European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 29, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Duty Magazine emirates Large anxiety along tense Gulf am i i la Dilli a i Tyjohn Klefner new York times he tiny emirates of the persian Gulf shimmering new fantasy cities Buill on the Sands by Oil Money Are gripped by fear of the spreading danger in the Iran Iraq War. Now 7 years old. American British and French ships Are now securing the waterway where mines and iranian speedboats menace the Oil lankers that brought wealth. And the recent violence in Mecca during the islamic pilgrimage which left at least 400 people dead Many of them iranians reawakened the 7th-cen1ury schism in islam that dominates life there. Twenty years ago we were in the Middle said Tariq Almo Ayed Bahrain s minister of information Oil wealth has brought us Progress education. Modernity. Now All is threatened by the fight my among our neighbors. Ii is a dangerous Tia mood of nervousness and tension builds with each Day s news to a that the latest developments relating to the Irarra Iraq War have increased the threat of a wider conflict possibly even invoking big Powers is to grossly underestimate the dangers facing this Region an English language daily in Dubai the Khaleen times said in an editorial recently. The Gult situation is rapidly sliding toward what could be a Point of no it was on Bahrain a 30-mile Long Island. 10 Miles wide Al its broadest that Oil was Tirol discovered on a Peak called Jebel Dunan allot 400 Leel 120 Mellis High. It was the precursor of wealth in the full cram alas Bahrain Kuwait Qatar and the United Arab emirates which comprises the Sheik Doms of Abu Dhatt. Dubai. Harjan umm Al Quiam. Ajman Fujara and Ras Al Khazima. Until mid Century the emirates Emu Means Punco or Leader in arabic were nothing More than mud walled forts protecting a in adm Post and an occasional collection of Black Goat hair tents of visiting bedouins the Oil Money Pilic ulary in the Boom years Olino 1970s, brought Iho map emirates an explosion of Glass skyscrapers International hotel and shopping malls in place of bazaars. In an air conditioned mall behind the Sheraton hotel perfumed in the evening by incense at traditional stands a men s shoe store displays a selection of Black Patent leather sandals presumably for wearing with the White gown called variously a Dis Dasha or thobe at what would be Black Tio occasions in other places. Bahrain or centuries a seafaring and trading society prides itself on being Tho most cosmopolitan wildly nation in the Gulf Region. 11 is flanked not Only by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini s shiite fundamentalism to the North but also by Iho strict sunni Wahabi doctrine of saudi Arabia to the West. Sophisticated Bahrain established itself As a banking and communications Center in a Region newly Rich but insular suspicious of foreigners. Now. With Banks cutting Bach the new hotels under booked and foreign workers leaving because of what has been a worldwide Oil glut financial experts say the economic difficulties will be compounded by uncertainties of the War and tensions from the Mecca riots. We have lived with this War Lor seven said a Young government official the other night sipping a cold american Beer a lasts threatened by the islamic fundamentalist tide. But now everybody can see it is really bad. Now we have All these navies coming in. It is a very dangerous situation. At it would take to create a confrontation is one crazy and they have so Many in perhaps More important Ihan the immediate dangers in the Gulf Waters is the historic split Between Tho mainstream sunni Branch of islam. Iho Tail of the rulers of the emirates and the Shine Branch a messianic Lailah of the sending to martyrdom. Shi ism is the religion of Many not Only in Iran but also in Lebanon. Iraq. Kuwait. The Oil producing province of saudi Arabia and in Bahrain where they constitute 70 percent of the population of 300.000 citizens and 100.000 non cil Nens this overwhelming majority silent because of an extreme to elective i Lemat Security network represent it kind of standing threat to the Rule of me traditional sunni moslem tribal chieftain sheikh Issa. The 10th Emir of the 31 Khalifa family since Arab bedouins e
