There is hardly a region in the world where peace is so sought after as it is in the Middle East.

The reasons for this vary from past events to the present turmoil.

Throughout its history, the Middle East has been the scene of tumultuous events. It was also exposed to invasions from both East and West. It influenced the culture of the invaders and was also influenced by them.

The image of the Middle East and its people was formed in the mind of the West through Orientalists' paintings during the Ottoman era. The paintings portrayed a negative picture, wherein Arabs were depicted as being far removed from human concerns.

The western establishment was keen on sustaining this negative image in the media.

The region witnessed two types of struggles. The internal one was religious, ethnic or sectarian in nature, and continues to this day in some countries in the region. The other struggle was against foreign invaders.

The new conflicts started in the post-First World War era, when Britain and France partitioned the Ottoman Empire and extended their control over the Middle East. They also plundered its oil wealth.

A new conflict began with the dawn of the oil age, and the transformation of the western economies from coal-based ones to those based on oil.

The US extended its influence in the area during the post-Second World War era, after the war depleted the power of both Britain and France.

Military might

The West employed a number of means to secure its control of the region. It made good use of its allies in the Middle East by staging military coups to get rid of unfriendly regimes. Examples of military intervention are evident in the aggression against Egypt after the nationalisation of the Suez Canal, while the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 are two other instances of this policy.

Any observer of Middle Eastern history will conclude that western influence was unable to reduce the intensity of the region's tensions over the last 100 years. The establishment of the State of Israel and the West's support for the Zionists against Palestinians ensured that the Palestinian-Israeli issue became central to all the conflicts in the region.

A number of Arab countries were successful in breaking free from the West after the Second World War, through revolutions and military coups. All these movements preached Arab nationalism. However, these countries soon returned to appeasing the West and, in some cases, striking alliances.

Having said that, the people of the region remained apprehensive regarding western influence, and in general no one really trusted the West.

Policy-makers in the West, on the other hand, consider the Middle East and North Africa as a source of threat to western interests. They consider Middle Eastern societies as being underdeveloped, while the rest of the world is advancing rapidly. The West also believes that the region's inhabitants have misread their history and are torn between traditional allegiances and the requirements of modern times.

They also blame the series of failures in the region on the governments' bad planning and incorrect understanding of history.

The Palestinian question is no longer the only source of instability in the Middle East as western concerns have emerged, for example over Iran's nuclear ambitions and Turkey's strategic transformation.

Source of frustration

There is no shortage of weapons in the Middle East; it is a huge arms bazaar. Its inhabitants are frustrated because of western policies in general and US policy in particular. They also believe that the US is responsible for all the region's problems.

Hence, the rise of anti-western extremist groups in the Middle East is not surprising, especially given the western concerns about energy sources.

The tensions in the region may increase, as no one expects the West to lose interest in the Middle East's energy resources.

It is difficult to predict what the situation in the Middle East will be like in a couple of decades. This is because of the instability in the region and the fact that its future is in the hands of foreign forces with interests in the region.

Most probably, the US will remain the strongest force in the region, despite all the efforts to end this influence. There is also no reason to believe that the Middle East will not witness more wars.

Dr Mohammad Akef Jamal is an Iraqi writer based in Dubai.