Terrorist Conjunction; The: United States, The, Israeli- Pales

Description:
Missing from many contemporary analyses of the causes of terrorism is any mention of the role of U.S. foreign policy, an examination of which is seen by some critics as inherently unpatriotic. Even less attention is paid to the role of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The author, who has lived in the Middle East and who has studied the region for more than four decades, does not shy away from such controversies. In this book, he discusses the seminal causes of contemporary transnational terrorism, particularly the grievances inherent in the persistent Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The author examines state and anti-state forms of terrorism, and he carefully distinguishes between terrorism carried out in pursuit of national liberation by the Palestinians and the theologically driven jihadism that feeds on it. He considers anti-Western Islamism as being reactive to a U.S. Middle East policy inordinately influenced by the Zionist lobby. He reflects on Muslim and Islamist world views and assesses the U.S. reaction to terrorism after 9/11, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He argues that U.S. support for Israel's unchecked expansionism, the ill-conceived U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the lack of communications with Syria and Iran are perceived by most Muslims as harbingers of an ongoing new 'crusade. ' They constitute the main pernicious elements upon which the wider-reaching vengeful Islamist 'theopolitical' jihadism thrives, ultimately threatening the spread of democracy, the survival of Israel in the Middle East, and peaceful coexistence with the Muslim world.

Author Biography:
Alfred G. Gerteiny is Professor of History and International Relations at the University of Connecticut in Stamford. He has been a long-time media commentator on the Middle East, Africa, terrorism, and U.S. foreign policy.