Middle East

Joanna Kadi says "this term was given to the Arab world by Western (European) colonizers who named the region only as it related to their particular worldview.... It is offensive to me, and not at all affirming, to use such a term to describe my identity. Using the term 'Middle Eastern' feels very much like I am adopting the oppressor's language." To a society that is generally weak in geography, it is probably in any case better to spell out exactly which countries you mean: the "Middle East" includes the 19 Arab countries on the west part of the Asian continent and the northern part of the Africa continent (Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Qatar, Mauritania, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates) and the four non-Arab nations of Israel, Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. In some contexts, Somalia and Djibouti are also considered part of the Middle East.