Gaza and a few settlements on the West Bank
back on track for 2005. The Palestinians elected
the more pragmatic Mahmoud Abbas in January
2005, who may be able to reduce the corruption
of the Palestinian authority and could create an
administration that can persuade Hamas to end
suicide bombings and violence, bringing to an
end the intifadaand Israeli retaliations that have
killed hundreds of innocents in ‘collateral
damage’ although militants were targeted. Israel’s
neighbours also want to achieve a settlement.
Much too will depend on more even-handed
pressure, above all from the US. The creation of
peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a
great prize to win, the road ahead still full of dif-
ficulties, twists and turns.
Does the Muslim militancy mark the opening of
new war of ideology and culture between the
Muslim and the Western world in the twenty-first
century?
One-fifth of the world’s population is Muslim.
Like other people, Muslims’ overwhelming wish is
to live peaceful lives. Islam encompasses many dif-
ferent peoples. The Muslims of Indonesia have no
more in common with those in Algeria than
Christians in India with Christians in Germany.
Some Muslims live in secular states, such as Egypt,
others in countries where religious leaders exert
great influence. Saudi Arabia is ruled by a feudal
hierarchy, Syria by a clan-based autocrat, Morocco
by a monarchy, Tunisia has an elective presidency,
Iran a form of theocracy; they are all very different
societies. There is far greater diversity than merely
the divisions between Sunni and Shia. Muslims
have generally been swayed by national allegiances
rather than by common religious bonds; conse-
quently, they are also divided among themselves.
Fears in the West confuse a revival of Islam with
the terrorist perversions of fanatical minorities.
Since the 1970s there has been a strong resur-
gence of religion in the Muslim world. This
revival criticises the values and questions the
materialism of the West, asserting an Islamic iden-
tity after decades of Western colonialism. Both on
an individual level and in the secular nations
of the Muslim world Muslims have attempted to
reverse the decline of Islam. But Islam has not
turned its back on modern science and technol-
ogy. In 1997 Iran was on the brink of achieving
the complete literacy of its people; it also made
birth control freely available. Reformers such as
Mohammed Iqbal, the Indian philosopher and
poet, revived the message of Islam in the twenti-
eth century; his aim was to combine the Islamic
way of life with the best elements of life in the
West. Muslim communities have established
themselves in the West and, despite racist attacks,
have made a large contribution to national life,
fostering a greater acceptance of multicultural
societies. Such people have nothing in common
with the fanatics who use their own interpretation
of ‘holy war’ to sanction the killing of innocent
men, women and children. Most Islamic organi-
sations work peacefully and constructively within
the political systems of countries they live in and
condemn the terrorists out of hand. The danger
is that frustrated youths despair of social and eco-
nomic improvements in the West and in countries
of the Middle East, oppose regimes relying on
coercion, and turn to fanatical Muslim leaders for
the promise of a new and better life.
The resolve of militant Islam was strengthened
enormously by the humiliation suffered by Arab
armies in the 1967 war and by Israel’s occupation
of more Arab land. Israel was the principal enemy
target, along with any Arab leader who was ready
to make peace. Egypt’s President Sadat fell victim
to the terrorists’ implacable hostility. The Iranian
revolution provided a boost to militancy and Iran
provided weapons and training to the Lebanese-
based Hizbullah (Party of God), who successfully
fought to drive the Israelis out of their southern
‘security zone’. Radical groups also won the sup-
port of the poor by setting up, in close association
with mosques, schools, clinics and social services
in deprived urban areas from Cairo to Algiers.
Events in Algeria serve as a good example.
In Algeria radical Islamic groups have also
caused thousands of deaths in an internal conflict
against the regime. The West was forced to pay
attention when Europeans became involved:
bombs exploded in the Paris Metro and there
were fears in France of unrest among the Algerian
population. In Algeria the socialist policies of the
only party, the FLN, who were in power from938 GLOBAL CHANGE: FROM THE 20th TO THE 21st CENTURY