ABSTRACT
The Islamic world feels itself under siege from the West in numerous vital political, military, cultural, social, and economic realms. The moral weight of the Palestinians' dilemma in the eyes of the Muslim public has also placed non-ignorable demands upon Arab leaders to support the Palestinian cause in one way or another. European and US Muslim communities are also subject to influences from abroad. Western states, especially the United States, have placed unremitting pressure upon the Muslim world to accept and deal with Israel. Frictions with the West in the economic realm are even more complex and often reflect broader North-South frictions over economic relations of inequality. They also reflect anxiety and defensiveness about an ability to cope with the realities of a new economic order in the Middle East after an Arab-Israeli peace settlement that, it is feared, will be dominated by Israel at Arab expense.
