One of the most significant developments in the region following
the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I was rising Arab nationalism.
Frustrated at the betrayal by the European powers, Iraqis rebelled
against their British rulers. The British soon regretted their
involvement in Iraq, which cost them a great deal of money for
little or no return. At a time when they were already financially
weakened after fighting World War I for more than four years, they
now found themselves forced to try to keep the peace in a hostile
region.
The establishment of the independent Jewish homeland was also
of great significance. There is no doubt that the history of the
Middle East following World War II would have been completely different
had Israel not been created. It was difficult enough for Arabs
to accept European domination of parts of the Arab world, but now
they were faced with what they considered a colony of infidel Westerners
who intended to live permanently on Arab land.
Initially Arabs didn't blame the West for Israel's
existence. In the early days of the Jewish state, the communist
countries of Eastern Europe played a vital role in ensuring the
people had arms with which to fight the Arab armies. Because many
Israelis lived a communal existence on collectivist farms called
kibbutzim, the Soviet-bloc countries thought that Israel would
be a foothold for them in the Middle East, a region still under
the domination of the European imperial powers at the time.
Later, American Jews would be instrumental in securing American
backing for what is also the only Western-style democracy in the
region. The Soviets meanwhile found another possible foothold in
the area.
