Could atheist westerners, please explain?

[abaris]

You don't have to be a historian or political analyst to see, how the conflict has changed over the last four decades.

I'm old enough to remember the last four decades and it went from almost entirely secular to religiously motivated. The Palestinian movement was dogmatically left all through the 70ies and early 80ies. They found their allies in South Jemen, Lybia, Lebanon, the European communist block and Iraq, before Saddam came to power. A Baathist regime nonetheless. They also worked in close connection with European leftwing terrorists. Such as the RAF in West Germany or the Brigate Rosse in Italy.

Their acts of terror were brutal, such as the attack on the Olympic games of '72, but they were no suicide missions and weren't aimed at killing indiscriminately. Taking hostages to exchange them for prisoners or to enforce some political goal, was the main motivation. Religion was very much on the backburner in these days.

Things started to turn religious and more radical with the Lebanese Civil war, when radical muslim groups started to evolve the same as christian militias, often supported by Israel. Arafat's Fatah was marginalised and under siege. The war in Afghanistan opened up a training ground for radical muslims. It was the first time that a kind of war tourism cropped up. Potential fighters from the whole muslim world travelled there to be trained and equipped. Often with Western gear, since we always tended to support everyone fighting the Soviets. Without looking too closely at what they were up to.