Mideast problems have long history
PROBLEMS ARE DIRECT RESULT OF ACTIONS OF COLONIAL POWERS AT THE BEGINNING OF 20TH CENTURY, SACPA TOLD
More than 100 years after the world’s two great (at the time) colonial powers secretly carved up a defeated Ottoman Empire into British, French and Russian spheres of influence, the region continues to suffer.
Mohammed Abushaban told a SACPA lunch crowd on Thursday that the problems being seen in places such as Syria and Palestine are a direct result of the actions of colonial powers England and France at the beginning of the 20th century.
Abushaban is a Palestinian Canadian who speaks Arabic and has been contracted as an interpreter working with new Syrian Canadians settling in Lethbridge.
He said he has researched the issue and seen first hand the problems in that part of the world.
“There were some past issues that probably contributed to what is happening in the region,” he said.
In particular, he said the issue began with the signing of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, on May 16, 1916. The agreement ignored cultural and ethnic boundaries.
“Those treaties, I believe, are the reason and the cause behind where we are right now,” he said.
Abushaban then went on to link other significant events through the past century, including the Balfour Declaration, the creation of the State of Israel, a number of wars in the area including the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Iran-Iraq War beginning in 1980, the Lebanon War in 1982, the Gulf War in 1990, the Iraq War in 2003, and into the Arab Spring and the revolutions which followed, including the civil war in Syria.
“History on its own, if you look at a sequence of events that has happened… there is a theme and a pattern that has been taking place every number of years in order to fulfill certain wish lists of others,” he said.
From there, he entered the realm of conspiracy theory, citing a “New World Order” where forces work to divide nations in order to keep them weak, and work toward the elimination of the middle class while securing the roles of the rich and the poor of the world. He said efforts are being made to create total dependency on banking institutions and people are being forced to live under the yoke of debt.
He also claimed Saddam Hussein was executed because he was no longer fulfilling his chosen role of creating chaos in the region.
These injustices are being perpetrated, he said, in part through The West.
“The Arab world is full of oil and natural gas,” he said. “The West is in need of these resources. This is no secret. One way for The West to ensure the flow of gas and oil is to ensure a continuous chaos situation.
“One way to ensure that chaos will remain is by empowering some over others.
“The way I see it, the Middle East is being abused by a number of countries — being Iran, Israel and maybe The West.”
He blamed Iran for sowing the anger between different ethnic groups in the Middle East. And he said the mere existence of Israel is a constant source of instability.
“The existence of Israel on its own over there will cause a problem to many,” he said.
“The majority of the Middle East are Muslims. To have Israel in the heart of that area on its own is a problem.
“The West is fuelling the hate between all parties so they can easily play the card of ‘I will save you if you let me have your resources.’”
He wrapped up the talk by asking those in attendance to ask themselves what the Middle East would be like if there was no Israel, no conflict in the area between ethnic groups, and the Middle East was united.
“What if the whole Muslim was one big country?” he asked.
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