The Middle East wars, in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan (which stretches the definition of Middle East) are more than "contests". They are ideologically driven imperial wars that have created carnage and misery throughout the region. [2] Fraser ends "Contested Lands'' with the statement that "Another bitter Israeli-Palestinain clash had been brought to an end, yet resolution of the gulf between the states remained...elusive." Surprise, at least he recognizes Palestine as a state - perhaps inadvertently - but regardless, it is more than a series of clashes, it is an ongoing settlement project, created through military violence over the land for ethnic cleansing and the current creation of an apartheid state - elusive is putting it mildly.
[1] among others: the remarkable "Lawrence in Arabia" by Scott Anderson, (Anchor Books/Random House, New York, 2013. 505 pages.
[2] Many books cover this in significant detail, one of the best is the late Rober Fisk's "The Great War for Civilisation - the Conquest of the Middle East.'' (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins Publishers, London, 2005). Just under 1300 pages, it is passionate and grimly detailed in its descriptions.
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