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Middle East Maps for Dummies
18 July 2006For those who are worried about the conflict in the Middle East and have little background knowledge on the issue, we’d like to give a primer on Middle East Maps. We have a page on Middle East Facts that addresses the issue of Middle East Maps, but this post will be a little different.
Now, beginners usually don’t get to see a map of the entire Middle East. The Middle East is considered to comprise of about 18 countries, give or take, depending on the interpretation. Now, to put things in perspective, all the countries, other than Israel are Arab or Islamic countries (Turks and Iranians are not Arabs, and Lebanon has a large Christian population, who are incidentally in favour of Israel destroying Hezbollah). In terms of landmass, Israel makes up about 0.15% of the Middle East. As can be seen from the map below, you can hardly even find it, unless you know where you’re looking.
As can be seen, a number of Arab countries are smaller, but the size of the Arab countries combined dwarfs Israel.
The second map, more historically important than the one above, is that of the British Mandate of Palestine. Below is a map of the territory that was under British control, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of the First World War. For those who know the current geography of the Middle East, you’ll notice that “Palestine” comprises of what is today Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan. In 1923, the British split “Palestine” in two parts. The land on the eastside of the Jordan (76% of the original “Palestine”) was renamed Transjordan, later to become Jordan in 1946. The land on the west side of the Jordan (24% of the original “Palestine”) was renamed…drumroll please…”Palestine”. How confusing is that? They renamed 24% of the land with the same name as the whole of it!
So, now that “Palestine” has been reduced to 24% of it’s original size, there’s a lot less land for the Arabs and Jews to fight over. And what happened to the 76% that is now Jordan. Not surprisingly, it’s population is about 70% Palestinian!
The final map is one produced by the State Information Service of the Palestinian Authority in the Yasser Arafat days (2001). This map, shows very well what the intention of the Palestinian leadership is and has been ever since the early 1960’s when the “Palestinian Liberation” movement was founded. It doesn’t take a genious to recognize that Israel is labelled as “Palestine”, a deliberate ploy to “wipe Israel off the map”. No doubt, Hamas, Hezbollah and every other terrorist group share the same vision for the Middle East…and that is not comforting for the residents of Israel.
We hope that the above maps put current Middle East events into some perspective. If you have other maps that you would like to show, please let us know by using our contact form or by using the comment box for this post. For more of Middle East Maps, please see our of Middle East Maps page.
July 20th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
The Arab countries dwarf Israel. Why can’t the Paletinians settle in Arabia–it’s vast, plenty of room, and they’d be welcomed…wouldn’t they? Israel has a tiny corner of the world, and that is all they ask for.
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Probably there is people around there who believe that piece of land was previously occupied by somebodyelse….
Guess who?
August 7th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Jose,
Some of the land was occupied by Arabs, who didn’t call themselves Palestinians – they were part of the Pan-Arab nation. Some considered Palestine to be part of Syria. However, there were always Jews in Palestine throughout the ages, as well as Christians.
Palestine has historically been described as a combination of desert and swamps. It was like that until the Jews came and irrigated the swamps and made the desert come to life. Many of the Arabs were well compensated for their land, unlike the Jews who fled the Arab countries after Israel’s creation. It’s estimated that the current value of the wealth left behind by Jews from Arab lands is $100 Billion. If a demand for compensation was ever made by Palestinians, Jews from Arab lands could demand MUCH more.
To read more about the above visit the Forgotten Refugees Project.
January 9th, 2009 at 6:07 am
Actually it isn’t true that Palestine was “desert and swamps” before. The Jews did not increase productivity in Palestine at all. In fact they cultivated very little of it. Adjusted for size, Israel does not produce much more than Lebanon, despite spending much more money on irrigation and such, and Lebanon’s recent hardships.
http://palestineremembered.com/Acre/Articles/Story845.html
http://palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story665.html
And why should Palestinians have to settle in other lands? Why should a person be made a refuge? Their homes are Palestine. If someone was from a specific town, and their parents, grandparents, their grandparents, and so on were all from this place, what right do a group of foreigners have to force them to leave? It’s their land. Whether there was a historic Palestine or not, if my home is village A, and has always been for centuries, I don’t care if village A is part of country 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It’s my home. And no one has the right to disposses me of it. They have no right to “ask for” someone else’s home. And they did not ask–they murdered and plundered.
January 17th, 2009 at 2:37 am
First of all, Lebanon’s recent hardships? What about the wars imposed on Israel for the last 60 years? Anyway, the crap that palestineremembered is trying to peddle is, well, it’s crap.
Here are the stats from the CIA, regarding the economies of Israel and Lebanon (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.h tml and https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/le.ht ml, respectively):
Israel’s GDP is $185.8 billion – Lebanon’s is $40.44 billion
Israel’s growth rate is 5.3% – Lebanon’s is 3.6%
Israel’s GDP per capita is $26,600 – Lebanon’s is $10,300
I can go on and on, but the stats speak for themselves. Besides, I feel badly for Lebanon – it used to be a beautiful place until Yasser Arafat and his gang arrived, which led to it’s destruction. Hezbollah is just finishing off the job.
Now, as for your second point, couldn’t I ask you the same of the 900,000 Jews who used to live in Arab lands and left their business, homes and belongings behind? Why were they refugees? Because the Arabs kicked them out of their homes. Why are they not refugees now? Because they moved, with dignity to other areas of the world, primarily Israel, France, the US and Canada. Do you hear them complaining? They lost far more than the Palestinians lost. Their land was in Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, Yemen and other countries.
And as for your assertion that the land was stolen – yes, there were parts that were won in war – a war started by the Arabs, who fled under the promise by the Arab countries that the Jews would be crushed and they’d get more land. The Arabs that lost their properties left on their own terms – why do I know this? Because there are 1.2 million Arabs living in Israel today. If Israel had actively kicked out Arabs, there would be none living in Israel today. The ones that left on their own will are responsible for that decision. And again, these Palestinians leaving land behind, lost a lot less than Jews who left Arab lands – their former properties are valued today at an astounding $300 billion. I think the Arabs got the better part of that deal.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:28 am
For the Palestinians:
You are Arabs. There are about 20 Arab countries in the world for you to chose from. And everything the Jews have is Israel. Palestinians, get a clue and move to Jordan, to Egypt, to Syria, to Iraq… Can’t you realise that every trouble in Middle East is caused by your insistence on living in a coutry that is not yours? Why this obssession with Jerusalem, didn’t Muhammed (pbuh) tell you that your holy city is Makka?
Until the year 630, all the Arabs of the world lived in Arabia, now why do we have Arabs from the Atlantic to the River Tigris??? Because Muhammad (pbuh) told you to wage war to the unfaithful, and you conquered other people’s lands…
What happened to the Phoenicians, Arameans, Assirians, Caldeans, Samaritans, Idumeans, Moabites, Amonites, the original Egyptians? You commited ethnocides against all these nations when you left Arabia in the century VII. You killed or castrated their males and absorbed their females into the Arab pool through the rape (poligamy is always an excelent excuse for raping other people’s women and taking them with you by force). What makes Egypt an Arab country? The fact that the rulling “Egypician” elite is Arab -while a mass of felahs (69%), the descendants of the TRUE Egyptians, live like dogs in their own country. Now you want to have unaware people believe that Jordan, or Iraq, or Algeria have always been Arab lands since the Dawn of the Man, and that the invaders are the Jews, or the Kurds, or the Tuaregs. Your arguments against Israel and your hipocrisy that Islam is a Religion of Peace can’t win over people who know your history.
Get a grip and leave Israel alone. And, also, be very thankful to GOD that someone still didn’t come up with a plan to push you all back to Arabia.
February 11th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Wow Juan, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Are your views typical in Brazil and the rest of South America?
December 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
The 900,000 Jews that were kicked out of Arab countries were evicted in 1948 or shortly there after. The only country that did not evict any Jews in 1948 was Jordan. Hmmm, could that be because all of the Jews living in that area at the time were booted out when Trans-Jordan was created in 1920? (And we no there were a few that had lived there that became refugees following Nay’s criteria).No Jews allowed! No right of return! The Palestinians, who fought on the losing side got 78% of what had been Palestine wile the Jews, who fought on the winning side got the right to ride on a camel. Something that had been outlawed under Ottoman rule.
So the Palestinians already have their state. They just gave it the wrong name. Shouldn’t that be part of the conversation when a two party state is talked about?
December 1st, 2009 at 3:45 pm
The 900,000 Jews that MEF refers to were kicked out of Arab countries after 1948. The only Arab country that did not evict any Jews at that time was Jordan. Hmmm, could that be because all the Jews living in that area at that time were already booted out when Trans-Jordan was created at the end of WW One? (And we know that a few lived in that area became refugees following Nay’s criteria). No Jews allowed! No right of return! The Palestinians who fought on the losing side got 78% of what was Palestine and the Jews who fought on the winning side got the right to ride on a camel. Something that had been outlawed under Ottoman rule.
So the Palestinians already have their state. They just gave it the wrong name. Shouldn’t that be part of the conversation when a two state solution is talked about?
June 20th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
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