A Concise History of the Arabs

It is therefore vital to understand how the Arab world has arrived where it is today, and that can only be done by learning about its history. If we do not do so, we cannot heal the rifts between us.

the centuries – is not a clash of civilisations but a concatenation of historical events, misguided policies and wilful ignorance which have opened an ever-deepening rift between Europe and the USA on one side, and the Arab world on the other.

Civilised cultures influence and benefit each other. If they do not, they are quite simply not civilised.

None of the uprisings started in the name of Islam, but Islamist politicians seemed to be the beneficiaries of the first truly democratic elections held in Arab countries for decades.

There were also two major international issues which refused to go away: the unfinished business between Israelis and Arabs which had been a destabilising factor for decades, and the ambitions of non-Arab Iran to project its influence across the region.

The upheavals now known as the Arab Spring cannot be understood unless they are put in the context of the long history of the Arabs.