# Why does the media frequently use "Middle East" when referring only to the Israel/Palestine area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 20, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993 "2015-09-20T19:41:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/1 "2015-09-20T19:41:14Z")
I’ve noticed that when the media refers to the Middle East, they frequently mean just the area around Israel and the Palestinian Territories. This is especially true when talking about peace in the Middle East or the Middle East peace negotiations. I suppose it might make some sense if that was the only conflict in the region. With recent wars going on in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen among others, it seems like someone talking about peace in the Middle East should be more specific about which conflict they are referring to. Here are some examples. > **[History of Mid-East peace talks](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-11103745)** > > The BBC News website recalls the main proposals for Middle East peace over the last four decades and what happened to them. [http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-israel-palestinians-un-idUSKBN0NS22Q20150507](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-israel-palestinians-un-idUSKBN0NS22Q20150507) > **[The Middle East Peace Conundrum ](https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/12/11/challenges-face-the-us-as-lead-middle-east-peace-negotiator-between-israel-and-palestine)** > > Achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace can’t be done with the U.S., but it can’t be done without it. > **[U.N. Middle East Peace Envoy Urges Security Council to Revive Talks...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/world/middleeast/un-middle-east-peace-envoy-urges-security-council-to-revive-talks.html?_r=0)** > > Robert Serry, the departing United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process said that Israel’s policy of building settlements in the Palestinian territories “may kill” any chance of peace. I realize this is a minor rant, it’s just something I find annoying and have always wondered about. I put in this forum because I don’t know if their is a factual answer, and questions on this topic frequently end up in Great Debates. Please move to another forum if appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/2 "2015-09-20T19:52:45Z")
Mere convention. Someone said it that way once, and it caught on. These things change. In the 1920’s, Lebanon was “The Lebanon.” Not very long ago at all it was “The Ukraine.” ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/3 "2015-09-20T19:54:12Z")
Well what term would you suggest? 1. The existing terms are either Israel slanted or Palestine slanted, and the media don’t wanted slanted terminology. 2. For a long time Gaza was claimed by Egypt and the West Bank was claimed by Jordan. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/4 "2015-09-20T20:06:44Z")
maybe, when you’re introducing a topic that concerns disputed lands, something non-partisan offers a veneer of impartiality. You can then go on to tell the world objectively how noble decent Jews are occasionally troubled by barbaric heathens. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/5 "2015-09-20T20:10:27Z")
Because nobody knows what “the Levant” is. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/6 "2015-09-20T20:24:53Z")
But they did. I always thought it came about due to longitude. The area in question, was - longitudinally - roughly halfway to the other side of the world. Middle East, get it? Sort of like our American Mid-west. Mid-west of what? Longitude 90W, that’s what. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/7 "2015-09-20T20:26:37Z")
Yay! History! > **[Middle East | Terminology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East#Terminology)** > > The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office. However, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to "designate the area between Arabia and India". During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, a rivalry which would become known as the Great Game. Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Pers Meanwhile, I’ll scoot this over to GQ for you. I think it’ll do better there. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/8 "2015-09-20T21:59:53Z")
Nobody’s interested in telegraping their assumptions by calling it “the Holy Land” anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/9 "2015-09-21T11:49:58Z")
Because Israel & Palestine _are_ in the Middle East. Same way I’m sure that news agencies outside the US refer to stories from NY or Texas or California or Kansas as all being _‘…in America’._ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/10 "2015-09-21T14:32:50Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Yay! History! > > [Middle East - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East#Terminology) > > Meanwhile, I’ll scoot this over to GQ for you. I think it’ll do better there. While there is an historical basis for the use of the term, the question is about what governs the use of the term in particular circumstances. Since this is often political, I’m punting this back to GD. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/11 "2015-09-21T16:46:04Z")
I’ve always thought it was a good choice because the Israel/Palestine issue is a regional issue as much as one between those two players in particular. The six-day war included Egypt, Syria and Jordan, but pretty much every country in the region has been involved, if only in terms of money and rhetoric. You simply can’t understand that conflict by looking at just the geographic territory of Israel/Palestine. Of course, the OP is right that we can’t just talk about Israel/Palestine when we say “Peace in the Middle East.” Settling their particular issue would go a long way toward stabilizing the whole region, but it wouldn’t solve other conflicts, like the Sunni/Shiite divide. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/12 "2015-09-21T17:33:25Z")
Why do the media and people still use cold war era classification of countries as allied with the US, The Soviet Union, or neutral and unaligned to describe the world? Why do the media and people append gate to a word to describe every scandal? Language has a hell of an inertia. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/13 "2015-09-21T17:51:18Z")
yep: inertiagate ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/14 "2015-09-21T18:36:35Z")
I always read of the ME as the area between the Euphrates and Indus and South of a lone formed by (roughly) the Caucases, Caspian, Oxus and HinduKush. The Near East was the area between the Bosphorus and the Euphrates. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/15 "2015-09-21T18:58:59Z")
It is funny that no one ever talks about the Near East. Which would be Asia Minor, which is now Turkey. Except there’s no need to talk about the Near East when it is coextensive with one country. You’d just say Turkey. The middle east is full of a lot of smaller countries. So it’s still a useful term. And “far east” usually means China and Japan and SE Asia, but paradoxically doesn’t usually include the Russian Far East. India and Iran and Pakistan and central asia aren’t part the near, middle or far east, at least by American usage. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/16 "2015-09-22T01:54:26Z")
Actually, I think -at least in U.S. media - the opposite is true. Places that are very remote from the Middle East such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria, or Somalia get rolled into the Middle East. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/17 "2015-09-22T03:38:09Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Because nobody knows what “the Levant” is. This. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/18 "2015-09-22T07:06:10Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Nobody’s interested in telegraping their assumptions by calling it “the Holy Land” anymore. This post has been telegraped by the Telegrapist. [SUP]Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.[/SUP] ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/19 "2015-09-22T07:29:23Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > It is funny that no one ever talks about the Near East. Which would be Asia Minor, which is now Turkey. > > Except there’s no need to talk about the Near East when it is coextensive with one country. You’d just say Turkey. > > The middle east is full of a lot of smaller countries. So it’s still a useful term. > > And “far east” usually means China and Japan and SE Asia, but paradoxically doesn’t usually include the Russian Far East. > > India and Iran and Pakistan and central asia aren’t part the near, middle or far east, at least by American usage. And that last point is the key to it. The terms Near East, Middle East and Far East were used by the (British) India Office and the Foreign Office in the nineteenth century, and they are defined partly in relation to India. The meant, basically: Near East: Territories under Ottoman rule (including, in the nineteenth centuries, territories in the Balkans). Middle East: Territories between the Ottoman territories and India. (And, at the time, India included what is now Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma). Plus, often those parts of the Ottoman Territories which were closer to India than Europe. Far East: Every south and east of Burma - i.e. everywhere beyond India. With, first, the progressive loss of Ottoman territories in Europe and, secondly, the loss of its Arab territories, “Near East” fell into disuse, and those parts of Asia and North Africa which were formerly considered to be Near East were included in the Middle East. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-media-frequently-use-middle-east-when-referring-only-to-the-israel-palestine-area/731993/20 "2015-09-22T07:54:33Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Meanwhile, I’ll scoot this over to GQ for you. I think it’ll do better there. > [@Colibri](#): > > Since this is often political, I’m punting this back to GD. Mod war! Or would it be more accurate to say GD-GQ conflict?