Causes and History

For over thirteen hundred years the Middle East has struggled for control over their natural resources.  During the fourth century A.D. the Romans extended their empire around the entire Mediterranean Sea and part of the Bible is the record of battles that occurred in the province of Israel.  Emperors Constantine and Theodosius made Christianity the state religion and "forbade the worship of ancient pagan gods."  Over the next eleven hundred years, as the Roman Empire in the West was overwhelmed by barbarians, the people of Turkestan accepted the Islamic religion, formed an alliance with other Arabs and Muslims, and defeated half of the "Holy Roman Empire." By the eighth century, just one hundred years after the death of Mohammed, the Arabs had converted most of North Africa to the Muslim faith. From the eighth to the fifteenth century, the Spanish Christians slowly pushed the Muslims back, and during the reign of Queen Isabella in 1492 they drove the Muslims off the peninsula. The Muslims ruled the east while the Christians slowly gained control of the west. Battles continued to take place for hundreds of years, by the end of the 19th century the Ottoman Empire was collapsing.  Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, France, England, Russia, China, and the United States have gained control in the region (The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire). To maintain superiority, control and influence over the region, the West has placed corrupt Arab leaders into positions of power and supported the overthrow of those that are not seen as favorable. This has also served to keep their populations at bay, in return for militarization, power and personal wealth of the elite. Sometimes this has been done in the name of fighting communism. The common theme underlying it though has been the struggle to control access to important resources such as oil.