I’m watching the Al Jazeera news channel this morning. I don’t understand most of the Arabic, but a picture is worth a thousand words. I’m watching demonstrations in both Beruit and Cairo where they are burning cheap paper drawings of the Israeli flag and chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is great) over and over again as the paper flags curl at the corners and fly away like tiny black birds.

Yesterday, I watched another demonstration in which an Israeli flag was being burned and was then used to light an American flag on fire. The two then burned together. This is symbolic of the growing worldview in the Middle East that is being indelibly burned into the social consciousness of all Arabs; that is, the U.S. giving unconditional support to Israel.

Whether or not you agree with this is irrelevant. What is relevant is that you understand how America is viewed in the Arab world.

I am not an Arab. I am not a Middle East expert or a scholar. I’m just an American who has lived and traveled in the Middle East and read a lot of books by other people who are Arabs and/or Middle East experts and scholars. While this is hardly a solid foundation for what I’m about to do here, but I’m going to take a stab at it nonetheless because being here now, in this place at this time, I’m compelled to do so. Here is what I think the Arab worldview of America is as the crisis in Lebanon deepens and moves closer and closer toward long-term intractable violence.

America supports Israel unconditionally and cares little about the lives and future of the Arabs, especially the Palestinians.

America is quick to label Hamas and Hezbollah as “terrorist organizations” while the real terrorist organization in the Middle East is the Israeli military, which daily kills countless civilians.

The Israeli military is funded in large part by U.S. foreign aid; therefore, America is funding this large-scale terrorism against the Arabs as currently demonstrated by Israeli military operations in Gaza and in Lebanon.

America calls for peace, but won’t call Israel to the carpet for it’s unjust and brutal actions against civilians.

Together, America and Israel are using their military might to subdue and control the Arabs.

While Arab governments, the UN and the rest of the international community sit idly by, Hezbollah is the only organization that is attempting to defend the Lebanese people from Israeli military attacks.

Whether or not you agree with this is irrelevant. What is relevant and important is that you understand that this worldview is being created and reinforced by direct actions (as well as inactions) as the crisis in Lebanon escalates. I believe this is a critical juncture for the future of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. If the U.S. administration continues to plow forward through this crisis unconscious of the Arab worldview then they are ensuring a future in which hatred of America among everyday people here will continue to grow and the American flag will burn along with the dreams of a peaceful future.