This romanticized, homo-erotic view of Arabs infects thinking at the British Foreign Office and at the BBC. When a British media fairy like Sullivan writes about Arabs he's writing about entirely fictional "Rudolph Valentino" figures.
I hate to stereotype like this, but, when you can predict a person's attitudes towards (say) Palestine vs. Israel with complete accuracy based on a single data point - their sexuality - they are living stereotypes.
“They want to be swept off to an Arab’s tent and buggered ragged.” - Isn’t that one of the planks in the Democratic Party platform?