However,
if anything, the conflict is more of a "Muslim-Jewish" one than an
"Arab-Israeli" one. In other words, the conflict is based on religion
-- Islam vs. Judaism -- cloaked in Arab nationalism vs. Zionism. The fact of
the matter is that in every Arab-Israeli war, from 1948 to the present, cries
of "jihad," "Allahu Akbar," and the bloodcurdling scream of
"Idbah al- Yahud" (slaughter the Jews) have resonated amongst even
the most secular of Arab leaders, be it Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s or the
supposedly "secular" PLO of the 1960s to the present. Indeed, the
question must be asked: If this is really a conflict of different nationalisms
and not Islamic supremacism, then why is it that virtually no non-Arab Muslim
states have full (if any) relations with Israel?
There
is a common Arabic slogan that is chanted in the Middle East: "Khaybar,
Khaybar! Oh Jews, remember. The armies of Muhammad are returning!" It
would be most interesting to know how many people have ever heard what -- or
more precisely, where -- Khaybar is, and what the Arabs mean by such a slogan.
A short history of the Jews of Arabia is needed in order to explain this, and
why Islam remains so inflexible in its hostile attitude towards Jews and
Israel.
