Once again, Israel is to blame. "Jerusalem is the source of all the problems," Mohammed Mahdoud tells me as we talk through the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis amid a flurry of police raids following Friday's terrorist assault on the city. Mahdoud, 29, lives in Saint-Denis and works as a doorman. He is of Palestinian-Moroccan descent. He does not know the terrorists, of course, but he believes that he knows exactly why they are taking action and where all this will lead. "The Muslims cannot accept the humiliation of the Palestinian nation," he says. "There are more than a billion Muslims in the world and if there is one thing that unites us all, it's Al-Quds [Jerusalem]. As long as Jerusalem is not restored to the Muslims, where it has always been, Muslims will feel humiliated. Israel is an invention of the West. Before Israel existed, there were never problems between Muslims, Christians and Jews." Mahdoud is angry. "We are on the front line," he says. "We, who live here, are in the line of fire, both physically and in terms of our image. Note the statements made by [French] President [Francois] Hollande, by Interior Minister [Bernard] Cazeneuve and Prime Minister [Manuel] Valls: they are all militant declarations," he says. "They are just fanning the flames. There is nothing for France to do in Syria. The second they went there, they got involved in the conflict. They shouldn't be surprised they are getting attacked." According to him, "My Muslim friends and I here are victims of those attacks as well. But what happens after the attacks is that French people living in some town or village who don't really understand politics think that Islam is behind the attacks and they become anti-Muslim. This all has a purpose. Someone behind the scenes is trying to spark a civil war in France between Muslims and Christians." Mahdoud wants to explain the connection to the Middle East. "The establishment of Israel distorted the history of the entire Middle East. When you want to solve a problem, you have to go to the source. Returning Al-Quds to the Muslims will be the first part of restoring order to the world." He says he is not surprised about the timing of the attacks. "There are two seasons each year that breathe life into the French economy: summer and Christmas time. These are the times when people spend money. Now, because of the attacks and the state of emergency, citizens won't go out to shop," he says. "The public will soon be angry about having less money. People will come to the conclusion that it's because of the terrorist attacks, because of the Muslims -- this is part of the plan for the civil war between Muslims and Christians." Mahdoud also says that rumors of incitement at local mosques are part of Western propaganda against Islam. "Islam is a religion of peace that calls for world peace," he says. "We are forbidden to kill. But someone wants there to be violence here. How else would you explain that young French people who go to Syria and join up to fight the Islamic State group return to France without any problems-"
