(Telegraph-UK) Janet Daley - Washington and Israel - and London, too - are, for the moment, in the same game. Their goal is the eradication of an international terror network that uses the fate of Palestinian refugees as a pretext when it suits, but is actually dedicated to a transcendental vision of Arabic conquest of historical territories. The closest parallel in modern history to this dream of reclaiming ancient lands from the usurper was the Nazi dream of Aryan reclamation of those parts of Europe with Germanic roots. The Wagnerian, German romantic mythology of expulsion from homelands leading to a sacred Teutonic mission of rebirth has an uncannily similar ring to the new Islamist claims of Muslim displacement and injustice. Europe should have learned its lesson about dealing with this kind of insanity - and about what happens when you try to pretend that it is somehow capable of rational containment.
2004-04-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive