ABSTRACT
The Muslim threat towards Europe and to the West, as delineated in the schemes of the terrorist organizations, is played out on the security field and through the media. The Twin Towers, the terrorist explosions in London and Bali, and the Israeli confrontation with Hamas and Hizbullah on its borders, show how future battlefields and war doctrines can be rendered operational. Al-Qa'ida war doctrine lies in the gray zone between war and peace. It is harrowing to reflect on how effective this doctrine has been, and continues to be in our daily lives, starting with the Middle East, but going to the periphery of the Islamic world, in places like Australia and Canada. A survey for The Times indicated that the population at large is in a state of misunderstanding of Islam, the result of the fiery language of jihad and of the different ways of the Muslims which the public understands less and less and fears more and more.
