Read history books if you want Middle East knowledge

The multitude of nuanced influences on the history of this region forms a picture too complex to be summarised in a couple of paragraphs.
The litany of broken promises, made over decades, to all parties and the belligerence and jingoism of the likes of Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, to cite but one example, created a culture of mistrust and duplicity that has deepened over time.