Sykes-Picot at 100: end sectarian strife

It is far too late to redraw the borders we now call the Sykes-Picot boundaries - we must build on the imperfect map we have inherited, acknowledging the grievances that ISIL have been able to exploit.

Please, can we put those coloured pencils, dividers and set squares back in the box – and erase the cartographic equivalents from our bureaucrats’ computers? It is far too late to redraw the borders we now call the Sykes-Picot boundaries.

Instead we must build on the imperfect map we have inherited, acknowledging the grievances that ISIL have been able to exploit and using our best efforts to do something about them. I therefore applaud the wish of the French government’s work to convene a peace conference by May 30 with the aim of relaunching talks between Israel and Palestine based on the Saudi/Arab League peace plan. It is just about the only one which tries to build on the rights of all parties in international law.

Without respect for the rights of both sides as the starting point for negotiations, peace can never be achieved.

The ceasefire in Syria must not be allowed to fail. The US and Russia must rein in their proxies and allies. An environment must be created in which talks between the Syrian parties can progress towards a new constitutional settlement and whatever degree of reconciliation is now possible.

This will enable the parties to join together against extremism. Then, when ISIL has been driven from both Syria and Iraq, the region can proceed to establish a super-state structure so that some kind of economic union can finally be built by the states which emerged from the ashes of the former Ottoman provinces. They will be able to learn from the successes (and limitations) of the EU and GCC models.

Is this all just a pipe dream? There is no reason why it has to be. But for it to happen, there has to be an end to sectarian propaganda. The states which are responsible for spreading it know who they are. There is therefore, no need for me to mention their names here.

John McHugo is the author of A Concise History of the Arabs and Syria: A Recent History.