Showdown

@ TNR: What Americans and Israelis are saying about each other--but not to each other"

I find the notion that American security interests are threatened by the lack of progress on Israeli-Palestinian peace is an interesting outsourcing of blame.

It reminded me how Ahmed Sheik, the Al Jazeera editor, when he was interviewed by Pierre Heumann of the Swiss newspaper Die Weltwoche, blamed all the problems that affect Arab societies on Israel or "Zionism":

"Who is responsible for the situation?

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.

Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?

I think so."

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/395/an-interview-with-al-jaz...

Or a more recent Canadian example:

" To quote from Canadian Foreign Service veteran Gar Pardy, whom Tremonti interviewed:

“The other issue [aside from oil] that I think has diminished what little bit of influence we have in Saudi Arabia is our current policy toward Israel. Saudi Arabia plays a very important role on Middle Eastern issues, and they have been very active over the last five years in terms of trying to negotiate some sort of agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Syria for that matter. And the fact that we have taken ourselves out as a balanced observer on those issues, I’m sure is not looked at with any degree of friendliness in Saudi Arabia.” ...

“Let me just clairfy then: Are you suggesting that Canada’s Israel policy could leave young Canadian women in limbo?”

Pardy: “Yes.”

http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/04/08/...

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It's not Saudi revanchist misogynist ethos that creates problems for the young Canadian woman; it's Canada's support for Israel that does.

It's not Arab rejectionism and Muslim fundamentalism that cause problems for American soldiers. It's Israel's building in Jerusalem that does.

You continue to feed this beast and you risk turning a surrealistic scenario into a very plausible future. At what point does Jewish existence on this planet stop being the obstacle and irritant for American or Canadian or Arab interests? If Israel were to disappear tomorrow in a puff of nuclear smoke, how long before someone feels that the presence of Jews in Europe causes the radicalization of European Muslims who then take it out on non-Jewish Europeans? And then what to do?