Why The Arabs Hates The West? Critical Thinking Samples

For many years, the love-hate relationship between Arab countries and Western societies has been going on. The hatred of the Arabs for the Western societies stems from European colonialism, which led to the rise of Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism, the constant meddling of Western societies within Arab nations and the Israelis’ influence on the West. The West did everything they could to disrupt life in Arab nations. From putting in puppet governments that would do the bidding of the Western government to causing or supporting revolutions. However, in turn, Western societies did little to help make life better in Arab nations. This led many Arabs to see Western societies as manipulators who only want to use Arabs for the benefit of the west.
One of the main reasons the Arab hate Western societies is that the West had colonized many of the countries in the Middle East. Arab countries such as Egypt had two different class of people which were the poor and the rich. The British Empire took control over the Egyptian monarchy and the Egyptian society. However, instead of improving the Egyptian society, the British Empire only made it worse. The Egyptian population had grown from two million to twenty million which was about 2% growth rate each year during the 1950s. The Europeans did not bother to employ the growing population in the various factory or land jobs that were being created at the time. Instead, many of the Egyptians were left struggling to make a living within the limited space available to them.
With the backing of the United States, the angry Egyptians decided to rise against their king who was weak and pro-British. The United States, for its part, only seen the Egyptians as being the leader of the Arab world. For that reason, the United States threw its support behind the Egyptians. If the revolt was a success, the United States was under the impression that the Egyptians would favor the Americans over the British Empire. However, the United States did not count on the Arabs becoming nationalists and refusing all outside forces, particularly those from Western societies.
After the free officer revolt, the United States understood that they had only two choices that could be used to turn the Arabs towards America. “There was the Iranian or Vietnamese way—set up a pliable, pro-American regime—or there was the Caffery’s way—support the indigenous nationalists to earn their goodwill.” (148). However, even with these choices, the United States still could not be certain any would succeed in turning the young, inexperienced revolutionists to the United States. Furthermore, the United States could not risk alienating themselves from the British just yet because they still needed the British in the United Nations in order to resolve other issues. For the Egyptians, seeing that the Western society was still meddling in their affairs even after their revolution had angered many anti-Westerners. What started out as a revolution to rid itself of outside forces, weak rulers, and unite the Arab nations under one rule had turned into something completely different. Arab nationalism gave rise to Islamic fundamentalism.
The rise of Islamic fundamentalism stemmed from conservative Muslims hatred of the British secularism. Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood saw the need to not only to rid themselves of the British rule but to rid their society of all Western and secular influence. Instead of wanting to unite the Arab nations under one rule, the Muslim Brotherhood saw the need to unite the entire world under the rule of one Islamic government. The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan el-Banna, decided that all “[b]orders would be determined by creed, not nationality,..” (Wawro 151) Unlike the previous political party, the Muslim Brotherhood was able to rally the Egyptian poor against the rich in their society.
However, the unification of societies either local or international would be impossible because the various Muslim societies could never get along with each other even without outside forces acting upon them. Islamic fundamentalism did not sit very well with the Arab nationalism. While they were one of the largest political party and successful with the poor people, the Muslim Brotherhood became a target for many anti-Islamic fundamentalists. As a result, many of the top officials of the Muslim Brotherhood were executed. Even though many of its top officials were killed, many of the Muslim Brotherhood members continued to fight against secularism within Arab nations, as well as fight against Western influence on their society.
Western meddling in Arab societies continued throughout the revolution. In fact, it was the CIA that instructed Miles Copeland assist Egyptians with the overthrow of Farouk which was started by Nasser's free officers. In the case of the formation of Israel, Western societies met secretly with many of the Arab leaders in order to convince them to publically accept Israel’s right to exist. Western meddling in the Arab societies had become the norm. When one country such as the British, left an Arab country, another country, such as the United States, stepped in to filled the void and make allies.
Finally, the Arabs hatred towards Western societies comes from the influence of Israel on Western governments. The very existence of Israel created a conflict within the Arab world. When the land was partition to make room for the creation of Israel, many Arabs were uprooted from their homeland. Many Arab nations refused to recognize Israel’s existence. As the United States were trying to establish relations with the Egyptians, Israel saw the need to intervene. The Washington Israeli embassy questioned, “Why is America seeking a security relationship with Cairo?” (Wawro 155)
The Israelis pointed out to the Americans would form a better alliance with Israel because the Israelis already had the necessary armed forces, weapons, and were willing and able to fight when the United States called. The Egyptians had to be armed by the United States and even with the required armed forces, the Arabs could not guarantee they would fight on the United States’ side. As a result of the Americans willingness to ally itself with Arabs, Israel saw the need go to Washington to lobby against any large, strong Arab organization that might influence the United States’ government away from its relationship with the Israelis. Furthermore, the Israelis took steps to prevent the United States from making a peace agreement with the Israel’s Arab neighbors.
Moreover, the Israelis believed that the West were not serious about their country because Israel lacked a strong and numerous population. By attempting to increase its population, the Israelis succeeded in making the Western societies look foolish. Before, the Israelis said they were unable to take in any of the Arab refugees because they had limited lands available. At the same time, the influx of Jewish immigrants increased substantially. Additionally, the Israel continued their attempt at grabbing more land from the Arabs without Western societies stepping in to prevent them from doing so. In fact, instead of preventing the Israel from taking more of the Arabs' lands, the West attempted to get the Arabs to acknowledge Israel's right to exist. Many Arab leaders were assassinated by fanatics who refuse to see their country sign any treaty or official paper that acknowledged Israel. After the assassinations of some of the Arab leaders, others refused to even speak publically about acknowledging Israel’s right to exist for fear they would get killed as well. The attempted land grab by the Israelis and the inaction of the West led to the hatred that many Arabs harbored.
Many of the actions taken by Western societies has disrupted the peace within the Arab nations. Western governments were behind many of the Arabs' puppeteer governments that left many Arab nations with weak rulers and their society angry. Often, Western nations have simply seen Arab countries as a place to acquire goods and to sell Western products or services. This was done with little or no regard for the lifestyle of the native Arabs. Furthermore, the expanding gap between the rich and poor class with the Arab societies led to revolutions. Ultimately, the Arabs seen the rise of nationalism and religious fundamentalism. However, both nationalism and religious fundamentalism were not always agreeable to each other which led to some execution. As for the West, they continued to meddle in Arab societies even after revolutions had finished. Addition to meddling, the West supported the formation of Israel. This formation led to the displacement of many Arabs. As Israel tried to grab more land from the Arabs, the West tried to push Arabs into accepting and publically announcing that Israel had the right to exist. Many Arab leaders refused to speak about the existence of Israel for fear they will be killed after some Arab leaders were murdered. While there were more to why the Arabs hate the West, many of these issues were some of the main reasons why the Arabs developed hatred for the Western societies.

Works Cited

Wawro, Geoffrey. "Chapter 5 - NASSER." Quicksand: America's pursuit of power in the Middle East. New York: Penguin Press, 2010. 139-175. Print.