ABSTRACT
Not all the problems facing Israel have been external. There have been a series of specifically Israeli issues that have further complicated the rise and flourishing of Israel.
A key problem for Israel has been the centrality of the Middle East in the geography, history, culture and mythology of the world. The 600 billion barrels of oil reserves (60 percent of the world’s reserves) of the Middle East are critical to the global economy. The Middle East stands at the crossroads of three powerful regions (Europe, Africa and Asia), with great powers contesting it for thousands of years. Cartographers in the Middle Ages placed Jerusalem at the center of world maps. James Parks wrote that “Spiritually, geographically and economically it [the land of Israel] lies at the heart of humanity.”1
