Self-Determination in the Middle East
Yosef Gotlieb
Praeger
The great expanse of territory extending from the westernmost reaches of northern Africa to lands east of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, from Asia Minor to the deepest Sudan, encompasses those countries presently under Arab rule, that is, the "Arab world." These stretches of land straddle the African and Asian continents and vary from desert wilderness to snow-covered mountains.
Ethnically, the "Arab world" is a highly heterogeneous region. Multitudes of Kurds populate the Middle East's northern tier along with Arabs, Azerbaijanis, Baluch, Persians, Turcomans, and other Turks. Arabs and Jews, Armenians and Assyrians, Druze and self-described "Phoenecians" inhabit Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan. While the Arabian Peninsula is correctly described as a "sea of Arab-dom," Dhofaris, Persians, and other …
Yosef Gotlieb is a writer, lecturer, and editor specializing in Middle East and Third World affairs.
The author's work has appeared in such periodicals as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and In These Times. His chapter, "Sectarianism and the Iraqi State," appears in Michael Curtis's (ed.) Religion and Politics in the Middle East (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1981).
Mr. Gotlieb has served as a consultant to public policy organizations, and he directed the World Jewish Congress' Project for the Study of Middle Eastern Nationalities. He is currently the executive editor of Israel Horizons magazine.
Yosef Gotlieb received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Clark University.
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