BOOK REVIEW
Conflicts in the Middle East since 1945
by Beverley Milton-Edwards and Peter Hinchcliffe (1951)
Routledge

The book makes a powerful attempt to analyse why conflict has been a semi-permanent condition of life within the Middle East since 1945. It seeks to overturn any simplistic approach which might suggest the peoples of the area are in any sense warmongering. The authors point out that the area of the Middle East has been the subject of persistent intervention by super and colonial powers pursuing agendas which have little or nothing to do with the peace and stability of the area. The book places the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts at the centre of the problems endured by the area but it goes on to investigate the arguably journalist-driven western belief that there is something intrinsically violent and conflict-driven in the nature of Islam. The notion is effectively debunked. Jihad is not a common word in the Koran and it is generally used in the context of 'striving' in a non-violent way. It acquired the connotation of 'Holy War' in the twelfth century as a reaction to the violence of the Crusader states in the Middle East and the same idea was resurrected in the late twentieth century as a reaction to the emergence of another 'western' state in the area, Israel. The rest of the book concentrates on the conflicts in Lebanon, and the two very different Gulf Wars with their common source, the mistaken aggression of Saddam Hussein.

The authors point out that a lasting and just peace in the area depends on 'the quality of that peace and its sustainability through popular acceptance by the present and future generations in both Israel and the Arab world.' Too often negotiations and sometimes treaties have been merely staging posts by leaders in a complex diplomacy which accepted conflict as natural if not inevitable and did not set any time limits on disputes. Yet there are some grounds for hope. It is now twenty years since Israeli and Arab armies fought each other directly, and almost ten years since Israel was prepared to recognise the PLO as a potentially peace making organisation which could speak for the Palestinian people. Time does not heal but it does familiarise.

The authors point out the crucial importance of the participation of the United States in the peace process. The recognition of Israel by Egypt and Jordan would not have been possible without the direct participation of the US, but there are limits to US influence and these have appeared most clearly in Israel's stalled negotiations with Syria. The significance of economic assistance to stimulate peace is brought out strongly in the final chapter while any suggestion that the Arab states are incapable of solving their own problems is rejected in the explanation of how the Arab League helped bring about an end to civil strife in Lebanon.

The tone of the book is one of detachment based on a deep understanding of the situations of the Middle East. There are no simple solutions. Peace will emerge as the powers recognise each other through negotiation and compromise. The values of compassion and peace-making are not absent from the Middle East. It is unfortunate that the book seems to have gone to press before the full implications of the present Palestinian-Israeli crisis became clear, but that does not take away the importance of the understanding contained in this masterly synthesis.

Jim Summerly, History Department

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