(Times of Israel) J.P. O'Malley - Shadi Hamid, born into a Muslim family in Pennsylvania, is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, and recently authored a new book, Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam Is Reshaping the World. He says, "Bringing about a two-state solution [to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict] would help. It's something that the international community should strive to do. But we shouldn't be under any illusions that it would unlock the puzzle of [failed states] across the Middle East right now." Even if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were somehow miraculously resolved tomorrow with a two-state solution, the Middle East would still be "a bloody dangerous place." "It feels like Israel-Palestine has almost become an afterthought for how we talk about the Middle East nowadays. It isn't the central conflict in the region....The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the key to resolving the ongoing problems, or making peace, in the Middle East."
2016-07-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive