|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/weekinreview/21bronner.html
Why America Chases an Israeli-Palestinian Peace
(New York Times) Ethan Bronner - The U.S. believes that if it can end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, its fraught relationship with the Muslim world will greatly improve, thereby allowing America to accomplish much that is currently eluding it in places like Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, not to mention easing its role as the prime guarantor of Israel's own security. Many Israelis dismiss this as a form of magical thinking. Mark Heller, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, says, "Let's assume that you've resolved the conflict or that Israel has disappeared or that Israel and the United States are now enemies. Will the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq suddenly start making love? Will the Sunnis, Shiites and Christians in Lebanon get together? Will it end the oppression of Christians in Egypt? Will it raise the status of women or put an end to the use of violence as a political weapon in the Muslim world? It's a total illusion."