I need a critique of an article that I wrote.

[Massacure]

Please tell me any way I can improve this. Oh, and also, are Israeli and Muslim supposed to be capitalized or not?

Religion and Nationalism - Two different yet deadly forces.

1000 years ago, Pope Urban II launched a crusade against the Muslim world to take back the holy city of Jerusalem. Things have escalated and deescalated over a period of hundreds of years, but for a relatively long time in the recent past, there has been peace and calm.

Religion may have somewhat disappeared in the that time, but it had been overcome by a new power in the western world - colonialism. For many years, the British occupied the Middle East as a part of their colonies, often against the wishes of the inhabitants.

The formation of an Israeli state has really thrown a monkey wrench into the whole balance of power. The Israelis and Muslims both believe they come from the same origin, but cannot agree on which son deserves the holy land. It is for this reason that many of the Jewish do not like the Muslims, and the Muslims do not like the Jewish. The Arabs and Israelis have gone to war against each other many times since 1948.

This brings me to my point of nationalism. Many people feel obligated to defend their country whether it was right or wrong. The world's super powers may no longer have colonies, but the element of nationalism still exists within them. The United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Israel; all are dominated by nationalism. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the like are all dominated by religious fundamentalism.

Everyday, Palestinians blow up innocent Israelis in the name of god, and then Israel retaliates by blowing up innocent Palestinians in the name of nationalism. The process repeats itself over and over in a viscous and bloody cycle of violence. Both the Western and Arab worlds can only watch in horror at what goes on. The cycle is a perfect example of what we all want not to happen.

A very small group of extremist act to punish those countries that aid and assist Israel, even against the well being of the Arab world. However, nationalism causes a demand for revenge, and the Arab world still does have the crusades in mind. As much as many of you want to "Go boom those damn towel heads" for what they have done in 9/11/01, 3/11/04, 7/7/05, remember that only a few people are out to hurt the Western World, and that any false moves can very easily increase religious sentiment in the Middle East. Bush has already set off one tinderbox, let us not set off another.