Word: arabized
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...back to me after the war. From George Bush on down, many in the West celebrated a victory not just of military strength but of political values. Democracy is the word most often used to summarize those values. But the institutions associated with democracy have never thrived in the Arab world, and the welcome outcome of the gulf war is not likely to change that...
...fears were not only military. Diplomatic experts warned that a provocation of Saddam could only lead to attacks on Israel, which undoubtedly would spark reprisals and perhaps an Arab-Israeli war. This would splinter Bush's fragile coalition (if only for reasons of domestic dissent within Arab members of the coalition) and spur Arab support for Saddam Hussein...
...remarkably widespread among Saddam's Palestinian supporters, who simply cannot accept that they have once again backed a loser. Even after the Iraqi leader cavalierly jettisoned their cause during last- ditch peace negotiations with the Soviets, many Palestinians refuse to believe they have been abandoned by yet another Arab leader. "It's very hard for Palestinians to admit that they were sold out," said Mohammed Kamel, a merchant from Jerusalem's Old City. "We are depressed and desperate because we have no friends and no allies. This is the story of our lives...
Palestinians blame everyone but themselves for their latest setback, failing to acknowledge that the enormous political and financial damage they are suffering is largely self-inflicted. By siding with Saddam, they lost sympathy and support among the allies, both Western and Arab, and handed Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir a propaganda windfall. Unless they quickly face up to their mistakes, they will miss a unique opportunity to press their case in postwar negotiations...
This capacity for denial even in the face of manifest evidence may strike Westerners as absurd, but it is deeply rooted in the Arab psyche's mixture of bravado, rhetoric and religious conviction. Arabs denied Israel's existence for decades and believed that Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had a trick up his sleeve when his air force was destroyed in the first hours of the 1967 war. Fouad Subhi, a butcher at the Baqa'a refugee camp near Amman, still puts his faith in Saddam: "After he rebuilds Iraq, he will try to liberate Palestine again...