I asked the question if Islam is a religion that peaceful, then why all the wars and terrorism in the Middle East. Although I am not a historian or a professional politician, I have lived long enough in the region to understand some of the dynamics that can be linked to their problems. Nothing that I would write here could be the novel for this problem has been more covered, but it will try to establish from the perspective of an Egyptian American regular.
It is difficult to know where to start as it started long time ago when the Egyptian Empire that was the envy of the world at that time was weak enough as for all greedy neighbors strongly wrest part of Egyptian Treasures. Victim of Egypt filling numerous invaders who ruled for thousands of years. The last of these were the British who remained in Egypt from 1882 until 1954. The same fate was of more countries in the Middle East, but I will keep the Egyptian perspective as much as you can. Egypt during the period of the occupation was a very secular society. It was always the religious class, but respect religious beliefs does not seem be widely disseminated among the middle class. Although I am not old have witnessed this time I, books, articles and films reflect these previous comments.
The modern era of wars in the Middle East had already begun before the British army left Egypt with the 1948 war. It's the first war with Israel. Israel was a newly established country sanctioned by the British in the Palestinian territory that was controlled by the British at the time. This war cemented Israel in the area. The second war was in 1956 and was a reaction to the nationalization of the Suez Canal by the young nationalist President of Nasser. There is no religious roots to that war in which Israel, France and Britain attacked Egypt to regain control of the channel. War not be has been able to achieve its objectives and it had established to Nasser as an Arab nationalist hero. Second Guerra of Nasser with Israel was the six day war in 1967. A war that was and continues to be a disaster for the Arab countries. Israel took control of the West Bank, Gaza, the desert of Sinai and parts of Syria during this war. Apart from Sinai, Israel still controls this land seized until today. This new was not a religious war, but rather a political war. This is when it starts to get more interesting as religion mixed with politics.
Israel now took control of the City Holy Jerusalem. A city that is had claimed Holy by all 3 religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. From the perspective of Egypt, it was a great insult to lose this miserably and they have the desert of the Sinai under the occupation. Still there were no large religious movements in Egypt during this period 1967-1973. Nasser died and Sadat became the President. Continued construction of the Egyptian army efforts to avenge the disaster of 1967. In October 06, 1973, the fourth great war broke out as Egypt tried to recover lost ground and the Egyptians were on the move. They were winning the war against Israel, but with the help of the United States and errors of the Egyptians, the tide was turning and the Egyptians had to accept a call for an end to the war. Sadat realizing that militarily does not seem possible to regain the Earth, began to negotiate with Israel. A step that finally returned the Sinai to Egypt, but also was a movement that isolated Egypt from the Arab world. Sadat was a hero in the Western world, but was a very controversial figure within Egypt. It can not be known to many that Sadat may have been the main mentor of religious radicalism in Egypt which led to its eventual demise in 1981. This will be discussed in the second part, but ultimately this part can be seen that the great wars in the Middle East were mainly driven by nationalist units, self-defense and self-protection rather than religious beliefs.
Mohamed Al [http://www.homeforthoughts.com]