts and attempts to
persuade countries or groups to stop fighting with each other and embrace
peace. It is the process of forging a settlement between the disputing parties.
While this can be done in direct negotiation with just the two disputants, it
is often also done with a third party mediator, who assists with the processes
and communication problems and helps the parties to work effectively together
to draft a workable peace accord. Usually, the negotiators are official
diplomats, although citizens are getting involved in the peace making process
more and more. While they do not negotiate final accords, citizen diplomacy is
becoming an increasing common way to start the peace making process which is
then finalized with official diplomatic efforts.
D.
Peace Building: Peace
building refers to efforts and interventions aimed at overcoming the root cause
of conflicts. Peace building is about attempts to overcome the structural,
relational and cultural contradictions which lie at the root of conflict in
order to underpin the process of peace making and peace building. In
theoretical terms, peace building is a combination of the fields of development
studies and conflict resolution.
The
debate on peace building is divided into two schools. On one hand, the top down
peace building refers to conflict intervention efforts by powerful outsiders
acting as experts, importing their own conceptions and prescriptions and
ignoring local cultures and capacities. On the other hand , peace building from
below which favors the respect, promotion and use of local human and
socio-cultural resources in building the peace.7
The
Middle East
The
Middle East generally has an arid and hot climate with several rivers providing
for irrigation to support agriculture areas, especially in Mesopotamia and the
rest of the Fertile Crescent. The region centers on the junction of Africa,
Asia and Europe where the land mass is deeply penetrated by the sea. Land and
sea routes tie the region into the rest of the world. Along them, came people
ideas and plants as well as the trade which nurtured Cities and enriched
empires. A true map of the Arab world would show it as an Archipelago state, a
scattering of fertile Island through a void of land and sea.8 Human
activities throughout the region, is closely adapted to climate conditions. The
region is one great transit zone, major crossroads in the world. The Middle
East flourishing economically and politically depended on its geography. The
Middle East flourished economically and politically as long as the ancient
routes were used, but decayed when they were either closed by political change
or bypassed.9 Although the region is now both the source and
destination of important commercial and passenger movements, the ancient
transit routes
History
The history of the Middle
East dates back to ancient times and throughout its history, the Middle East
has been a major center of world affairs. At the beginning of the twentieth
century, the Middle East was still dominated by the Ottoman Empire, a world
empire that has existed for about 400 years. The very term, Middle East,
indicate the central location of the area in the geography of the eastern
hemisphere. The term came into use in the days when the sun never set on the
British Empire. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the
British India office.10 However, it became widely known when America
naval strategist, Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the
area between Arabia and India. During this time, British and Russian Empire
were trying to dominate the central Asia, a rivalry which became known as the
great game. Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but
also of its center, the Persian Gulf. He labeled the area surrounding the Persian
Gulf as the Middle East and said that after the Suez Canal, it was the most
important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from
advancing towards British India.
Some
persons especially sir Ignatius expanded the definition of the Middle East to
include those regions of Asia which extends to the border of China.11
The description “middle”, has also led to some confusion over changing
definitions. Before the First World War, near east was used to refer to the
Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East, refers to Iran, Afghanistan,
central Asia and the Caucasus. With the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire in
1918, near east largely fell out of common use in English, while Middle East
came to be applied to the re-emerging countries of the Islamic world.
Peoples of the Middle East
The
term Arab referred to the peoples that inhabited the northern and central
portions of the Arabian Peninsula. Following the spread of various Arab-Islamic
Empires throughout the Middle East and into Europe and south Asia, the term
Arab has come to be synonymous with those who speak Arabic. Presently about 60
percent of the total population of the Middle East speak Arabic. In addition to
the Arabs, there are a number of other ethnic groups in the Middle East.
Another significant ethnic group would be the Kurds who exist as a minority
population distributed through out Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. About 20
minority languages are spoken in the Middle East.12 Examples are
Turkish, Berber and Persian.
Religion of the Middle East
Peoples
of the Middle East are differentiated by their religions. Most people of the
Middle East practice Islam. They are referred to as Muslims. Islam is the
dominant religion in all of the Middle East states except Israel and
Palestinian areas. There are a number of different sects within Islam. Most
people in the Middle East belong to the Sunni sect while some others belong to
the Shiite or Shia sect of Islam.13 In addition to Islam, other
religions are practiced in the Middle East. For example, in Israel, 82 percent
of the populations are Jews who practiced Judaism. Israel is the only state in
the Middle East where Islam is not the majority faith. Christianity is also
practiced in other regions especially in such states as Lebanon, Egypt and
Israel.
Economy of the Middle East
The
Middle East has experienced a growth and decline cycle over the last thirty
years. The Middle East has noticed and experienced a time of tremendous growth.
This growth was seen from the period of 1965 – 1985.14 This growth
was facilitated by the dramatic rise in oil prices. Many countries in the
Middle East have large quantities of crude oil which has resulted in much
wealth particularly for nations in the Arabian Peninsula. As oil prices rose to
new highs, most states benefitted from heightened revenues. The large producers
of oil are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arabs Emirates and
Qatar. Due to the production of oil, these states had many jobs opportunities
available as a result of the booming economics of the Gulf. The non-oil
producing Middle Eastern states also benefits from the oil producing states.15
As
a result of this new found wealth, enormous social achievements occurred in the
Middle East. For example, infant mortality was halved and life expectancy rose
by more than ten years. As time went on, there was a drop in the prices of oil.
The huge foreign export earnings that had driven the growth of the last decades
were drastically reduced. This decline in exports earnings affected the states
and the Middle East as a whole.
Two
factors are currently affecting the economic growth and development in the
Middle East. The first factor is the high rate of population growth. The Middle
East has the second highest growth rate of any region in the world, exceeded
only by the sub-Saharan Africa region. The second factor affecting the economic
future of the Middle East is fluctuations in either direction in the price of
oil. In an effort to reduce the reliance on oil revenues, many states in the
region are making major efforts to develop alternative economic activities.
Efforts are being made to further develop sectors such as banking, tourism,
light manufacturing and agriculture.
Most
economists do predict continued economic growth for the Middle East, though not
evenly spread across the region, moderate economic growth rates of around 3–5%
are expected even though the actual rate will be heavily dependent on such
things as the fluctuating price of oil, the rate of foreign investment, the
efficiency of the large number of state owned industries and the population
growth.
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