A history of never-ending confrontation and conflict,
Why are they still fighting and bleeding?

It is not easy to correctly understand the Middle East-related issues that are frequently introduced through various media from a balanced perspective.
Because there is a lack of good, easily accessible information.
Even many readers feel trapped in a complex maze when they encounter Middle Eastern news.
The Middle East has a complex and multifaceted structure in which various identities are intertwined.


Israel versus Palestine, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sunni and Shia, monarchies and nation-states, Islamic fundamentalists and secularists, and even identity conflicts between various ethnic groups in the Middle East…
The author details 21 scenes in which these identities have been contending and conflicting with each other for over 1,500 years.
Through this, readers will be able to understand more clearly the true face of the Middle East, which has been viewed through misunderstandings and prejudices.

For some time now, many people around the world have been referring to the Middle East as a 'powder keg'.
It is also considered the most likely region for World War III to occur.
Why on earth has the Middle East become such a powder keg? Why do Middle Easterners keep fighting and shedding blood? As I wondered, domestic newspapers and TV never gave me a clear explanation.
There weren't many books related to the Middle East in Korea.
Out of frustration, I started studying Middle Eastern history by reading foreign news and books.
This book is the answer to that question.
And the keyword that unlocks the answer is ‘identity.’

- From [Introductory text]

The establishment in Mecca could not have welcomed a new power that threatened the existing ideology and order.
The Muslim group centered around Muhammad was a religious community, but their mere existence threatened the existing ruling powers.
As the followers of the Prophet grew in number, the nobles of Mecca persecuted Muhammad and the Ummah.
Even in such difficult circumstances, Muhammad preached the word of Allah in Mecca for ten years.
But the persecution became more severe day by day.
Then, as those who supported and protected Muhammad, including his wife Khadija, passed away one by one, Muslims were put in danger of losing their lives.
Eventually, in 622, Muhammad led his followers and moved their base to Yathrib, an oasis city located north of Mecca.

- [Scene 01.
Muhammad, Receiving Revelation from God - The Birth of the Islamic State]

There is also a clash of interpretations between Sunni and Shia regarding Ali's succession to the caliphate.
The rebels who killed Uthman elected Ali as caliph, but he refused.
However, the Shura, a gathering of elders, was convened, and those who had expanded the early Islamic world with the Prophet, including Ali, Tallahassee, and Zubair, gathered together and decided on Ali as the caliph.
However, some Sunnis claim that they did not voluntarily support Ali, but were forced to do so under duress.
The conflict arose immediately after Ali's succession.
The rumor that Ali had intervened in Uthman's death to become caliph spread like wildfire throughout the empire, and the elders of the Sahaba, including Tallahah and Zubair, flocked to the Prophet's young wife, Aisha.
- [Scene 02.
Who is the Prophet's Successor - The Division Between Sunni and Shia

At this time, Mehmed II planned a surprising operation.
The idea was to move ships and cannons into the Golden Horn via land.
The Sultan undertook an ingenious plan: he tied 67 huge ships and heavy cannons together with ropes, placed them on oiled logs, and rolled them up the mountain.
A large number of soldiers and cattle were mobilized for the operation, and battleships and cannons were pushed and pulled across the mountains all night long.
There were countless accidents where Ottoman soldiers carrying battleships were crushed to death by warships sliding down mountain slopes.
But the Sultan did not give up.
The unprecedented 'ship-to-the-mountain operation' in world history was a success overnight.
At dawn the next day, the defenders of Constantinople were in disarray.
Ottoman warships that had been in the Bosphorus Strait until yesterday suddenly appeared in the Golden Horn and prepared to attack!
- [Scene 03.
From [Sultan Mehmed II Conquers Constantinople - The Golden Age of the Turks]

On July 3, 1798, the Islamic world was confronted with an unfamiliar reality.
A strange army landed in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, and it turned out to be a French fleet commanded by Napoleon.
Napoleon easily suppressed the resistance of the Alexandria garrison and quickly advanced to the capital, Cairo.
The Mamluk soldiers of Egypt were a powerful force in the Islamic world who had previously defeated Mongol invasions.
No Egyptian doubted that the Muslim army in Cairo would be unable to repel the French infidels who suddenly invaded.
On July 21, French and Egyptian forces clashed on the Embabeh Plain in Cairo, within sight of the Pyramids of Giza.

- [Scene 05.
From [Reforms of the Faded Ottoman Empire - Tanzimat and the Constitutional Revolution]

At that time, Britain was in a situation where it could not ignore its ally, France.
During World War I, France fought fierce trench warfare with Germany on the Western Front.
Because most of its forces had to be concentrated on the Western Front, France had no time to pursue its interests in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, during that period, Britain supported Arab rebellions in the Middle East and exerted military pressure on the Ottomans.
British influence in the Middle East continued to expand, and France viewed this with concern.
There was widespread anxiety in France that 'we are blocking Germany, but Britain is expanding its territory.'
From the perspective of Britain, which was fighting alongside France against Germany, it was necessary to alleviate this anxiety of its allies.
Eventually, a negotiating table was set up in London with British and French representatives sitting face to face.

- [Scene 07.
The Hashemite Family Deals with Britain - The Birth of an Arab Nation]

By 1946, after the war, all foreign troops had withdrawn from Iran.
But that didn't solve all the problems.
In any case, Iran is once again embroiled in serious foreign intervention.
The Shah was driven out by foreign troops and the country was occupied.
All of Reza Shah's efforts to build a strong military and free himself from foreign interference were in vain.
Iran's modern and contemporary history, in which it has never been independent from foreign powers since the Qajar dynasty, has become a complex in the hearts of the Iranian people.
Although the Iranian people did not support Reza Shah, the occupation by foreign troops was a great blow to their pride.

- [Scene 09.
[Reza Shah Driven Out by Foreign Powers - Iran's Challenges and Frustration]

The conflict between Arabs and Jews, which began in the early 1920s, became increasingly serious over time.
On May 1, 1921, a clash occurred in Jaffa, killing about 200 Jews and 120 Arabs.
But by then, few Jews had realized that the situation was worsening.
Still, most Jewish immigrants were optimistic about the situation.
By 1929, the atmosphere in Palestine had changed significantly.
Rumors spread throughout Palestine that Jews would kill Arabs and take Jerusalem.
Muslim leaders incited Arab crowds to 'attack the Jews!'
Jews in each area were attacked and their shops looted.
The situation was most serious in Hebron.

- [Scene 10.
[Establishing the Jewish State - The Founding of Israel]

The Muslim Brotherhood also worked to reconcile Islam and modernization with Western ideas and values.
Hassan al-Banna was influenced by Muhammad Abduh, an Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist thinker and social reformer.
According to Muhammad Abduh, a return to Islam was necessary to overcome Western encroachment and restore the glory of the past Islamic empires.
But the Islam that returns at this time is not the current Islam, but the pure 'original Islam'.
'Original Islam' had a tradition of reason and rationality and also contained the values ​​of human rights.
He believed that the West developed not because of Christianity, but because it first discovered and accepted the superior aspects of Islamic civilization, and that Islamic countries, on the other hand, declined as they moved away from the superior original Islam.

- [Scene 14.
Hassan al-Banna Founds the Muslim Brotherhood - The Rise of the Modern Islamist Movement]

--- From the text