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Can you point us to more literature about the positive relationship between Arabs and Jews prior to the mid-20th Century? I know it was positive, and even brotherly, but with the conflicts in Israel since its statehood, prior good relations have never been a focus of the press, misleading many to believe that the conflict is much older than it is. Thanks.
Thank you for you interest in this important question. Between the 8th and the 13th centuries, Islam was very tolerant to both Judaism and Christianity (See THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM, by Maurice Lombard). In the Iberian Peninsula, from the 8th to the 11th centuries, the Jewish culture flourished. Only with the “conquest” of Spain by the Christians did extreme Antisemitism rise to a pathological level, with the pinnacle being in 1492 with The Alhambra Decree (the expulsion of the Jews from Spain). The frustration of the Arabs and Muslim regarding Christianity started with the Crusaders.
The Crusaders ignited the Muslim frustration, and then colonialism brought it to another level. The colonial forces have had an interest in the blaming conflict on the Jews and the Muslims, making it seem like their adversarial position spanned more than a thousand years, when in fact it’s only decades old. This is a fascinating subject, and a short answer cannot do it justice. Please read my book, and the one referenced above, to find more material on this question.
-Dr. Shlomo Gabbay