From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > (It should be noted, every Arab state was allied with the Nazis during World > War II. You can argue that this was because of anti-English anti-imperialism, > but it remains the truth).
Not so. Egypt was allied to Britain not that it had any choice, but it was. Egyptian Army and Air Force units fought against the Germans. Palestine was a British Mandated territory, under League of Nations mandate from WW1. Lots of Palestinians, mainly but not entirely Christian and Jewish, fought on the British side. (Israeli General Moshe Dayan lost his eye while guiding Australian infantry against Vichy French positions in Syria) Syria and Lebanon were French Mandated territories, also from WW1. The French commanders in Syria stayed with the Vichy (pro-German) government until defeated by Australian, Free French and British troops (probably some Indian, can't recall) in 1941. Iraq and Iran were both allied to Britain. There was a coup in Iraq that was pro-German but it was quickly defeated. Saudi Arabia was a British protectorate. Ditto for Yemen, Kuwait, etc. Local Independence movements in Iraq and Saudi probably were pro-Nazi, on the principle of "my enemy's enemy is my friend". The IRA in 1916 was pro-Imperial Germany for the same reason. The weirdest part of all of this is that late nineteenth century Arabs in Palestine were happy to cooperate with the original Zionists, selling them land etc. I wonder how much of the hatred between Arab and Jew in the twentieth century was a result of European anti-semitism, rather than locally developed anti-semitism? Turkey (not Arab) was neutral throughout WW2, but had very strong links with Britain. But then, Turkey has always had fractious relations with the Arab world anyway, since about 1098 or so. Libya was an Italian colony, same as Ethiopia. Morocco was a joint French/Spanish colony, allied mainly to the Vichy government. Tunisia and Algieria were Vichy French. It should be noted that all of the French territories had to follow whomever was in command locally about whether they went to the Free French or Vichy. None of these states were democracies, so the people themselves had no say whatever in the matter. It was generally a close run decision amongst the governing elite, with a lot of pro-Allied people working behind the scenes. I think Syria was the longest and hardest fought territory against the allies. Tunisia and Algieria went over to the Allies pretty quickly once invaded, in some places it was little more than a token fight put up. Most of the angst, though, was due to French/British rivalry, particularly as the British had killed hundreds of French sailors at Oman and Toulouse in 1940 when sinking the French fleets to prevent their use by the Germans. > Continuing the history lesson, from 1948 to 1967, Israel appealed to the Arab > countries to make peace but was always turned down. In 1967, facing an > imminent attack, Israel preemptively struck back at Egypt first, seizing the > Sinai peninsula, and at Jordan, seizing the West Bank - and all of Jerusalem. Israel attacked Egypt in 1956 in conjunction with French and British forces trying to reclaim the Suez Canal after Nasser nationalised it. The British and French were defeated, the Israelis weren't but had to return to their 1948 border afterwards. The rest of what Tom wrote is quite true: the Palestinians are not trusted by any other of the Arab regimes, none of whom wanted a disaffected and alien group like them in their population. The Arab world has been thoroughly badly led, and more than 50 years of propaganda has to be reversed amongst Israel's neighbours. The Palestinians themselves are still suffering from bad decisions made by the mufti of Jerusalem in 1947, who was decidedly pro-Nazi. Definitely, the sooner a democratic movement starts amongst the Arabs, the better all around. That is one of the reasons I think the Israeli invasion of Lebanon was stupid: Lebanon was moving towards democracy. And why the democratic movement in Iran MUST be fostered by the West. The tragedy as I see it is that the Palestinian people are the ones that are trapped. I think that is why they are now becoming the suicide bombers - in frustration as much as anything else. Yes, by all means the Palestinian Authority must be made democratic, but Israel's actions against Arafat are most certainly not the way to do it. Brett
