Middle East Studies, Territorial And Border Issues

Territory is the base on which a state exists,and one of the essential factors of which a state consists.Territorial sovereignty is the vital part of national sovereignty.The territorial sovereignty and integrity of a state tolerates no aggression.Border is the line that demarcates the scope of territory.Border is the symbol of territorial sovereignty and does not tolerate aggression either.Dispute of territory and border is one of the most universal and complicated disputes in the world.The solution of dispute of territory and border is also the most difficult.The Middle East has strategic geographical location and rich oil resource and wins the title of "five seas and three continents" and "oil treasury".The Middle East has long been in unstable situation and a hot spot region in the world since the WWâ…¡.In addition to complicated national contradiction,religious conflict,and interference of external powers,dispute of territory and border is one of the important causes leading to the long-standing turbulence of the Middle East.In history,the Middle East had been ruled partially or wholly by the empire of Persia,Alexander,Roma,Arab,Mongolia,and Ottoman.The western colonists began to invade the Middle East in the 15^th century.Up to the end of the WWâ… ,the Middle East had been carved up and fallen into colonies and half-colonies.In the course of invasion,the western countries defined their spheres of influence and ruling lines by not only struggling against,but also compromising and colluding with one another. Most of the ruling lines were inherited by the newly independent Middle East nation-states and became national borders.Among them,many were defined willfully and wantonly,without considering the natural conditions,historical factors,present situations,and nation willingness,which buried root of trouble for disputes of territory and border in the Middle East.It is universal for the Middle East countries to have territory and border problems.Only a minority of them have been resolved in different ways,and all the rest have not been resolved yet.The territory and border issues are quite complicated and sensitive because they are entangled in nation contradiction,religious conflict,resources competition,refugee problem,and domestic political struggle.Meanwhile, the interference of external powers,especially big powers,in the Middle East has intensified the complexity of the issues.The territory and border disputes can easily cause conflicts and wars,intensify nation hatred and state opposition,stimulate arms race,undermine regional peace and stability,hamper economic and social development,bring about humanitarian disasters and all kinds of social problems.In a word,the negative influences are wide and serious.The Arab-Israel conflict has lasted over 60 years and the territorial dispute is the core problem.Israel occupied a lot of lands of Arab countries such as Palestine,Syria,Lebanon,Egypt,and Jordan.After the peace between Israel and Egypt,Israel and Jordan was realized,Israel returned the occupied lands to the two Arab countries,and withdrew from southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip of Palestine.However,Israel still occupies the greater part of the West Bank of Palestine,the Golan Heights of Syria,and the controversial Shebaa Farms at present.The Middle East peace process,which started up from the Madrid peace conference in 1991, has achieved some positive results.But after the eruption of the Palestine-Israel bloody conflict in 2000,the Middle East peace process fell into standstill.The Annapolis international conference in 2007 marked the restart of the Middle East peace process,but gained no fruit. Peace could not be achieved without the solution of territorial disputes in the Middle East.There exist universal territory and border disputes among the Arab brother countries in the Arabian Peninsula.Saudi-Arabia and Yemen, Saudi-Arabia and Kuwait,Saudi-Arabia and Qatar,Bahrain and Qatar once became hostile and even went to war only because of the territory and border disputes.Iraq invaded Kuwait under the name of territorial dispute and set off the Gulf War which created a great stir in the world. Moreover,the dispute over the Hanish Islands in the Red Sea between Yemen and African country Eritrea once caused the war.To be different from the Arab-Israel conflict,most of the territory and border disputes in the Arabian Peninsula have been solved in peaceful ways such as negotiation, ruling or arbitration with the intervention of regional powers or international communities.This is not only helpful to maintain the regional stability,but also sets positive examples for the solution of the same kind of dispute in the Middle East and even in the world.The three big regional powers,Iran,Iraq,and Turkey also have complicated territory and border problems.The territory and border dispute between Iran and Iraq has a long history.The struggle around the sovereignty and demarcation of the Shatt al-Arab River led to the Iran-Iraq War which lasted 8 years and neither side won the war.Up till now,either the land or the maritime border between Iran and Iraq has not been demarcated finally,and the Arab River issue has not been resolved yet.Both Iran and the United Arab Emirates(UAE) claim the sovereignty over three islands(Greater Tunb Island,Lesser Tunb Island,and Abu Musa Island) in the Persian Gulf.Now that the Arab countries,especially the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Committee(GCC) support the stance of UAE,the dispute over three islands goes beyond the scope of two countries,and to some extent,becomes the issue between two nations,that is,the Arabian and the Persian.Turkey and its European neighbor Greece have a long and complicated link in history.Wide disputes over the Aegean Sea,which led to several conflicts,exist between the two countries and make the bilateral relations tense for a long time.All of the north African countries are Arab and Muslim countries. There are also wide territory and border disputes among them.The West Sahara issue,which has lasted a long period,is an important factor that affects the stability and state relations of the Maghreb area.There were border military conflicts between Egypt and Libya,Algeria and Morocco.Egypt and Sudan have territorial dispute over the Hala' ib Triangle.Moreover,Libya and Chad once had territorial dispute over the Aouzou Trip and went to war against each other.Fortunately,the dispute was finally resolved by the International Court.Morocco and Spain bave territorial dispute over two enclaves Cuta and Melilla and some small island in the south Mediterranean Sea.Sudan and Kenya have dispute over the Ilemi Triangle that remains unsettled till now.The Middle East territory and border issues were,to a large extent, caused by external powers.Meanwhile,their solutions usually could not be reached without the intervention of external powers.In the colonialism period,the western powers competed one another in the Middle East.Britain and France became the two largest winners in the end. After the WWII,the two old imperialists,Britain and France were driven out of the Middle East.Two super powers,the US and Soviet Union took the place of Britain and France in this region.After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War,America gained the absolute superiority in the Middle East and launched the Middle East peace process, which contributed a lot to the solution of the Middle East territory and border issues.Russia,Europe,and the United Nations also took active part in the process.China,as an important force to the world peace,has been deeply concerned about the Middle East situation,and positively pushed forward the Middle East peace process.China advocates a peaceful settlement of the Middle East territory and border issues,plays a positive and constructive role in maintaining the peace and stability of the Middle East.No matter the Arab-Israel territorial dispute or other issues of territory and border in the Middle East,their final,full,and appropriate solution will be reached only by the peaceful means.The road of peace not only meets the international trend but also accords with the human's tendency towards peace,harmony and development.