Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic, http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/02/roger_cohens_very_happy_visit.php makes an excellent point I've also observed on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf: To be inhospitable to a guest is so obscene in Arab Gulf culture as to be unthinkable. I also have never had a bad experience as a guest of anyone in that region, even when they spouted the most hateful comments imaginable about "other," third-party Jews and Christians (or, indeed, just about any other culture.) I have also observed how many Americans, even high officials, unused to the profound and sincere hospitality of that culture, have mistaken hospitality for friendship. They are not the same.
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