>>>>>>Uhhhh, he would be correct. Geographically, Israel is in Asia. Just think of it as Southern Syria (not starting a flame war, just stating what it was).
>>>>>
>>>>>He's correct if you restrict geography to the seven continents. I consider Israel part of the Middle East, not Asia.
>>>>
>>>>It doesn't matter what you consider Israel to be - it is a part of Asia. So is the "middle east" (a term which didn't even exist until recently (1850s-1903 depending on who you ask). Just admit to Dragan you were wrong for Pete's sake... :o)
>>>
>>>We call that Near East :).
>>
>>Near East
>>Middle East
>>Far East
>>
>>we also used to have East of Suez
>
>But you don't have it anymore? Um yes, history.
>
>Funny, though, we use expression "near East" to denote pretty much the space between Suez and Iran, and "far East" for anything east of Bangladesh, but no specific term for the subcontinent.
>
>I'm still not sure what's the meaning of "near East" in English, if middle denotes the area inhabited by Semitic, Turkic and Persian peoples.

I really think the term "middle east" became common place simply due to the media's use of it...

(Updated for clarify)