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8:10am April 9th, 2009 By braceletseeds
For as long as I can remember, my Arab and Persian peers have almost gotten physical over the true name of this body of water that is known to the world as the Persian Gulf but to many of the Arab countries as the Arabian Gulf.
I can see why this subject can be a sensitive one, as evident with the Israel/Palestine and Syria/Lebanon land issues. But the intensity of debate over this in recent weeks is becoming quite ridiculous in my opinion.
I'm sure everyone remembers the Arabian Gulf googlebomb from a few years back. But every so often the media and blogging world decides to pick this issue up again and ruffle some feathers. The sad thing is, too many (self-inflicted) gaps exist between the Arabs and the Persians for a trivial issue such as this to fade away. We need to move on to more important issues and concerns of our respective regions and the world.
Who cares what this body of water is called as long as it serves it's purpose anyway. But since a simple scolding will not appease the opposing factions, maybe a simple renaming will. I suggest that we just combine the two entities, renaming it the Perarabian Gulf (this is not the same as the alternative names listed in Wikipedia). With both parties satisfied, the healing of the wounds inflicted by years of hurled insults and name-calling can finally begin.
And then we can move on to what really matters; if baklava is Greek, Arab, or Turkish.
Tags: ideas, Middle, East, observations, politics
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