Middle East ( lesson April 9th)

At his time, The middle East, The Arab World and Israel are studied. I am not going to talk about the Israel part, since i do consider that with the before entry (conference by a Israel person) is enough about the Israel´s conflict. So, lets start with The middle East.

1. What did I learn?

The MIDDLE EAST. It is considered as conflict zone, this does not have got clear frontiers and it does content territories which belong to both continents Africa and Asia. It is relevant to say that Middle East is also the heart of the tree most important religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Talking economically, this region has got an economy in which there is space for very poor nations as: Gaza and Yemen to those which are pretty rich as: UAE and Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, during the last year, all the nations from the Middle East had such a positive economic growth.

Now, lets move on to the ARAB WORLD. This expression is used to identify the arab speaking countries, which go from the Atlantic ocean at the west to the Arabian sea at he east.

The Arab world counts on 22 countries and a integrated community of 325 million people. Some of the countries are: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

On the other hand, nowadays there are three points that help to definy an Arab:

*Genealogical : The ancestors
*Linguistical : Language
* Political : The ideology they follow.

The Arab world is very dinamic refering to the economy, it has got the two-fifth of the gross domestic product and three-fifth of the trade of the wider Muslim world. The Arab states are mainly developing economies, and it could have presented an important grow due to its two resources: Oil and Gas. In Asia the arab world is the 11th largest economy.

Finally, the part of interest, business in the Middle East, is managed by the following aspects:

• Lot of stereotypes and myths
  Islam
  Muslims pray 5 times a day, Friday.
  Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha
  Asalamu alaykum and wa alaykum salam
  Handshakes
  

And about the behaviour, it is important to keep in mind:

• Gender
  Introduced to a female
  Profesional and business goes together
  Wasta, favor are never forgotten.
  Word means honor
  Creating the relationships
  Meetings are circular
  Punctuality is expected

2. Question: Despite of the conflict, is the Middle East still of the United States´interests?

3. Answer:Yes, it was, it is and it will be, especially cities as: Bagdad, Mosul and Basora, since they are militar strategic points for United States and also because of being oil centers. United States is concerned about its oil supply but also in the spread of the islam. Unfortunately United States has got always a war, a militar answer to its concerns.

SOURCES:

• Middle East Presentation.
• http://www.elcorresponsal.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4054