Gilbakka posted:Finished reading THE CRUSADES THROUGH ARAB EYES by Lebanese historian Amin Maalouf. First published in 1983 it covers the period 1094 to 1291 when European Christian armies waged a series of wars against Arab Muslims and Jews for control of Jerusalem, a city sacred to the three groups of believers. The battlefields stretched throughout Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt and parts of North Africa. The Arabs won those wars eventually and one of their heroes is widely remembered today --- Saladin, the Kurdish ruler of Syria and Egypt. The most remembered of the Christian Crusaders is Richard the Lionheart, King of England.
Reading this book, I can see why there is never ending animosity between peoples of the Arab world and the West. In fact it can be traced to the 11th-13th centuries.
You have to go back earlier. Muslims moved in because of their Koran and drove the people there in the 7th century. They hold the place sacred so they fought to get it back.
Saladin saying that christians can live ther is like whites telling natives that you can live in the reservations. It was not his to give give except he fought to defend previous invasions.