Why does the Middle East hate the west?

Answer 1

This is a complicated question because the answer is complex and can become inflammatory quite easily. Please bear this in mind as you read the answer.

1) Palestinian Indigenous Rights: The indigenous Palestinians and their descendants are aggrieved that people from abroad would come to the land that the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had lived on and worked for as long as they could remember and buy that land from the Ottomans without consulting them. Moreover, these people had a particular agenda to establish a state on the land they called their own. Understandably, the Palestinians, and many of their Arab brethren who support them, are opposed to the Zionist project for these emotional and political considerations. Additionally, the Israeli Military Occupation of the West Bank Territories and the Blockade of Gaza represents a true legal and humanitarian crisis for Supporters of an Independent Palestine and the Palestinian People. To many Arabs, the Palestinians must have the right to go back to their homes (although it is doubtful that they would have permitted that right to the Jews should the Arabs have been victorious in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9).

2) International Legal Violations: Israel has engaged in a number of policies in violation of international law, such as the unification of Jerusalem, the settlements in the West Bank, the annexation of the Golan Heights, etc.. Israel is not reticent for performing such acts and claims that it violates those laws because they are prejudicial to its rights and interests. If other countries did the same, (Iran is a great example), they are sternly reprimanded by the international community and forced to toe the line.

3) Anti-Semitism: This should be self-evident. The Logic goes thus: Anti-Semites oppose any Jewish aspiration to freedom and/or power. Zionism promotes Self-Determination for the Jewish people which is an aspiration to freedom and power. Therefore, Anti-Semites oppose Zionism. Additionally, many people who are Anti-Semitic see Jews as running some sort of international cabal to strip power from everyone else. Equipped with a country, who knows what further havoc Jews could cause. The Arab World is prone to these types of conspiracy theories, making the Protocols of Zion and Mein Kampf bestsellers in the Arab World. There are many respectable Arabs who take these works seriously as historical discussions of Jews.

4) Jewish Reversal of Dhimmi System: The Arab class system during the Islamic Empires had always been very clear. Muslims were of a superior class to the non-Muslims (usually Jews and Christians) called Dhimmi (which means protected ones). This is coupled with the Islamic assertion that once a land comes under Muslim domination that the land should not convert to non-Muslim power. A small minority of Muslim Revanchists make claims at controlling Spain, which was only ruled in parts by Muslims for 700 years over 500 years ago. Israel sits on lands that were under Islamic domination for nearly 1300 years (with a less than a century under the Crusader States). Therefore, many Muslim Arabs rejected the Jewish state purely because it was Jewish. Had it been just another Muslim group, a separate state would have been accepted without controversy, like has been the case for the 22 other Muslim Arab states. But it was intolerable to allow the Dhimmis to set up a state, especially one in which Dhimmis would rule over some Muslims.

Some information on the discrimination against the Dhimmi: The Dhimmi was required to pay a number of taxes that were connected with his dhimmi status. The most famous was the jizya, which was a tax that Dhimmi had to pay for Muslims for the right to not be killed where they stood for not acknowledging Mohammed's Prophecy; it was a form of humiliation. Additional taxes included the kharaj, which was a tax on non-Muslim land-holdings in the Muslim World. The kharaj was so untenable that most Dhimmi were forced to live in the cities where the tax would not be applicable. On paper, a Christian or Jew could testify against a Muslim, but in reality, such testimony was not acceptable and the attempt to "defame" a Muslim would receive retribution. Christians and Jews were not allowed to build new houses of worship, restore old houses of worship, proselytize in any way (this included religious debate or dialogue), or allow wine or pigs to be shown in public.

5) Arab Nationalism: Arab Nationalism as a movement crystallized in the 1930s and came to the political fore in the 1960s. Arab Nationalism is a movement that seeks to create an Arab State or multiple Arab States based on common cultural and historical markers. This movement began to make a tether between Arab cultural identity and Islamic religious identity. This was especially keen in places with large non-Muslim communities because those communities typically worked closely with the European colonizers seen to be repressing the Arab identity. Zionism, which is a movement based on a European cultural identity and a Jewish religious identity was antithetical to the Arab Nationalist movement ideologically and claims territory that Arab Nationalists also claim putting them at odds politically.

6) Islamism: Islamism, the political philosophy that Shari'a or Islamic Religious Law should be the grounds upon which a state is ruled, strenuously opposes any Western-style of government because it does not uphold Islamic moral standards (for example: gays and haram meats are permitted). Israel, as a secular, Westernized State is opposed for this reason. Israel, specifically, is also hated by Islamists for two reasons unique to Israel. The first is that the Jews are the ones in power. In the Islamist conception, only Muslims should be in power in the State and any non-Muslim minorities should have a secondary role if they should have one at all. Second, Israel is situated in territory which used to be governed by Muslims for nearly 1300 years (with a century-long break under the Crusader States). As a result, Israel is considered a usurpation of historical Islamic authority whereas European countries (for example) never had Islamic authority before.

It is worth noting that not all Muslims are opposed to the State of Israel and there are several Islamic arguments in favor of the State of Israel, such as those advocated by Sheikh Hadi Palazzi, Irshad Manji, and Tawfik Hamid. None of these individuals, though, is an Islamist. Of the Muslims who oppose the State of Israel, not all of them are Islamist either, many are Arab Nationalists or have no general political affiliation and oppose the State of Israel for one of the many other reasons listed here. Finally, Islam/Muslim/Islamic is the religion and Islamism/Islamist is the political philosophy; the two are different.

7) Anti-Colonialism: While Arab Nationalism was an anti-colonial movement, the general principles of the anti-colonialism led to a rejection of States based on European values in non-European locations with a large number of non-European (ethnically speaking) inhabitants. This sentiment was felt most strongly towards (South) Rhodesia, South Africa, and what would become Israel. Anti-colonialists believe that Asians and Africans had the right to Self-Determination pursuant to their cultures. However, Rhodesian and South African institutions could and did eventually convert to being African nations (in the true sense of the term) because their racist infrastructure could be reformed. Zionism is by default a government by the Jews and would cease to be Zionist if the Jews were taken out of the leadership position. Thus Zionism catches the ire of anti-colonialists.

8) Non-Jewish Holy Sites: Since the Holy Land does not only have Jewish Holy Sites, but also has Christian and Muslim Holy Sites, there is opposition in these communities to Jews having a physical monopoly and control of these holy sites. Therefore, Arab Muslims and Christians opposed the idea of a Jewish Nation State that could do exactly that.

9) Political Antagonism: If State A has a lot of wars with State B, State A and B will develop a mutual animosity towards each other and their raisons d'être. There are a number of politically independent or partially independent Peoples and States that came into conflict with the Halutzim (Jewish Pioneers in the British Mandate of Palestine), the Haganah et al. (Jewish Militias), and Tzahal (the Israeli Army). This has only increased with the numerous Arab-Israeli Wars, the Intifadas, the Occupation of the West Bank and the Blockade of Gaza, and Israel's acquisition of nuclear weaponry.

10) Anti-Nationalism: In today's world, as things like globalization, cultural diffusion, and mixed ethnicities in major districts become more prominent, the Zionist model of a Nation-State dedicated to one race or religion seems anachronistic. Germany, founded on the same model, now has the issue of integrating Turks (and their children) into the German state, but since Germans always lived in Germany and constituted a majority there, as opposed to being a reorganized Diaspora, nobody suggests that Germans should "return" to a more cosmopolitan type of existence. This is, however, oftentimes suggested by Anti-Nationalists and Post-Nationalists concerning the Jews and their State.

Answer 2

Contrary to President George W. Bush's announcement "They hate us for our freedom", this is certainly NOT the reason for Anti-Western sentiment.

Any person who has been to an Arab country can tell you exactly why Americans are disliked across the Arab World. Our foreign policy is very problematic. These acts cause resentment; and in many Arab countries, the damage is already done and the West would be unable to recover. Major grievances against the West include:

Economic Imperialism: The United States and other Western countries have an incredible amount of power to shape the economies of other countries. For example, the United States has completely destroyed the endemic Egyptian agriculture industry by subsidizing US production so that food prices from US food producers are far cheaper than any Egyptian could produce it at. Although such activities are illegal according to the World Trade Organization, the US power in this organization effectively prevents the raising of this claim. Egypt is not the only country that suffers from US economic imperialism. The United States engages in over 200 dumping activities annually and subsidizes many industries which form the major non-petroleum production in Arab countries.

Additionally, as the largest stakeholder in the International Monetary Fund, the United States has an important role in designing the loans that the IMF gives out to developing countries. In many cases, the IMF pushes for an end to trade barriers, which prevents industries from developing in-country and makes those countries import-dependent. Also, many domestic interests cannot be funded such as education and medicare, forcing the country to remain in the same position perpetually. A few of the poorer Middle Eastern countries have been directly affected by the strings attached to IMF loans.

Support for Certain Countries: There are two parts to this. Firstly, the United States and Western Powers help to prop up a state that Arab countries vehemently oppose: Israel. This leads to Arab citizens disliking Western policy. Of course, this is not to say that the Western action is illegitimate or incorrect, but they have chosen a side and naturally the opposition will feel anger.

Secondly, the United States has supported numerous brutal dictators in various countries. In the Middle East, the United States supported Hosni Mubarak and continues to Mohammed Morsi, two individuals who have consistently attacked and demonized the citizens of Egypt. Additionally, many Middle Eastern dictators received funding from the USA in acquiring technologies capable of more effectively repressing their people from tear gas to computer programs and viruses.

CIA Activities and Coups d'État: The United States did not just protect governments that were sadistic to their own citizens. In several instances, they helped install them as well. In the case of the Shah of Iran (in 1953), the CIA along with British agents actively caused revolts in the country, toppling legitimate governments to put violent dictators in power. In the Iranian Case, Mossadegh was an elected Prime Minister who served the interests of the Iranian people. Unfortunately, those actions prejudiced Western access to cheap Iranian oil and the CIA replaced Mossadegh with an authoritarian dictator, the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who would give them the cheap oil again. The idea that Western countries can replace leaders around the world with impunity is very angering to many individuals.

Cold War Activities: During the Cold War, the United States engaged in numerous proxy wars with the Soviets with many third-world countries as the battlegrounds. The Arab-Israeli Conflict was, in many ways, a US-Soviet proxy war. Over 100,000 Arabs have died and nearly 1,000,000 have been made refugees due to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, which was exaggerated by the US and Soviet interference.

Military Bases All Over the World: The United States maintains military bases in over 100 different countries. If this is not a projection of military might, there is nothing that would be.

Unilateralism: The United States consistently avoids working within the bounds of the international community. The USA typically only negotiates with other countries when it suits them. They are more than willing to "go it alone" when everyone disagrees with them. The clearest example of this was the Invasion of Iraq. When US Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the cause to go to war to the United Nations, the other nations refused to go along with the United States. Therefore, instead of backing down and clarifying their research, the Americans invaded Iraq. Callously disregarding someone else's view will certainly anger them.

Invasion and Attacking Numerous Muslim-Majority Countries: The United States and most European countries are currently at war in Afghanistan and were previously at war in Iraq. While the invasion of Afghanistan may have been warranted, the fact that it continues and has even widened with drone strikes in Pakistan infuriates Arabs who see Afghans and Pakistanis as their brothers in Islam. The War in Iraq is seen almost uniformly by Arabs as a war without legitimate grounding and an attempt to get a hold of Arab resources like petroleum as opposed to a serious security threat.

Criticism of Islam and Anti-Islamic Sentiment:Western countries allow for discussion of Islam in less than flattering terms as an extension of First Amendment Rights. Muslim Arabs find such comments offensive and a misunderstanding of their religion regardless of whether they are based on accurate assessments of Islamic Works or they are hate-mongering. Muslim Arabs see religion trumping freedom of speech whereas most Americans see freedom of speech trumping religion. This ideological discrepancy also causes Arab resentment towards Western countries for permitting such speech.