A hundred years ago, Arabs had a largely positive view of the United States, thanks in part to American Protestant missionaries who established institutions of higher education, preparing the way for mutual understanding, argues Makdisi. Arabs, he said, appreciated the absence of U.S. imperialism in the region and Wilsonian principles of self-determination. American support for the creation of the state of Israel led to the unraveling of that relationship, argues Makdisi, a history professor at Rice University.
