Efraim Karsh disconnects Iraq from the Palestinians

From his fact-packed article, "Saddam and the Palestinians" in the December 2002 issue of Commentary:

The Gulf War illustrated a fundamental if too often disregarded fact of modern Middle Eastern politics: that the Arab states have never had any real stake in the "liberation of Palestine." Though anti-Zionism has been the core principle of pan-Arab solidarity since the mid-1930's, it has almost always been an instrument for achieving the self-interested ends of those who proclaim it.

I have resolved to read anything he writes, as my learning from him began with his also fact-packed May 2001 article, "The Palestinians and the 'Right of Return.'" Because we cannot defend Israel at this website alone, Karsh's language will help us in the debate.