If you want to truly understand what's going in the Mid-East today, you need to google:
Haj Amin El Husseini
The Farhud
Short of Arafat, Amin El Husseini (there are multiple spellings) is the most important figure of the region, and gave birth to the myth of Pan-Arabism. Iranians for example, aren't technically even Arabs. Nor are Egyptians. Nor are... you get the idea.
Here are some links, but I suggest you do the searches on your own rather then just take mine.
http://www.farhud.org/farhud.html
http://www.mideastweb.org/Iraqaxiscoup.htm
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_man...rand_mufti.php
http://www.dangoor.com/75002.html
http://www.nationalreview.com/commen...katz082302.asp