A recent seminar at the French Cultural Centre in Mounira, Cairo, tackled the topic
“Borders in the Middle East”. Geopolitics expert Michel Foucher talked about the
issue.
Mr Foucher began by saying that once World War I ended, leading to the downfall
of the Ottoman Empire, several Arab leaders dreamt of a “Sunnistan” Arab State
that would include the Middle East Arab countries and that would act as a new
Islamic caliphate. Among these leaders was al-Sharif Hussein of Mecca who, once
the Ottoman Empire came to an end in the wake of WWI, proclaimed himself
Caliph. Even though he was first supported by the UK, with a view of
counterbalancing the fall of the Islamic Ottoman caliphate, the plan failed owing to
ethnic, racial, language and religious divisions in the Middle East.
The dream of one Arab World from the Atlantic to the Gulf, Mr Foucher
explained, is still supported by many Arab leaders. The issue, however, is not at all
simple, he said, owing to wide differences among the countries in the region;
differences in language and culture. But there is something else even more
profound than different local languages and cultures: this is the old geographic
configuration.
Mr Foucher posed the question: “What are the ‘good’ borders between countries?”
There are two answers to this question, he said. First, these are borders that are
approved and accepted by the countries with common borders; it does not matter
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what is the origin of these borders as long as the countries accept them. The second
answer, he said, is that these the borders were drawn by the [political and military]
powers in the world.
In case of the Middle East, Mr Foucher said, it is the colonial world powers post-
WWI, the UK and France, who divided and drew the borders of the Middle East
countries in what became famous as the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Syria, Lebanon,
Iraq and Turkey accepted these borders. The borders of Egypt were well known
since ancient times. The Iran/Iraq border was defined since the 17th century, as
was the border between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
Today, Mr Foucher said, politicians from a number of Middle East countries are
calling for changes in borders but, he believes, it is better to adhere to the present
internationally-recognised borders in the region. Calls for redrawing borders, he
said, are in many cases based upon divisions among populations, such as the
Sunni-Shia divide. International interference and the division of lands can never be
the right answer to ideological or cultural divisions among people of the same land,
he said.
In reply to a question on how Israel figures in the Sykes–Picot Agreement, Mr
Foucher said the Sykes–Picot Agreement was made one year before the Balfour
Promise in 1917, and many years before the establishment of State of Israel in
1948. He added that it was not right to see Israel as an excuse or justification for
many of the region’s problems, such as the Sunna-Shia divide in Iraq. Middle East
border problems, he said, may be tied to issues that have nothing to do with Israel.
Watani International
11 February 2017