by Barry Rubin
Catherine Ashton is high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice president of the European Commission. The fact that she holds such a position—in effect, she's the European Union's first foreign minister—shows
To describe Ashton's op-ed in the New York Times as calling for peace at any price is no exaggeration. Of course she only means ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict, seemingly unaware that there is any other type of conflict (non-peace) in the region.
Her reasoning goes something like this: Conflict breeds poverty and radicalism; make peace and there won't be any radicalism or poverty. And she's referring explicitly to shoring up the rule of the radical genocidal-intending Islamist group Hamas.
But what if it is radicalism that fuels conflict and makes peace impossible? What if the radical forces will take advantage of your activities to become even stronger, creating even more instability and hence—in Ashton's framework—far more poverty, anger, and radicalism in an endless cycle? Because that's precisely what has happened and what is happening.
Having built her career in large part by discounting the Soviet threat, she now prospers further by dismissing the Islamist and Iranian one. Ashton argued years ago that the Cold War was just a misunderstanding and that unilateral Western concessions would solve it. That didn't work. But having learned nothing she applies the same model to the
After a recent tour of the region, she uttered the ultimate paragraph whose sentiments direct the views of Western leaders toward the
"Throughout the region, from
Let's analyze this extremely important paragraph. First, there is an assumption that many people will make on reading it, that an end to the Israel-Palestinian or Arab-Israeli conflict is the key for happiness, prosperity, and friendship toward the West.
But note that peace in the
Thus, the kind of conflict that preoccupied the region between 1948 and 1973 is over.
I don't want to shade the truth in the slightest way. Obviously,
Even a full peace agreement between
Of course, one could still argue that concern over the plight of the Palestinians is a big factor in the
Sorry, people, goes the endless refrain, we can't have democracy or better living standards or enough jobs and housing or whatever else you can name because of the poor suffering Palestinians! This is no more an accurate explanation than that of Latin American dictatorships in regard to Communism or those of the Soviet bloc in the past blaming their depredations on capitalism.
But what about the word "peace?" Of course any societies would be better off in material terms if they had peace. But peace means peace. So as long as there is ethnic and political strife in
And that "peace" requires a defeat of the revolutionary Islamist forces, something you aren't going to help them do. Moreover, the "peace" defined by the people you spoke with includes the preservation of the incumbent dictatorships in virtually every Arabic-speaking country.
So, representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice president of the European Commission Ashton, what they are really telling you is not to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict as fast as possible to make everyone happy (they won't help you if you try and they will continue their conflicts even if you do) but the rather obvious point that if there was a general state of peace and harmony things would be better in the region.
True enough but not the way you interpret it.
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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