Seeds of Strife in the Middle East

The Arab nations claim an ancestry to Abraham by way of Ishmael and Jokshan.  Since it was Isaac (the father of Israel) that got the inheritance and all other sons were cast out of Canaan (Gen 21 & 25), there is a foundation for strife between the Arabs and Israel that goes back thousands of years.

During the Arab revolt over Turkish Ottoman rule during the first world war, T. E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia, aka T. E. Shaw) helped broker an alliance between the Arabs and the Allies with the promise of a united Greater Syria consisting of the portions of the Fertile Crescent known as Mesopotamia and the Levant.  Unknown to Lawrence and the Arabs, however, the British, French, and Russians had come to an agreement to divide the middle east for their own colonies known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

The French portion of the Sykes-Picot Agreement (Syria and Lebanon) were call the Levant States.

Not only were the Arabs lied to about their united Arab nation, but to make matters worse, they learn that Israel would have a portion of their own.  In 1917, the Balfour Declaration which promised Israel a portion of Palestine was made part of the peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire and the mandate for Palestine.  Although the declaration was made in 1917, it didn't become reality until 1948.

After WWI, the French and British carved up the middle east into what were really colonies without concern about the people who currently lived in the areas, placing borders where it suited them, and setting up monarchies friendly to the western nations.

With such arrogance and total disregard for the people of the region, it can't be hard to see why there is unrest in the middle east.  And the current events concerning ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and Levant) should be somewhat clearer as well.

Further reading: Creating Chaos: Lawrence of Arabia and the 1916 Arab Revolt