Explain why the issue you have studied continues to be important today.
“Al-Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, Shabab, and other Islamist terrorist groups have all been motivated to retaliate against what they perceive as foreign meddling”- a statement from huff post world. This quote tells us that many terrorists share the same motive for their extreme actions and what they call as ‘Jihad’ meaning struggling for ‘Allah’ or a holy war. The journalist is referring to the American involvements with other countries, and he is not presenting them in a positive way as he later goes on to blame the US involvements for the recent terrorist attack on a mall in Kenya. We can see that the American foreign policy is still infuriating Islamic fundamentalists, people who believe in living by the traditional interpretations of the Qur’an. America pursues the power to protect and project America’s national interests around the world. This essay is going to explore why this issue is still important today and outlining the key events which made some fundamentalists to retaliate.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia wields significant global and economic influence as the birthplace of the Islamic faith and the trade of its large oil reserves. The close US-Saudi relations for example the oil company Aramco brought many Americans to Saudi Arabia. Western influences like clothing, fashion and technology was against true Islamic way of life for some fundamentalists. Religious police enforced with the strict Sharia law (a code of law derived from the Qur’an and other Islamic teachings) was put to place to “ensure all rules were strictly obeyed”, however the presence of western citizens resisted these regulations which disgusted fundamentalists and they felt it was like a threat to their faith, as a result they seized Mecca’s mosque. In an interview with Osama Bin laden; it mentions that “Bin Laden’s anger with the United States stems from the 1990 decision by Saudi Arabia to allow the US to use the territory”. This illustrates how enraged he was with the America’s foreign policy, calling the presence of American military in Saudi Arabia an “occupation of the land of holy places”. This indicates his attitude towards non-Muslims defending Muslim land and it is clearly presented within his objectives. His first main objective was “holy war against America”. This proves how he is prepared to sacrifice others in order to eradicate American influences; 9/11 hijackers. Predominantly we can see that American Foreign Policy in Saudi continues to fuel Islamic fundamentalists desire to commit acts of terror today as a direct consequence of the past.

Evidence to support the importance of studying the impact of American foreign policy can be taken from the division of the former British mandate of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel. After the Nazi Holocaust, pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state and in 1948 Israel declared its independence following a UN vote to partition Palestine (55% to Jews and 45% to Muslims), which had many consequences. “With the declaration of the creation of Israel, several Arab states declared war in 1948. Despite being attacked by five Arab states (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon) with a combined much larger population than Israel, the Israelis were able to gain the offensive and defeat the Arab armies.” As brought up in Imagery for citizen’s article. This quote tells us that first of all, Islamic fundamentalists were resentful and outraged by this deal as they started a war with combined Muslim nations. It shows the state of emergency Muslims had as they joined forces. It states that Israel defeated the Arab armies but how did they defeat them? Then again America got involved and helped the Israelis to fight the Muslims. Not only their decision to split up Palestine but also to support Israel seemed like betrayal .Overall we can see that America's policies in the Arab-Israeli conflict caused a