The Arab Crusade

A reporter named Ali Jaafar published a story on the film "Kingdom of Heaven" in Variety.

He quotes one Hiyam Itani, who works for Fox Distribution, as saying, "People [in the Middle East] are really interested in it. They can relate to the story and the religious aspects. After all, it happened here." ("Bound for 'Heaven'?, Pic has been accused of short-shrifting real history", May 8).

Actually, the story happened mainly in Jerusalem, a city that was previously the capital of two Jewish kingdoms. Destroyed by Romans, the city was conquered by Persians, Arabs and then by Crusader Christians.

Eventually, the city was ruled by Ottoman Turks and the British but once again became a Jewish capital after a period of Jordanian rule. During this last period, between 1949 - 1967, Jewish cemeteries were vandalized and synagogues razed.

Today, Arabs still wish to deprive Jews of their rights by, for example, disembowling the Temple Mount of its Jewish archeological artifacts.

The Arab Crusade is still going strong.