"變革的中東"

中東因為複雜的信仰、種族、政治與石油等因素，成為半個世紀以來地球上戰火不斷的地區，無論是以色列、巴基斯坦、巴林、約旦、黎巴嫩、沙烏地阿拉伯、科威特、伊朗、伊拉克、葉門、敘利亞等，都發生過大大小小的戰爭。

許多中東強人過逝了，包含以色列的夏隆與拉賓、巴勒斯坦的阿拉法特、敘利亞的哈菲茲阿薩德與埃及的納述爾。這五位中東強人在過去都能有效統合所屬國家的派系與種族意見，對外亦扮演著非常重要的調停角色。如今一一病逝後，也讓複雜的中東地區產生本質上的變化。

許多國際政治家憂心表示，中東的強人政治至少在必要時刻，能夠維持住表面的和平。但失去強人領政的中東，如同同時拉開許多引信的火藥庫，至於要如何控制局勢不要失控，就看當代強權國家領袖的智慧了。

(International) The New Middle East

For the past five decades, the Middle East has been an area of turmoil, where wars came and went. Whether it is Israel, Palestine, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Yemen or Syria, the countries have all been involved in wars V whether small or large-scale, over complicated issues such as religion, race, politics and oil.

Many leaders in the Middle East have passed away, including Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin from Israel, Yasir Arafat from Palestine, Hafez al-Assad from Syria and Gamal Abdel Nasser from Egypt. These five Middle Eastern leaders were all able to effectively help the different political, religious and ethnic groups in their countries find middle ground, while acting as important mediators between their countries and the world. Now that they have one by one passed away, the problem-plagued region has undergone noticeable changes.

Many politicians in the world have expressed concerns for these Middle Eastern political leaders were at least able to keep the situation under control and maintain overall peace at critical times in the past. With no influential figures to lead the Middle East now, the region has become a ticking bomb. Whether the situation can be contained will depend on the wisdom of the major world leaders.

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