bLebanon at the time amputated a large Sunni Muslim region of
bSyria and attached it to Lebanon. This move, which trans-
bformed the Sunnis from majority to minority status, has been a
bsource of bitterness ever since.
bIn any event, all the government posts, from the highest to
bthe lowest, were distributed by numerical strength of religious
bcommunities. Thus, the Parliament was run on the basis of six
bChristians to five Muslims, and within each religion there was
byet another breakdown according to sects. This incredibly com-
bplex and burdensome system came into being in the hope that if
beach group received its “proper share,” all would learn to coex-
bist.
bOf course, the civil war proved that this was a hopeless de-
blusion. The instant the Muslims felt they had an opportunity to
bseize control of the country, they attempted to do so. And so
bArabs, who differ in nothing but religion, slaughter each other.
bThe reason? The Arab Muslims demand a state in which they
bwill wield power. They are not prepared to live under the rule of
bothers, no matter how narrow the differences. Each group seeks
bits own sovereignty, a cultural and political entity to call its own.
bDifferences between groups, per se, engender friction, conflict, hostility,
bhatred.
Iraq and Iran: Kurds versus Arab Muslims and Muslim
Non-Arabs
bMillions of Kurds live in the border area of Iraq, Iran, and
bTurkey. They are Muslims but not Arabs. They make no secret
bof their demand for an independent Kurdistan. Because of this
bthere have been sporadic uprisings in both Iraq and Iran with
bheavy fighting and loss of life. Particularly in Iraq, where at least
b25 percent of the population is Kurdish, the rebellion has threat-
bened the territorial integrity of the country. The Kurds at-
btempted to revolt against the former Iraqi monarchy too, but in
b1970 and again in 1973 a truly serious war broke out against the
bBa’ath government in Baghdad.
bThe ostensible demand was for autonomy, but the Kurds
bmade no bones about their eventual hope: a Kurdish republic
bcarved out of large chunks of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. The Iraqis
bpoured all their power into a total effort to crush the Kurds, and
bwhen the Shah of Iran ceased his support of them, by 1977 the
b