Bloodshed blurs Middle East borders set 100 years ago by UK-French pact

A century after Britain and France secretly mapped out a Middle East they would control upon defeating the Ottomans in World War One, its borders have been blurred by sectarian bloodshed - and some in the region see opportunity in the chaos.

These include Israelis or Kurds who seek to carve out their own turf, and Arab nationalists or Islamists nursing rancour at Western imperialism. Though diffuse in terms of their clout and aims, they pose a headache for today's global crisis managers.

Nowhere is this more felt than over Syria and Iraq, whose territories diplomats Mark Sykes of Britain and Francois Georges-Picot of France broadly demarcated with pen strokes in the May 16, 1916 pact, and which are now riven by the advances of Islamic State insurgents and Sunni-Shi'ite infighting.

The Sykes-Picot centennial has occasioned conferences and policy papers in Israel. Its premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, argues that Israel's annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights, which it captured in the 1967 war, should be recognised internationally - in part, because Damascus may no longer wield enough central authority to negotiate for a return of the strategic plateau.

Ceding the Golan would put Israel's interior within range of Islamic State weapons, said senior Israeli diplomat Dore Gold.

"The meltdown of borders with the 'Arab Spring' and 'Islamic Winter' has created a reality that points out a number of precautions that Israel has to have in the future," Gold told Reuters in an interview. "Irredentist movements are emerging which challenge boundaries established a long time ago."  - Read More at the Reuters

Bloodshed blurs Middle East borders set 100 years ago by UK-French pact

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