by Zalman Shoval
A new Middle East is indeed rising up before our eyes, but in direct contrast and contradiction to the reasons Peres predicted
One of the more
laughable expressions of its day was "a new Middle East." Then-Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres firmly believed that the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict was the root of all the troubles that befell the Middle East
and the cause of instability in the region -- particularly the continued
hostility of Arab nations toward Israel, whereas the Oslo Accords would
in a short time bring change and magically lead to the birth of genuine
cooperation between all nations and countries.
But Peres does not seem
to have understood that the majority of the Arab world, with all of its
public concern for the fate of the Palestinians, did not view its
treatment of Israel solely through the Palestinian lens, and that unique
national interests and geopolitical considerations played no less of a
major role.
Furthermore, some in
the Arab world, not to mention the Palestinians, did not see, and
continue not to see to this day, their ultimate goal as the
establishment of a Palestinian state on a portion of Palestinian land,
but rather the disappearance of the Jewish state. Peres and many others
who thought like him could never have predicted al-Qaida, the Arab
Spring and the fruits it would bear, Islamic State and the general
irreparable chaos that has taken over this "new" Middle East --
developments that have nothing to do with the Palestinian issue -- but
reality was a slap in the face, dealing a blow to their aspirations that
cannot be ignored.
In the eulogy he gave
at the funeral, U.S. President Barack Obama maintained that Peres
understood "peace is the true security." It's unlikely Peres would have
signed on to that statement, since in his heart, he understood, just as
Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, and Zionist leader
Ze'ev Jabotinsky with his Iron Wall policy understood, as far as Israel
is concerned, security and Israel's ability to defend itself will always
be the basis, not just for the achievement and preservation of peace,
but for the country's very existence.
Still, Peres succeeded
in witnessing the very essence of historical irony: A new Middle East is
indeed rising up before our eyes, but in direct contrast and
contradiction to the reasons he predicted. In his article "The Real
Middle East Story," one of the world's foremost thinkers and experts on
the subject of international affairs, Professor Walter Russell Mead,
declared Israeli diplomacy in Asia, Africa and Latin America a success
and wrote that "Israel's prestige -- even among people who hate it --
has grown." According to Mead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
been successful because he understands ("better than Obama") how the
world functions, and that the Sunni Arab world feels threatened,
particularly by Iran and by what is transpiring in Syria. According to
Mead, the result is that the world recognizes the importance of Israel's
strength.
Mead says this "has led
to something close to a revolution in Israel’s regional position." He
concludes that these developments "undercut the salience of the
Palestinian issue for world politics and even for Arab politics" and
strengthened Israel's regional and international standing. Articles
written in a similar vein by historians and diplomacy experts have been
published in Foreign Affairs, the leading U.S. magazine on foreign
policy, and even in the Israeli press (although anyone dependent on
reports by the majority of Israel's media outlets certainly hasn't heard
anything about them). A new Middle East indeed, no quotation marks
necessary.
Zalman Shoval
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=17401
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