Regarding capitals... Why not do what some countries do today and others did in the past and have multiple capitals? Cairo could be the executive capital, Baghdad the legislative, Damascus the judicial, and the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem (assuming an Arab/Muslim-dominated Palestine is formed) would be the religious/cultural capitals. You could even combine two of the first three in one, and have it rotate between two cities on a biannual basis (e.g. "summer capital" vs. "winter capital"), like Finland does.