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A Measure of the Distance to Peace

[Jerusalem Post] Barry Rubin - Many people who are trying to understand the Middle East refuse to believe folks here think differently from themselves. There are Arab moderates, some very smart and brave people. The problem is none are in positions of power and all must shut up or face repression, defined as enemies of their people. For the Arabic-speaking world, the true heroes are still the terrorists. What horrified me most are not radicals cheering terrorist Samir Kuntar but that most relative moderates feel compelled to do so. At the airport to greet him were leaders of Lebanon's anti-Syrian, anti-Iranian Druze and Christian groups as well as the ambassadors from Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Morocco. To avoid being discredited, relative moderates must affirm that anyone who murders Israeli children is a hero. That's the measure of how far the region is from Arab-Israeli peace. While the West concludes that trying to defeat enemies by isolating and vilifying them has failed, the other side concludes that its policy of trying to defeat its enemies by violence, vilification, and intransigence is working. That means many decades more of the same. The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center.
2008-07-25 01:00:00
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