Hamas War

Monday, August 5, 2013

Surprising Common Sense From Reuters, the "Israel-Arab Conflict" Shouldn't be a Priority

Hat tip: IMRA

"Popular wisdom" is that the most dangerous and worrying "conflict" in the world is between Israel and her neighbors.  That's why United States President Barack Hussein Obama has assigned his Secretary of State John Kerry to ignore the instability and violence in Syria, Egypt etc.  and concentrate his energies and budget on forcing Israel to kowtow to Arab demands... and that's just to get the Arabs to the negotiating table.

Bli eyin haraa, not to rock the boat, things have been pretty calm here in the heart of Judea/Samaria.  Loads of Arabs are stocking up on food and fancy clothes in Sha'ar Binyamin, buying them in Rami Levi and Yafiz.  As they finish Ramadan, this is our busy season.  For some very peculiar reason this seems to really annoy Obama, and he wants it to end.  I guess he wants us to suffer like his Egyptian friends are.

So I was pretty surprised, pleasantly so, to see IMRA's update about this Reuters article/opinion piece.
Analysis: Israeli-Palestinian riddle won't answer Middle East's wider woes
Much has changed in the Middle East since the last talks broke down in 2010. Autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen have been ousted, Islamist radicalism has spread and sectarian warfare between Sunni and Shia Muslims has surged.
More than 100,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict and violence has flared again in Iraq, with over 1,000 killed there in July alone, many at the hands of Al-Qaeda. Tensions over Iran's disputed nuclear program have also risen, while a struggle for power between Islamists and the military is playing out on the streets of predominantly Sunni Egypt.
Following the principle about "voting with their feet," I'd say that a large percentage of the Arabs here are happy with the status quo. They enjoy the peace and the advantages of being under Israeli rule.  They have excellent healthcare, a network of roads, fresh water, electricity, telephone service/networks,  employment and commercial opportunities.  Yes, they've never had it better.  And there's no place in the Arab world where they would have it better.

During the nineteen years that Jordan illegally (recognized only by two countries, Great Britain and Pakistan, held the land east of the Jordan River, (Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley) they did nothing to develop and improve the infrastructure.  When Israel liberated it in the 1967 Six Days War, the telephone system was still the old via operator one, there was no running water or electricity.  When we moved to Shiloh in 1981, we'd see that generators were turning off electricity every night.  There would be public service announcements in the Israeli newspapers about various Arab towns having been hooked up to the water or electricity lines.

Arabs in the Middle-East have more pressing things on their mind than the Israel-Arab "Conflict."
Last year crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square, celebrating the election of the Islamist Mohamed Morsyas president, chanted: "in millions we shall march to Jerusalem." Today, the square is filled with supporters of the army which ousted Morsy last month.
These Egyptians are preoccupied with their own problems. "Of course a peace agreement would be a blessing from Allah to us and all Arabs, but first we must rid ourselves of the dictators and tyrants who steal from us and bend to the West," said Faris Ismael, the owner of a bakery in downtown Cairo.

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