Jordanian protesters shout slogans near the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 14, 2012. [Xinhua]

Last week, the streets of the Middle East saw vehement protests against the movie"Innocence of Muslims", an American-produced film which mocked Muslims and the prophet Muhammad. This incident is provocative for reflections on the relations between the West and the Islamic world, though it is only one incident of many in the long history of the confrontations between the two. Confrontations between the West and Islam are, in fact, much more deeply rooted.

Objectively speaking, the Muslim world should not attribute the blasphemous film to the incumbent American administration. No evidence indicates that the US government participated in the production or promotion of the movie. Many even doubt whether the full-length movie actually exists beyond its 14-minute promotional clip posted on internet sites such as YouTube.

US President Barack Obama regards himself as understanding Islamic culture better than his predecessors and is determined to change his predecessor’s Middle East policy. During his visit to Turkey in 2009, Obama promised that the US would never fight a war with the Muslim world. And he made promise that the US would develop closer relations with Muslim countries on the basis of “common interests and mutual respect” during his landmark speech in Cairo in the middle of 2009.