Public interest in most of the Middle East was slight at that time; the Arab-Israeli conflict was all that people were interested in and that was not my specialty.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Everything that could produce a clash between the Arab world and the West seemed dangerous to me.
You have to look at the history of the Middle East in particular. It has been one of failure and frustration, of feudalism and tribalism.
No matter what's happening in the Middle East - the Arab Spring, et cetera, the economic challenges, high rates of unemployment - the emotional, critical issue is always the Israeli-Palestinian one.
I went to Iraq because I wanted to see what one year of occupation had done to Iraqi society, and I went to the West Bank and Gaza Strip because I wanted to see what three generations of occupation had done to Palestinian society. I found a lot more hopelessness and despair in Palestine.
The increasing mistrust between the Arab-Muslim peoples and the western world is rooted in the conflict in Palestine.
It's not only in Israel's interest but in America's as well to stand with one of its closest and important allies.
The reason it has relevance is because I, as a popular Arab personality - the Arab people like me and respect me - thought it was time for me to make an ever so tiny statement about what I thought about this whole thing.
There's enough of a willingness in the West to do sympathetic movies about Arab roles.
I have a background and an understanding of what's happened in the Middle East that a lot of people don't have, because there's been no interest.
I covered the first Gulf War in Saudi Arabia and Israel for ABC News.