President George Bush had increased U.S. support for Israel.

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President George Bush had increased U.S. support for Israel.

Before the second bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the administration of President Bush in the U.S. had increased its support for the Israeli government and therefore also Israeli violence. President Bush talked about this in a way that could be interpreted as cooperating with the Israelis against the Arabs. The Clinton administration, in contrast, was more careful not to say things which could be interpreted as an incitement to violence. The U.S. support for Israeli violence is the principle reason that terrorists against the U.S. find so much support among Arabs. Without this support the terrorists could not operate.

This is such an important fact that it needs to be repeated. Arab terrorists could not operate against the U.S. without broad support from the Arab people. They have that support principally because of U.S. interference with political and social issues in the region.

In response to an earlier version of this book, the author has received comments that U.S. president George W. Bush may not be intelligent enough to understand the issues. One person said, "It probably never occurred to him that supporting Israel could possibly lead to any kind of increased violence."

Another said, "In just 8 months, Bush gets the whole world back to hating us again. He withdraws from the Kyoto agreement, walks us out of the Durban conference on racism, insists on restarting the arms race..."

Showing a lack of understanding of history, President Bush, in a speech to the nation on Sunday, September 16, 2001, used the term "crusade" to refer to what he wants for the United States. During the Crusades [rhodes.edu], from 1095 to 1291 A.D., Europeans traveled to Arab countries to kill Arabs.

Fouad Ajami, who works for a magazine called U.S. News and World Report [usnews.com], and who is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said on the Charlie Rose interview show [pbs.org], broadcast by PBS TV on September 19, 2001, "... in effect that is exactly what the fundamentalists, and what the crowds in Karachi have already been — howling, that this is a crusade..." (The long dash, — , indicates a delay in speaking.)

In calling for a "crusade", President Bush said the worst thing that could possibly be said. To many Arabs, this word meant that he was calling for an indiscriminate killing of Arabs. ABC News reported in a September 22, 2001 story that the term was upsetting to many people in the Middle East.

The money donated by the U.S. government to Israel is like fuel thrown on a fire. The amount is said to total about $5.25 billion per year, when all amounts are considered. This is an enormous amount of money to a prosperous country of well-educated people. The population of Israel [cbs.gov.il] is about 5.8 million people (1996), so Israel receives from the U.S. government an astounding $905 per year for every man, woman and child who lives there. (In the entire world, there are only about 14,000,000 Jews.)

Why does the U.S. government give huge amounts of money to an already prosperous country? An article written from notes of a speech by San Francisco, California, political science professor Stephen Zunes explains that U.S. weapons manufacturers sell weapons to both Israel and to Arab countries. The article, U.S. Aid to Israel: Interpreting the "Strategic Relationship" [thirdworldtraveler.com] says,

According to Zunes, ""the Israelis announced back in 1991 that they supported the idea of a freeze in Middle East arms transfers, yet it was the United States that rejected it."

If the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians were resolved, Israel would have to give up the easy money from the U.S. government. Some people have suggested that is the reason the conflict has not been resolved.

The problems between Jews and Arabs began thousands of years ago. However, there have been numerous situations during the centuries in which Jews and Arabs have lived together happily. The present problems are less than a century old and were caused by issues surrounding the formation of Israel as a country for the Jews.

There is an excellent short book available online that explains the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. It was written by Jews who recognize that there was unfairness by Jews in the formation of Israel. The title is The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict [cactus48.com]. Here is a quote from the chapter called Conclusion for Jewish Readers [cactus48.com]: "We know it is hard to accept emotionally, but in this case the Jewish people are in the wrong. We took most of Palestine by force from the Arabs and blamed the victims for resisting their dispossession."

An article on an official web site of the country of Jordan, first published in November of 1947, expresses the same message, in very well-written English: As the Arabs see the Jews [kinghussein.gov.jo]. For a more complete history of the Jewish-Arab conflict, see The Great Arab Revolt [kinghussein.gov.jo]. It is told from the perspective of one Arab country, Jordan.

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