The Muslim, in the eyes of the west, is stuck in a perpetual condition of imminent fanaticism. This is why the west has to survey all Muslims, all of the time.
'Historian James Renton suggests that this week's application for UN membership by the Palestinians could provide the moral and legal backing required to achieve the reality of statehood, much as the Balfour Declaration of 1917 laid the ground for the birth of the Israeli state in 1948.
The last time this happened, the British government was hoping to combine a modern-looking commitment to nation-building with the old imperial aim of political domination. Wilkileaks shows that all too little has changed.
While the conflict that is the legacy of British involvement in Palestine daily captures world headlines, Britain's foster-role is too often ignored. Such an omission is all the more tragic, James Renton argues, since mandate era misjudgements are being readily repeated.
