Surely, given the ancient history of beautiful Arab art, this signifies how far Arab culture has descended.

A provocative Arabic art exhibition organised in response to the conflict in Lebanon last month, includes a painting of Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, with a skewer through his head.

The work, titled Ehud Olmert Kebab, which has four images of the Israeli leader's head skewered with capsicum, has outraged Sydney's Jewish community, which says it has "overstepped the mark of decency".

On the Persian front, Persian miniatures and florid designs (the famed Persian carpets are just a popularized and lesser version of this history) have their modern day analogues in Holocaust cartoons.

Ed Lasky   9 12 06