Rubin: "The Arab-Israeli Conflict is Over"

Professor Barry Rubin writes in the Ottowa Citizen: "Resistance" is a favourite code word coined by Syria's regime for a program of battling for decades, sacrificing many thousand lives, using terrorism, fighting wars, and staying intransigent until final, total victory is achieved."

Replace "Syria" with "US" and "Resistance" with "War on Terror" and I actually agree with most of Rubin's article.

He points out, truthfully, that all the Arab leaders exploit the Palestinian situation to paint themselves as besieged moderates, fighting off invading armies of Islamic radicals from neighboring 'rogue' states. Predictably this gets their regimes lots of money from the West, and lets them off the hook on reforms, since stability is paramount.

Rubin's main point is that the Arab-Israeli conflict is no longer Arab in character, but includes only the Palestinians and the Israelis. It's true, most Arab regimes have abandoned the Palestinians to their fate - but their populations haven't. Arab citizens continue to demand justice for the Palestinians - perhaps democracy in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia would be the first step toward solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Thanks to Ricardo for the link!