The Levant: A Fractured Mosaic

At the outset of the 21st century, the Levant is dominated by non-Sunnis, including Alawis in Syria and Jews in Palestine. The geopolitics of the region have been shaped by national, ethnic, and sectarian frictions in a setting characterized by limited space, rising population pressure, resource shortages, and international strategic interests. In the north, the Arabs face the Turks; in the center, Lebanon and Syria have yet to settle their differences; in the south, the confrontation between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs lurches toward some sort of denouement. "The Levant: A Fractured Mosaic" attempts an overall assessment of the contemporary affairs of the Levant, in the context of the history of the region since Roman times.