Holy Lands

March 21, 2016
Pelham (A New Muslim Order) poses a troubling question: Can a region once known for its vibrant pluralism and religious cooperation return from the brink of sectarianism and a cycle of hyper-nationalistic violence? He recounts distressing vignettes from the Middle East before offering a nostalgic and analytic recommendation for remedy that emerges from the region's own history. To make his case, Pelham surveys snapshots of tension from Israel to Iran and Iraq to Turkey, juxtaposed with anecdotes of a fragile hope that are rising out of the rubble of lost history and recent regional turmoil. Proposing that hyper-nationalism and a legacy of Western incursion are particularly problematic, Pelham suggests that a return to a form of Ottoman militocracy might prove the pacifier. The reportage is well-grounded in textured life histories, interviews, and relevant historical narratives and statistics. Pelham offers impressively nuanced interpretations of entangled political rivalries and the hazy religious boundaries that crisscross the Middle East. Readers will find his investigation of the region's intolerance and aspirations for peace refreshing, particularly in the context of increasingly pessimistic headlines and political rhetoric.

Starred review from February 15, 2016
A sound, accessible argument for why returning to the mixed-faith communities living among each other in the Ottoman model might just save the Middle East. British Middle East journalist Pelham (A New Muslim Order, 2008, etc.) traces the current crisis of violent, xenophobic sectarianism in the region to the series of forced population transfers and displacements carried out through the 20th century, most critically from the fall of the ethnically diverse Ottoman Empire to the creation of Israel and Pakistan. In the Ottoman Empire, writes the author, the sultans had learned how their strength derived from the heady mix of faith communities, living among each other, their houses of faith side by side. This borderless fluidity of groups--encompassing Arabs, Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Jews, Christians, and others--provided a paradigm of diversity and tolerance, subsequently destroyed with the rise of the secular Young Turks and the accompanying attributes of a Turkish nation-state--i.e., nationalism, defense of the land, and service in the military. A kind of "cultural homogenization" inevitably followed, involving forced displacement of people and even genocide, a pattern that was repeated in the creation of Israel and Pakistan and is now occurring again in the establishment of the Islamic State group--a brand-new caliphate. Through his firsthand examples, Pelham explores the richness that has been lost in these lands once teeming with ethnic and religious pluralism--e.g., the formerly Arab towns of Safed and Acre, before the Jewish battle cry of "redeeming the land" produced the sanctioned, barren segregation. Moreover, the rise of militant radicalism has violently cleaved the two sects of Islam, Shia and Sunni, with both battling for assumption of power claimed over centuries. However, Pelham does not see only doom but rather a resurgence of pluralism as a natural, human response given the chance for peaceable community. A lively, succinct, nonpolemical study that will offer much thought for discussion.

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May 1, 2016

One may believe that the conflicts in the Middle East are owing to centuries-old religious and ethnic clashes that are well-nigh irreconcilable. Having spent over 20 years in the region, journalist Pelham (A History of the Middle East) sets out to upend this conceit. He starts with the multicultural and interreligious harmony that once existed within the Ottoman Empire (1299-1923). This cooperation was accomplished by a system of overlapping nongeographical jurisdictions called millets, which were based on religious and cultural affiliations. Between Western ideals of uniform justice and Europe's efforts to dismantle the empire, the system of millets collapsed into ethnic enclaves. Secular practices of justice degenerated into sectarian struggles for dominance and survival. Much of Pelham's study concentrates on this aftermath and concludes with tidbits of hope that the region can again produce diverse societies. VERDICT While the reasons for optimism may be anecdotal, this is a thoughtful response to the claim that the problems are insolvable or that the blame lies firmly on the doorstep of religious and ethnic strife.--JW

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