In this region, politics does not start with a decision, but with a story! Because the Middle East is like an ancient river; seen on maps as a stable line, but in reality, it moves slowly every day, changing its course as the stories about it change!
Countries here do not live by power alone, but by the story that makes power acceptable! A decision without a narrative is like a stone thrown into stagnant water: it makes a brief sound then disappears!
Therefore, power always begins with a sentence that seems calmer than necessary, a sentence spoken as if it explains the world rather than being a choice among its options! Because language in politics is not a description of reality but an attempt to re-engineer it! And when that sentence is spoken with confidence, it's not searching for immediate belief, but for enough time to turn into a taken-for-granted fact!
A successful narrative does not convince people all at once, but sneaks into them like a river seeping into dry land: a small step every day until the new course becomes geographic fate!
But behind that sentence stands the silence of institutions, a silence that resembles not emptiness, but waiting! The "institution" in the Middle East does not enter the story early, but lets it advance a little in public consciousness, watches how people receive it, and then grants it what resembles undeclared legitimacy over time! And so, the river moves a little forward, unnoticed by the sound of the shovel!
At this moment, the supporters appear, not as guardians of the decision, but as guardians of the story! They explain, affirm, and add details that make the narrative seem more consistent with the past and more in tune with the future! Thus politics seems like a natural consequence of a long history, not a transient political choice! And people in the end do not only follow the power, but they follow the story that gives that power meaning!
But!
Every strong story creates its own shadow at the same moment! Another voice says that the river does not move this way, and that the water has been pushed into this course by a hand not visible in the pictures!
This voice does not destroy the narrative, but it creates a slight crack in it, reminding that history is not written with one ink, and that every new course carries within it the possibility of another course that was not given the opportunity!
And below, far away from this elaborate language, stands the street with its old intuition! It holds no documents or platforms, but it possesses a memory as long as the river itself! And thus, it does not deal with stories as the elites do! For it knows that some narratives are born large then evaporate, and some start as a small whisper then transform over time into a full course!
And thus, the conflict in the Middle East turns into something quieter and more dangerous at the same time!
Wars do not begin when missiles fall, but when a story succeeds in convincing people that the course of the river must change! And at that moment only does the water move! Not because it was commanded to do so, but because the land itself began to believe the new narrative!
Thus, the forces do not only struggle over the land, but over the story that explains the land!
Every side tries to convince the others that the natural course of the river passes where they stand, and that every other course is just a temporary deviation!
But the river, like history, does not recognize long arguments! It retains the stones thrown into it momentarily, then carries them silently, and continues its path as if they were part of the water from the beginning!
And here, in my opinion, lies the secret that makes this region seem never to settle! Not because its land is unstable, but because its stories are restless!
And as soon as people think the river has reached its final course, a new story is born that convinces the water that its real course has not yet begun!
In the Middle East, not the state that owns the land triumphs, but the state that owns the narrative that controls the water!
