Jackson Diehl likes to talk about the futility of a dead Middle East peace process. Like most opinion leaders in our American media, he blames this squarely on a divided Palestinian leadership and an Arab world rife with corrupt autocracies unwilling to compromise. Now is not the time to push major initiatives, he argues. Besides, he says, the plight of 4 million Palestinian civilians with no civic rights, increasingly herded into ghettos by Israeli authorities is just a sideshow in the long war on extremism. The real problem is Arab corruption and tyranny.
I beg to differ. Now is exactly the time for a peace push for these very same reasons Diehl highlights. He and many thought leaders in our system see only obstacles when they should be outlining solutions. Why is that?
Diehl talks about the corruption and repression of Arab states as the major, almost solitary source fueling the strength and vitality of extremist groups like Al Qaeda. It is true that the excesses of regimes such as Mubarak’s in Egypt have driven many Muslims to radicalism. It is no coincidence that Zawahiri was radicalized in an Egyptian prison. That is only part of the equation of extremism, however. Perhaps more damaging is something Diehl conveniently forgets to mention but which more and more former and current public officials, like Bill Clinton and General David Petraeus, are speaking up about: heavy handed Israeli policies against Palestinian civilians who are increasingly boxed in and without hope, opportunity, or the basic services that any citizen needs to live a normal life. This all takes place on ground that the entire world, including the United States, considers occupied land. There is no more fertile soil for hate and extremism. And our enemies (and allies) alike have exploited it to the max to further their own agendas against us, deflecting attention from their very real transgressions against their own people at home.
