The Wrong Explanations of the Wars in the Middle East
All the wars in the Middle East are about oil and natural gas. Divisions between Sunni and Shia Muslims, Muslims and Jews, Arabs and Jews, Islamists and secularists, Arabs and Persians (Iranians), and so on, are of only secondary importance to these wars, and I want to give some examples to demonstrate that this is so.
The first example is the Kurdish people who are both Sunni and Shia Muslims, but they are united because they consider their Kurdish identity as more important than their religious identity.
The second example is that Erdogan's Sunni Turkey had very good relations with Syria, which is governed by Assad, an Allawite Muslim, until Assad agreed with Iran and Iraq to construct the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline. From that moment on Erdogan started treating Assad as a great enemy, constantly pressing for his overturn. Allawites are an off shoot of Shia Islam. However this did not bother and did not stop Erdogan from having very good relations with Assad, until the latter agreed to the construction of the Iran-Iraq-Syria Pipeline, which would bypass Turkey as an energy hub.
The third example is the Iraqi elections of 2010. In these elections, Saudi Arabia, which is a predominantly Sunni and a theocratic country, supported Ayad Allawi, a Shia Muslim and a secular nationalist. The Sunni Saudis, decided to support a secular Shia Muslim, in a country that has a Sunni population of around 35%. They did so because the majority of the population in Iraq are Shia Muslims, and they thought they had better chances to gain influence in Iraq by supporting a Shia candidate. Moreover Ayad Allawi was not in good terms with Iran, and Iraq would not fall in the Iranian sphere of influence if he was to become the next president. However he did not win the elections.
The fourth example is Iran, Qatar and Hamas. The Iranians, who are Shia Muslims, had very good relations with Hamas, the Sunni terrorist organisation that controls Gaza, which is mainly funded by Sunni Qatar. Even though Sunni Qatar and Shia Iran disagree on many issues, they are both very rich in natural gas, and they are united against Israel which started selling natural gas, harming the interests of both Qatar and Iran. At the following map you can see how Qatar and Iran, that are both very rich in natural gas, can cooperate in order to attack Israel, Qatar by using Hamas, its subsidiary in Gaza, and Iran by using Hezbollah, its subsidiary in Lebanon.
Image 44
Qatar and Turkey are the main allies of Hamas, as you can read in the following Time article, titled “Hamas Still Has Some Friends Left”, July 2014:
4th Paragraph
Hamas has two clear allies, according to Middle East experts: Qatar and Turkey. Both have given Hamas their public support and financial assistance estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
http://time.com/3033681/hamas-gaza-palestine-israel-egypt/
For Iran and Hezbollah you can read the following BBC article, titled “Who are Hezbollah”, July 2010
1st, 2nd Paragraphs
Hezbollah - or the Party of God - is a powerful political and military organisation in Lebanon made up mainly of Shia Muslims.
It emerged with financial backing from Iran in the early 1980s and began a struggle to drive Israeli troops from Lebanon.
23rd Paragraphs
The party was long supported by Iran, which provided it with arms and money.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4314423.stm
The fifth example is Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Sunni organization of Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia recently designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation as you can read in the following Reuters article, titled “Saudi Arabia designates Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group”, March 2014
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/07/us-saudi-security-idUSBREA260SM20140307
However in the past, Saudi Arabia used to give shelter to the members of the Muslim Brotherhood that were exiled from their countries. But now that the Muslim Brotherhood is funded by Qatar and has good relations with Iran, and it went against Mubarak in Egypt, the Saudis designated it as a terrorist organization.
Moreover the Muslim Brotherhood accuses Saudi Arabia for its relations with the Americans, and at the same time the Brotherhood is mainly funded by Qatar, which hosts the largest American military bases in the Middle East.
The sixth example is the Gaza war of July 2014. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which are all Sunni Muslim countries, blamed the Sunni Muslims of Hamas and not the Israeli Jews. The reason is that Hamas is a subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood and it also has strong ties with Iran. You can read the following New York Times article, titled “Arab Leaders, Viewing Hamas as Worse Than Israel, Stay Silent”, July 2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/world/middleeast/fighting-political-islam-arab-states-find-themselves-allied-with-israel.html
Therefore Middle East wars are, and have always been, energy wars. That does not mean that the Sunnis love the Shias, or that the Arabs love the Jews, or that Islamists love secularists and so on. It simply means that Middle East countries do not go to painful and expensive wars for such reasons. They go to wars for oil and natural gas, and they do not hesitate to form alliances with groups of any nationality, religion or ideology in order to prevail in these energy wars. All countries of the Middle East use religion, nationality and ideology as tools, in order to prevail in the oil and natural gas wars. I want to give the example of Iran and Israel.
Iran has used the war against Israel in order to gain influence in the Sunni Arab world, at the expense of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was a US ally, and the Americans were protecting Israel. The Iranians are not even Arabs, they are Persians. They are also Shia Muslims in a Muslim world that is predominantly Sunni. Sunni Muslims are 85%-90% of all Muslims, as you can read at the following BBC article, titled “Sunnis and Shia in the Middle East”, December 2013.
3rd Paragraph
The majority of Muslims are Sunnis - estimates suggest the figure is somewhere between 85% and 90%.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25434060
Therefore the Iranians had a great disadvantage over the Saudis, because they are Shia and Persians. By fighting Israel, the Iranian prestige in the Sunni Arab world was greatly enhanced at the expense of Saudi Arabia. If both the Iranians and the Saudis were in good terms with the Americans, and Israel was not blocking about 1/3 of their exit to the Mediterranean Sea, who would really care about Israel? As you can see on the following map, Israel is blocking a large part of the Saudi, Iraqi, Qatari and Iranian exit to the Mediterranean Sea.
Image 45
If Israel was located where I have made the red circle on the above map, and both the Saudis and the Iranians were in good terms with the Americans nobody would care about Israel.
Another recent example about how the Muslims are using Israel to achieve their geopolitical goals is what the Turkish President Recep Erdogan did. Erdogan had very good relations with Israel, but as soon as the Israelis recognized the Cypriot exclusive economic zone, in order to jointly exploit their natural gas with the Cypriots, Erdogan has become one of Israel's outspoken enemies.
Image 46
After the Israelis recognized the Cypriot exclusive economic zone, Erdogan sent the Gaza Freedom Flotilla with Mavi Marmara, which caused the diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey to collapse. By fighting Israel Erdogan became a hero in the Arab and Muslim world. Israel also put forward the issue of the East Med pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that would run from Israel to Europe, through Cyprus and Greece, bypassing Turkey as an energy hub.
Image 47
For the East Med pipeline you can read at the following Reuters article, titled “Greece, Cyprus and Israel to explain Med pipeline vision to EU”, December 2014.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/02/eastmed-natgas-europe-idUSL6N0TM47J20141202
You can also read the following Natural Gas Europe article, titled “EC Grants Conditional Support to East Med Pipeline”, December 2014
http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/ec-grants-conditional-support-east-mediterranean-
pipeline?utm_source=Natural+Gas+Europe+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f7158b98b2-
RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c95c702d4c-f7158b98b2-307785513
The problem for the Israelis is that after they decide to exploit their natural gas reserves, it is no longer only the US enemies that are attacking them, but also the US allies, as it is the case with Turkey and Qatar. In the past the US allies used to tolerate Israel, even if they didn't like it. But now Israel is an economic rival for both Qatar and Turkey, and they use their organization in Gaza to attack it.
Moreover the Israelis are true economic competitors for the Iranians. In the past the Iranians simply used Israel to increase their appeal in the Sunni Arab world against Saudi Arabia. But now things are different. Israel is a true economic competitor for Iran. Maybe the Israeli gas reserves are peanuts when compared to the Iranian and Qatari ones, but the two deals that the Israelis singed with the Egyptians and the Jordanians involved 45 billion dollars, and that's a lot of money.
For the natural gas agreement between Israel, Egypt and Jordan, see the following FT article, titled “Israel gas supply deals to Egypt and Jordan draw closer”, May 2014.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/02ea38aa-e0e2-11e3-a934-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl
See also my essay “The Israel-Egypt-Jordan Natural Gas Agreement and the July 2014 War in Gaza”. Saudi Arabia is mainly concerned about oil and not about natural gas, and she could use Israel to sell her oil to the Mediterranean Sea, and she is much softer on Israel as I said.