The critical state of affairs in the Near East involves the Western nations, including the United States, because of the strategic importance of air bases in that area, the location of valuable oil resources and the importance of the Suez Canal in relation to the West and the Orient.

Upon the end of World War II, when the British Empire was unable to exert its full strength, the peoples of this area, along with those in other regions, developed an intense nationalism. The sentiment was developed and promoted largely by small ruling classes in each area. It served to keep the minds of the populace away from their ills and the disparity in living conditions between the upper and lower crusts of society.

The first crisis occurred in Iran, where Premier Mohammed Mossadegh, whose “mission” for thirty years has been to expel the British-owned oil company and nationalize its properties, capitalized on the nationalistic sentiment to get a bill passed to carry out his purposes.

The drawback to his policy is that the government and nation, in normal times, received a good share of income from the oil fields. Without technicians to run the industry and lacking tankers to distribute oil, the life of Mossadegh’s regime is precarious. Recognizing this, he has hinted that he might make a deal with Russia, thus attempting to play on the fear of Communism and force either Great Britain or the United States to help him out. [As evidenced by his lengthy U.S. trip, he was hedging his bets on the USA, not the USSR]

Following the crisis in Iran, the government of Egypt took a poke at the British lion. Relations between Great Britain and Egypt were arranged by a treaty, signed in 1936, due to expire in 1956. By this pact, the British withdrew troops from Cairo and Alexandria but were given the right to maintain the security of the Suez Canal by stationing 10,000 troops and 400 pilots near the Canal Zone.

Another issue between the two governments involves the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. This million-square-mile area is on the Upper Nile, south of Egypt. Two-thirds of its 7,000,000 inhabitants are Arabic and Muslim. They live in the North but the southern half is occupied by Negro tribes. The area has been ruled by something like a joint administration, with a Governor-General, recommended by Great Britain and appointed by the Egyptian king.

The Egyptian ruling class includes the king, the nobles and a few wealthy business men. Together they rule an area of 350,000 square miles, of which only 13,000 square miles are cultivable. Along the Nile Valley, in the river delta and in the Canal Zone is concentrated ninety-nine per cent of Egypt’s 19,000,000 people. Most of them are peasants and workers. They have shown some discontent with the ruling regime, which has done little to ameliorate their lot, but have been swayed by the nationalistic issue and enthusiastically support the demands of the government.

One should not overlook the effort of the Moslem nations to combine their strength for something of a showdown with the West. The area includes Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi-Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and some minor sheikdoms. In all, except Israel, the population is predominantly Moslem. Altogether, the Moslems stretch from Morocco on the Atlantic seaboard to Pakistan on the Indian Ocean and Indonesia in the South Sea.

The present crises have been intensified by the creation of Palestine as an independent Jewish state in the midst of this Moslem area. From the beginning, the Arabic states bitterly protested against the organized immigration that gave to the Jews of the world a homeland. They attempted, by force of arms, to interfere with the settlement and development of Palestine as a Jewish nation and it is clearly apparent from the statements and attitudes of Arabic leaders that they have not yet acquiesced in the situation produced by the new state.

The Arabs are further incensed because, in their opinion, the United States and Great Britain, together with other Western nations, disregarded their rights in promoting the State of Israel. They feel that they have been slighted by Western nations and that their rights have been impaired. Consequently, they are eager to demonstrate their solidarity, to do what they can to eliminate Western control and create a strong organization of Moslem states in a region that is vitally and strategically important to Western civilization.