Souq level of municipal administration. The Muhtasib was responsible for supervising business practices and collecting taxes for a given souq while the Arif are the overseers for a specific trade. Shopping at a souq or market place is part of daily life throughout much of the Middle East. Prices are commonly set by bargaining, also known as haggling, between buyers and sellers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as Europeans began to conquer parts of North Africa and the Levant, an interest in Middle Eastern culture and architecture began to flourish. This interest spawned a genre of literary works and paintings
Education in the Middle East and North Africa Arab Emirates (UAE), West Bank and Gaza, Israel and Yemen. Despite that Israel is geographically situated in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, this article focuses on the countries that are bounded by Arabic language majority, except Iran where Persian is the official language and Turkey where Turkish is the official language. Although most MENA countries share common identity formation features - Islam as the main religion and Arabic as a common language (except Iran and Turkey), they differ in ethnicity, tradition, history and spoken dialects of Arabic. Economic development strategies also vary between the oil-producing states such