The Middle East from the Iran-Contra Affair to the Intifada

Significant developments in the Middle East from 1985 to 1989, especially the Iran-Contra affair and the Intifada, had a major impact on the domestic and foreign policies of countries involved in this volatile region. The disclosure that the United States had sent arms to Iran, occasionally using Israel as a conduit, temporarily undermined the American diplomatic position in the Arab world.

This incident contributed to a massive U.S. naval buildup in the Persian Gulf that was aimed at reassuring the Gulf Arabs of American support against Iran. The Soviet Union, seeking to exploit the United States’ discomfiture over the scandal, moved to back Iran and, at the same time, tried to promote an international peace conference while carrying on a diplomatic flirtation with Israel. Meanwhile, Arab preoccupation with the threat from Iran helped precipitate the Palestinian Intifada against Israel.

This book examines these and other Middle East developments from three different levels—extraregional forces (the United States, the Soviet Union, and Western Europe); regional politics (intra-Arab relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Iran-Iraq war); and local politics Jordan, Israel, the Palestinians, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and the Sudan). It thus provides readers with a multidimensional view of Middle Eastern politics in an increasingly
turbulent period.