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It's Never Been about Palestine
(New York Post) John Podhoretz - Recent events in the Middle East reveal a truth that can no longer be denied: Israel is a sideshow, not the root cause of the region's tempestuousness. The problem for the overwhelming majority of countries in the Middle East has been an excess of stability - the result of sclerotic regimes of preposterously long duration. Mubarak has been in power since 1981, as part of a movement in charge of Egypt for nearly 60 years. The al-Saud family has run Saudi Arabia since 1903; the al-Sabahs have been Kuwait's poohbahs since 1913. The Jordanian royal family has held sway for eight decades; the Assads, father and son, have bossed Syria since 1970. There's little reason to feel optimistic that the new regimes will be friendlier toward Israel and good reason to fear their ideological predilections may pose a renewed threat.