The Middle East is the territories around the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, covering the Arabian Peninsula. Sometimes the countries of North Africa are also included in them, but now the Middle East is still referred to as the region closest to Europe from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.
In the middle of the 20th century, the general definition of the Middle East covered the States or territories of Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Libya and the States on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.