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For obvious historical reasons, the West has great sympathy for Israel. The persecution of the Jews by the Nazis led, understandably, to feelings of guilt both in the country of the erstwhile persecutors and amongst other Western countries who could have done more to save the Jews from that persecution. But Arabs have never understood how justifiable sympathy for one persecuted people can somehow excuse the persecution of another. If it was wrong for the Nazis to deny the rights of citizenship to the Jews, it must surely be wrong for Israel to deny the rights of citizenship to the Palestinians; if it was wrong for the Nazis to use the military power of the State to oppress a people, it must be wrong for the Israelis to oppress the Palestinians. If it was wrong for the Nazis to arrest Jews without due process of law, it must be wrong for the Israelis to carry out mass arrests of Palestinians without due legal process.
Of course the parallel is not exact. But it is sufficiently close for any reasonable person to realize that similar issues of moral principle are involved.
The purpose of this brief historical résumé is to try to explain why the Arab world in general and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as guardian of Islam’s Holy Sites in particular have found it so difficult to accommodate what has been essentially a twentieth century act of colonization. It also helps to explain why King Fahd, following in the tradition of his predecessors, has given special attention to the plight of the Palestinians and has used every means at his disposal to find a way to a just peace.
