A very long string of control over humanity began in that ancient Semite tribal region. Neo could see in code in the Matrix. Where was the first known code from? The first known recorded contract or "oath" was also in this region. A well still marks the spot dug by the patriarch and holder of that contract to this day.
If the first contracts declaring ownership were made there, and you could trace your family tree back that far, then that system spread to the whole of the earth over millennia...would that family think they owned the whole world? Would they indeed own it? If on paper at least only?
VERY old storyline here...