ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the West as a throwback to the Middle Ages, was spreading his Islamist message by means of long-distance phone calls, cassette tapes, and Western television news broadcasts. The United States sent troops to join three European powers to force the withdrawal of Syrian and Israeli forces from Lebanon and to persuade the country's warring factions to reform their government. Iran, located between the Soviet Union and the Gulf, played a strategic role in US efforts to contain Soviet expansionism. Religion scored major gains, among Coptic Christians as well as Muslims, after Egypt's 1967 defeat. The Palestinians, too, were divided. Some supported the Intifada as an all-out struggle against the occupation, whereas others advocated that those who had been under Israel's administration for two decades should take an active part in Israeli politics. In December 1987 they chose to fight for their own cause.
