The first chapter deals with Middle East before the Arab Spring. It begins with the Arab-Israel War of 1948, sparked by the proclamation of Israel’s independence by David Ben Gurion, executive head of the World Zionist Organisation, on 14 May 1948. Since 1948 Arab countries and Israel have been in a state of intermittent war.
The chapter goes on to detail the Suez War of 1956, which concluded in an Egyptian political victory. It details the Six-Day War in 1967 between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan, the Arab-Israel War of 1973, Arab Israel Peace agreements (though till date peace remains as elusive as ever), the Israel-Hezbollah War of 2006, the Israel-Gaza conflict of 2014, the breaking of Arab unity, the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and more.
The second chapter deals with the Arab Spring. The author jogs our memory to the starting point in Tunisia when a 26-year-old street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in frustration, a frustration that echoed the people’s desperation over living standards, police violence, unemployment and human rights abuses. The Arab Spring spread like wild fire to Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and beyond.