I wrote my first entry on Palestine, and more specifically Beit Sahour, few days ago, and inspired by Annie's comment, and few others, I thought maybe I should shine a little light on the Arab World, and hope it may lead to a better understanding of Palestine itself.
The Arab World consists of twenty two*, Arabic-speaking countries that stretch from the Atlantic Ocean in the West to the Arabic Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Indian Ocean in the southeast. Below is a map of the Arabic counties as recognized by the the League of the Arab States.
* I have noticed ,searching the internet, that the countries of the Arab World range from 22-25 countries depending on the site, with Chad, Eritrea and Israel being the countries causing confusion. I used the League of Arab State website to determine that the League only counted the twenty two counties below.
There also seems to be some confusion between the terms: Arab World(countries), Middle East countries and Islamic World. These words cannot always be used interchangeably.
The Arab World countries are spread between two continents: Asia and Africa.
The Middle East sits where Africa, Asia and Europe meet. It is a term used rather loosely, and I had hard time getting resources to agree on the countries included as part of the middle east. But one thing is clear, not all middle eastern countries are Arabic countries, for example Iran and Turkey(if you include it in the ME) are not Arabic countries. So, some Arabic countries are in the ME but not all ME countries are Arabic.And not all the Arabic countries are in the ME.
The Islamic World is another term that is often misused. There are about 1.3-1.5 billion Muslims in the world, that is people who follow the Islamic faith. In a geographic sense, however, the Islamic World refers to the Muslim Majority countries( more than 50% of population are Muslims), where Islam dominates politically. The Organization of Islamic Countries has 57 member states. Most Arabs are Muslims, but most Muslims are not Arabs.
Palestine itself happens to belong to all three worlds mentioned above, Arabic, Middle Eastern and Muslim country. Beit Sahour, however, is a mostly Christian town, with 80% of its population being Christians and 20% Muslims.And although ,at least in Beit Sahour, different religions live together peacefully, traditions and other life aspects are greatly influenced by religion. Therefore, speaking of my life in Beit Sahour, would not necessarily reflect life in Palestine as a whole, but I will try to point out some differences that I know of.
Comments (14)
Candi, thank you so much! This is fascinating and has answered so many questions I had. I did not understand the difference between the Arab World, the Middle East, and the Islamic world. I also didn't know that "Most Arabs are Muslim, but most Muslims are not Arabs."
Thanks - I'm really looking forward to reading more about this.
Posted by Annie | March 2, 2009 7:02 AM
Posted on March 2, 2009 07:02
Eritrea uses Tigre language,Israel-Hebrew, and Chad-French I guess. They also have significant number of non-Muslim populace. This is very informative. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by Ordinary Biscuit | March 2, 2009 8:22 AM
Posted on March 2, 2009 08:22
Hi Candi, this is such an interesting and informative post. I have to confess that I'm not always clear on some of the differences and/or similarities and your explanation and graphics really does a lot to clarify them for me. I am really looking forward to your continued posts. Thank you so much!
Posted by Kathy (Trekcapri) | March 2, 2009 8:23 AM
Posted on March 2, 2009 08:23
Annie and Kathy, thanks for your comments, I always sense the confusion regarding these subjects, so I thought I'll clarify.
Ordinary Biscuit, thanks for stopping by and the info, I was surprised to see Wikipedia adding these three countries to the Arabic World, even though they don't speak Arabic.
Posted by candi | March 2, 2009 12:34 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 12:34
Excellent post! Very informative. I know my Iranian friends get tired of pointing out that Iran is not an Arab country, even though it is a Muslim country in the Middle East!
Posted by Chiocciola | March 2, 2009 1:13 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 13:13
It is indeed complicated, more so I think these days than ever before. Back in the dark ages of the '70's, I was a Middle Eastern Studies major (sort of made up my own major) at UC Santa Cruz and did a thesis on the politics of the 20's. Right now all I remember of that is the Balfour Agreement.
Posted by Marcia | March 2, 2009 3:18 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 15:18
Candi, this is so interesting and informative. I hope you will keep teaching us about this part of the world. Brava!
Posted by Palma | March 2, 2009 7:30 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 19:30
This is so interesting, Candi -- thanks for this post. Trying to label regions and alliances can be so difficult and fraught with risk of causing offense!
As you point out, the terms Middle East, Arab world, Islamic world are often used interchangably when they're all quite different. And I read recently that the world's largest Muslim population is in Indonesia, which surprised me -- I'm afraid I also assumed, wrongly, that it would be in the Mid-East region!
I look forward to learning more!
Posted by sandrac | March 2, 2009 8:01 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 20:01
Chiocciola, Iran always seems to be thought of as an Arabic country, it is very close, but as you said, it is not even though it's in the middle east.
Marcia,I once did an essay on Balfour Agreement for school too.
Palma, thank you. I will try me best.
Sandra, even I myself read that too and was very surprised as well.
Posted by candi | March 2, 2009 8:20 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 20:20
I really enjoyed this post. I am still confused though about Israel and Palestine. I am not even sure if there is one correct answer to this. Is Israel the name of the country or the state? Is Palestine inside Israel or a different country? I always thought they were two different countries but on maps, I see Israel as the name of the country with Palestine inside parts of Israel. I really should know this but am still unsure.
Posted by girasoli | March 3, 2009 2:44 AM
Posted on March 3, 2009 02:44
girasoli, I am not sure what is the politically correct answer to your question, because to the Palestinian, it is an Israeli occupation, that is the whole land is Palestine, but Israel took over.And this is essentially why there is a war there.
However, the media and UN (I think)recognize Palestine as a state in Israel, that is there are very small sections in the country that is under Palestinian authority, and thus refers to as Palestine.
So essentially, Palestine and Israel refer to the same country, just under different authorities.
Posted by candi | March 3, 2009 12:17 PM
Posted on March 3, 2009 12:17
I can't thank you enough for this informative and interesting post. It did shed light on some confusion on my part, especially since returning from Morocco. I'm looking forward to reading more about it and about Beit Sahour.
Posted by Maria I. | March 3, 2009 12:57 PM
Posted on March 3, 2009 12:57
Candi, this was a interesting and informative post. Thanks so much.
Posted by Deborah | March 3, 2009 9:25 PM
Posted on March 3, 2009 21:25
Thanks for your explanation. I guessed it was involved with the political conflict and history but wasn't sure.
Posted by girasoli | March 7, 2009 3:29 PM
Posted on March 7, 2009 15:29