|
Trending Topics
|
Israel-Palestine Conflict Is No Longer the Magnetic Center of National Struggles in the Middle East
(Al Jazeera) John Bell - Is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict important any more, or has it slipped off everyone's radar? The Middle East is doing cartwheels, in a never-ending series of manifestations of human chaos and conflict. States from Beirut to Baghdad are dissolving, and a Sunni-Shia confrontation could take regional conflicts to Olympian heights, and the problem of Israel-Palestine seems of less import. Even the last terrible war in Gaza elicited a storm in the social media and promises of reconstruction funds, only to be followed by whispers of nothing on both fronts. There are many, including this author, who once believed that resolution of that conflict would help empower moderates in the region. However, one look at the Middle East today makes it clear that forces have been unleashed that will be very difficult to tame. Israel and Palestine's problems may pale in the face of regional developments; it is a 20th century problem surrounded by 21st century chaos. The writer, director of the Middle East Program at the Toledo International Center for Peace in Madrid, is a former UN and Canadian diplomat.