no longer favored overt colonialism, so the French and the English were able to obtain mandates under which the Western nations would help guide the Arab nations to self-rule. The English controlled Iraq, Jordan and Palestine while the French controlled Lebanon and Syria. Saudi Arabia was not partitioned in the same way although it was the most traditional of the Arab nations at the time. However, oil had not yet taken on the central importance that it would come to have following World War II ("Saudi Arabia" 1).
As the twentieth century progressed, constitutional and democratic governments failed to materialize in the Middle East. Instead, Arabs were increasingly governed by totalitarian leaders whose governments were perceived as corrupt and controlled--directly or indirectly--by Western governments. The establishment of the state of Israel following World War II and the growing importance of oil to the economies of the region reinforced that perception. Often, little of the oil wealth was transferred to the population as a whole, or the percentage that was transferred to the general population paled in comparison to the amounts retained by the ruling families and regimes. This, in turn, led to nationalism in the Arab world. Groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood maintained that Islam was compatible with different modern ideologies, including democracy and socialism. Islamic radicals argued against communism because of communism's failure to recognize religion. Secular nationals, such as those who gained popularity in Iraq, found models in socialism, communism and even fascism. Both Islamic and secular radicals sought to establish self-rule and national destiny, although they used different tools (Datta, n.p.).
After World War II, the creation of Israel greatly changed the politics and power structure in the Middle East. The United States now had considerable power in the international arena, and was perceived as Isra...