The West versus the Arab World: Deconstructing the Divide

Introduction: Globalization and the Resurrection of Mega-Identities

The nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth were dominated by the nation-state system and the secular nationalisms associated with it. But the Cold War recreated the forgotten sense of belonging to what could be called a mega-identity structure, as the Soviet bloc and the Western democracies confronted each other, with their respective institutions1 and ideologies2 in a hostile face-off. Such a confrontation between groups of diverse societies and nations had not been seen since the end of the Middle Ages, when Christendom and Islam constituted two different and opposed worlds. Its modern reincarnation was the East/West confrontation.

As the Soviet bloc crumbled in 1989, a major power vacuum emerged in the international system. However, contrary to optimistic expectations, the generalization of the democratic system based on the rule of law and the respect for individual human rights did not take place.3 Rather, what emerged was a new divide between the ‘Muslim’ World (centered on the Arab countries) and the ‘Judeo-Christian’ World. This divide has become central in international relations. It has been constructed on various old and new cultural and historical backgrounds belonging to the respective new mega-identities.4 Globalized communications augment the perception of threat on both sides of the divide, as epitomized by Samuel Huntingon's ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis based on religious identity5 Recently, President George Bush has lent credibility to the Huntingtonian vision by describing what he sees as an all-out war in which the United States is pitted against Islamic militants supposedly attempting to establish a radical Muslim empire from Indonesia to Spain, with the aim of destroying ‘civilization’.6

This chapter will attempt to deconstruct the mutual feelings of hostility between the Arab World, Europe's next-door neighbor, and the Western world, whose self-definitions allude increasingly to Judeo-Christian values. It is to be hoped that uncovering the roots of hostility and fear may contribute to easing the tensions now being fueled by most official political discourse.

Israel in the Perspective of Radically Different Historical Traumas

All too often, Western decision-makers presume that Arab public opinion has the same feelings and emotions concerning key issues in international affairs as Westerners do. In so doing, they forget that the Arabs (as well as people in other non-Western nations, whether Muslim or non-Muslim), have not experienced the same historical traumas and have been only indirectly exposed to European history. These traumas should be clearly identified because they continue to influence considerably the ‘Western’ view on the conduct of world affairs, particularly in the Middle East.

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