[Christien]

Maybe this question should be asked in an Arab/Islamic newsgroup. Otherwise all these answers are pure speculation, pretty much all of which are coloured by political bias - both left and right, and I'll bet most of the speculation is wrong. Not saying I have the answer (I don't), just that when people speculate (again, both left and right) without bothering to actually ask those who may know, they're usually wrong, or at best only partially correct.