Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Middle East in the Colonial Period 2. Great Power Influences, Zionism and the Middle East 3. Israel and the Arabs at War: Superpower Dimensions and the Israeli-US Alliance 4. Islamism and the Iranian Revolution 5. Proxy War: The Superpowers in Afghanistan 6. Wars in the Persian Gulf 7. Israel and Palestine: The Failure to Find Peace & the Role of the US 8. The Iraq ‘Adventure’ and Arab Perceptions of the US. Conclusion

About the Author

Dr Kylie Baxter is Deputy Director of the Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on Islamic politics and conflict in the Middle East. She is also the author of British Muslims and the Call to Global Jihad (Melbourne: Monash Asia Institute Press: 2007). Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh is Director of the Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies at Monash University, Australia. His research focuses on Australian Muslims, international relations and Islamic politics. He is also the author of Uzbekistan and the United States: Islamism, Authoritarianism and Washington's Security Agenda (London: Zed Books, 2005).