Middle East

The Middle East is composed by 17 countries with a total population of 294'765.523 with Turkey having the biggest number of inhabitants and Bahrain the lowest. Its median age is 26 years old.

The most common religion is Islam as well as the language is Arabic. The most important sector is the services sector and the most common exports are petroleum, gas and minerals. Imports are mostly composed by machinery and food.

Mesopotamia, land between rivers: the region of Mesopotamia is crossed by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers where the settlements of the first civilizations took place. The most important of these civilizations were the Sumerians, The Assyrians, the Acadians, the Chaldeans and the Babylonians.

Judaism and Islam

A very important fact about the Middle East is that it was the place of birth of three religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. And "they all three place their spiritual roots back to the same individual, Abraham. The towering historical figures behind these three religions (Moses, Jesus Christ and Muhammad) were all direct descendants of Abraham"

Abraham was born in the city of Ur, in Mesopotamia, but obeying God's instructions he left to Haran: "Now the Lord had said to Abram (this being his original name which was later expanded to Abraham): 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house to a land where I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing...' So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him..." Hebrews 11:8 adds: "And he went out, not knowing where he was going".

He was going to be establishes in Canaan (the Promised Land) along with his descendants: " I will make you exceedingly fruitful: and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you" (Genesis 17:6).

Since his wife, Sarah, was barren, she told Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, and to produce a child by her since he needed an heir, but the relationship between the two women deteriorated and Hagar fled while being pregnant with Abraham's first son, Ishmael, who was to be "a wild donkey of a man(1); his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers" (verses 10-12, New International version)"; this description of Ishmael is significant because many of today's Arabs (2) are Ishmaelites, in fact, 22 nations of the Middle East and the north of Africa are Arabic nations, most of whose people are adherents of Islam.

14 years later, Isaac was born and this time from Sarah. "Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, 'cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son" (Genesis 21:8-10). Isaac, in turn fathered Jacob, also named Israel, the father of the Israelites.

After 14 years as an only son, Ishmael ended up feeling envy and rivalry toward his half brother, feelings that have survived down through the centuries to our days.

The conflict: the Arab nations initiated four wars against Israel: the 1948 war of independence, the 1956 Sinai war, 1967 Six Day war and the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Israel defended itself each time and won. After each war, Israel army withdrew from most of the areas it captured.

"If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Israelis put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel. Think about it..." Anonymous

The Kibbutz in Israel

It consists on a large number of people living in cooperative small communities. They have been developing since 1909 and the their population may vary from 50 to 2000 members.

Principles:

- Communal ownership
- Collectivism
- General responsibility
- Equality
- Social profit
- Non-hired labor
- Democratic management

"Cooperation is the tax"

Impatriation

The Gulf economies are currently relying on impatriates because of the consequences of the rapid economic growth due to the increasing oil prices since 1970 that generated equally increasing employment, and the best way to meet this labor demand was to hire impatriates.

To ensure the adaptation of foreigner into the Middle East, States and organisations should implement programmes of adjustment and acclimatisation including courses on language, history and culture, know-how and interpersonal skills. They should also offer services for spouses and impatriates' relatives, provide legal advice and leisure facilities.

The main difference between impatriates and expatriates is that impatriates are asked for by the local company, while the expatriate is sent out by the foreign MNC. Most of the times impatriates are hired as low skilled work force, but expatriates normally hold high professional positions.

"Saudisation"

- Strict imposition of the employment of the impatriates in the public sector

- Private firms are required to reduce their foreign labor force by 5% annually

- Restriction of some occupation to Saudi nationals

- Trying to increase women's participation of employment

These features have been considered as a key policy for national development in Saudi Arabia as being thought to stopping increasing unemployment rate, to reducing the dependency on impatriates, to recapturing and reinvesting income within the kingdom and to recreating a strong human capital stock (know-how and expertise)

Foot notes:

(1) The prophecy is a reference of to how Ishmael descendants would emulate the lifestyle of a wild donkey, leading a free and noble existence in the desert. The wild donkey was the aristocrat of the wild beasts of the desert, the preferred prey of hunters.

(2) Even before Ishmael descendants arrived in the area, the term Arab was used to denote the peoples of the Arabian peninsula. With the spread of the Islam, Arabs and the Arabic language today encompass a vast region.

References:

- Abraham's sons. Available at http://www.ucg.org/booklets/ME/sonsabraham.asp. Accessed on October 15th 2009

- Arab-Israeli conflict. Available at http://www.science.co.il/arab-israeli-conflict.asp. Accessed on October 15th 2009

- Class Presentation by Pablo Garzón, Laura Molina and Santiago Sosa.