As y'all know this was a very divisive issue on the French Left,
The French Left and political Islam : secularism versus the temptation of an alliance - Jean-Yves Camus
http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=12&article_id=44
The Veil: Behind the Times
http://www.telospress.com/main/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=163
Karen Armstrong is full of it about Dhimmi. Joanna posted recently a piece by Uri Avnery that was full of rubbish as well about forced conversions under Islam historically and the treatment of other religionists,
http://www.nysun.com/article/40266
Contrary to Uri Avnery, http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html , "Muhammad's Sword, " forced, violent conversion to Islam is called for in the Koran. See the true record of forced conversion, often violent to Islam detailed at great length in these two books from the secular humanist publisher, Prometheus Books, from Israeli historian Efraim Karsh and Bat Ye'or who has written extensively on this.
The myth of Islamic tolerance : how Islamic law treats non-Muslims / edited by Robert Spencer.Amherst, NY : Prometheus Books, 2004
The legacy of Jihad : Islamic holy war and the fate of non-Muslims / edited by Andrew G. Bostom with a foreword by Ibn Warraq. Publisher Amherst, NY : Prometheus Books, 2005.
Islamic imperialism : from Muhammad to Bin Laden by E. Karsh.Publisher New Haven and London : Yale University Press, 2006.
The Dhimmi : Jews and Christians under Islam / Bat Ye'or ; with a preface by Jacques Ellul ; translated from the French by David Maisel (author's text), Paul Fenton (document section), and David Littman. --
Rutherford, [N.J.] : London : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ; Associated University Presses, c1985
Eurabia : the Euro-Arab axis / Bat Ye'or. Madison, NJ : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, c2005