The main motive for the equivocal attitude of the European Community to the US war against terrorism is probably fear. With over 6 million Moslems in France, nearly 2 million in Britain and an estimated 17 million in Europe as a whole, fear of Moslem violence is a potent factor, the more so as the violence is increasingly evident. The Germans, where most of the Moslem population is Turkish, can feel a little safer - but not much. However, when fear leads to inaction it can be very dangerous. The present situation in the EU was caused by immigration policies that need changing. This should be Europe's first priority unless it wants to become a Moslem continent still in the 21st century.

The time has also come to clamp down firmly on Islamic bodies advocating terror and helping to finance it. The reluctance to do so stems partly from the fear of provoking more violence but mainly from the unwillingness to recognize that present-day Islam is hostile to Western values and increasingly ready to envisage or adopt anti-Western policies. The long-standing symbiosis of Western capital with Moslem oil wealth has created parameters of political thinking ignoring present-day realities. To put it mildly, the West is increasingly unpopular in Moslem states, whatever the policies of their rulers. Europe's burgeoning anti-Semitism, often disguised as opposition to Israel, is also a factor. The European Moslems are its most violent supporters, but this endears them to the anti-Semites and helps to foster the illusion that they are no threat to anyone but the Jews. The insistence that terrorism against Jews is inherently different from terrorism against non-Jewish Westerners and the desire to buy Moslem friendship by sacrificing Israel's vital interests are the natural result. Unfortunately for the EU, the latter is not a feasible goal. Had European statesmen read the Koran carefully, they would understand why.

So the prospect of fighting alongside the Americans against Iraq and being blamed for Islamophobia in the process troubles Western Europe. It has been playing the game of being more pro-Arab than the US in the hope of political and economic dividends in the Middle East for so long that abandoning it seems inconceivable. Yet active and determined participation in the US war with Moslem terrorism is probably the only hope of saving the EU from Moslem terror and demographic doom in the long run. It might yet do so for all the wrong reasons, despite realizing that the temporary result will be the unpopularity with Moslems it is so afraid of. And then, more likely than not, it will try to recoup by undermining the ability of Israel to achieve secure borders and defend itself.