ABSTRACT
There are actually only a few historical facts with regard to the important turning-points which lead us to recognize the elements of the historical background of the present status quo. Therefore the greater part of the effort to elucidate the historical dimensions of the present status quo in the Gulf and Arab Peninsula society will appear in incomplete and fragmentary form, as we explained at the outset of this study.1 This compels us, in an attempt to discern the important historical turning-points, to resort to presenting a number of very general propositions which require extensive studies in order to corroborate them.
