[GreenBeret65]

I spent five years traveling and working in Euope, the Middle East and North Africa in a senior management position with a major American Hotel Chain. The part I loved about the job is so many things entered into your daily interactions, eg, politics, religion, foreign currency, culture and many other issues. One thing I believe that the Arab probably does better than anyone else in the world is HATE. The Arab can hate for generations over a perceived insult that no one necesarily even remembers and yes I do believe that tribal connections are everything.. I do not know about now but in the eighties a very common Arab expression was "after three days". I first went there believing that my objective, usually collecting money would be achieved in three days. What it actually meant was you were definitely not going to receive what you requested in three days--hence the "after three days". After three days you may receive it in 3 months or 3 years or never but very definitely not in the next three days. Many conversations are circular and there is no separation of church and state because the church, in essence, is the state.

My point here is the difficulty in understanding the Arab mind for the Westerner. The conceptual view is so radically different from our experiences.
In this case "know your enemy" is very difficult. I clearly remember the "religious police" in Riyadh and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

IMHO the rule to live by is "flexible". You must be able to understand the other person's views. It is very difficult for us as Westerners to accept some of the ordinary social norms in that part of the world.