Head Scratching
My main interest in the middle east is that I understand it so poorly. It's the center of major world conflicts that we are constantly told are so old and intertwined that no one can figure them out. I reject this, perhaps foolishly. I know that no report of the situation is entirely trustworthy, though I have found Bernard Lewis to be very straightforward. Interestingly, Lewis either is, or was, disdained by almost all of his colleagues because he refused to see that the Palestinians were not the continuing victims in Israel. Edward Said, the chief academic in favor of Palestine, is the one the establishment seems to favor and anyone opposing his views is seen as not credible. Further, Said is Palestinian and fled the country as a twelve-year-old before attending some of America's best high schools and colleges. A logical look would tend to say the Said, while a good resource, might have views that are non-objective on the matter of Palestinian rights. Shockingly [just kidding] no one in academia seems to feel the same. The Newsweek that covered the Bible and the Koran has a sidebar on this.

That being said, we have an op-ed in today's NY Times by Henry Siegman. He takes up the issue of the Arab League recognizing Israel, normalizing relations and opening trade barriers brought to light by Thomas Friedman on Sunday. The title of the op-ed is "Will Israel Take a Chance?" A misnomer. It should read, "Will Israel Take Another In a Strain of So Many that We've all Stopped Counting Chance?" Siegman paraphrasing Friedman paraphrasing Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, "[h]e replied that if Israel were to conclude a peace treaty with the Palestinians that is seen as just, Saudi Arabia would have no problem establishing normal ties with Israel." If Israel would just negotiate peace with a terrorist who is continually using the terrorist arms (Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others) of his organization (the PLO) and is now asking for and getting help from Al Qaeda (remember them?) and who has repeatedly walked away from (Camp David with Barak and Clinton) and broken (Oslo Accords in 1993) previous chances taken by Israel, then Saudi Arabia would have no problem establishing normal ties with Israel IF the treaty is seen as just by the Saudis. Given these circumstances, Siegman is surprised that, "this latest development seems to have been greeted with a yawn by the Israeli government." And Siegman is in Israel right now. This is why I'm fascinated with the middle east. To me, Israel isn't the one who needs to take a chance (or perhaps they should take a real one and "deal" with Arafat), rather it's the Palestinians themselves who need to take one and call for new and legitimate leadership. Don't expect peace if you put up a leader who is known liar, criminal and terrorist who has yet to ever negotiate in good faith. But again, maybe I'm missing something, so I read on.....
- posted by levinson @ 2/21/2002 08:09:00 AM