Arab World Is Downbeat in Wake of Gaza War

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The problem of Gaza is not being resolved because it is a convenient laboratory for outside forces conducting experiments related to far broader issues related to the state of governance in the Mideast, the contest between Iran and Arab regimes for leadership of regional nationalist forces, and--most importantly--the global confrontation between the West and Islam.
The importance of Gaza transcends the fate of its tortured population. Gaza has broad implications for many other far more intractable problems, such as Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.
It sounds cruel to use the term "experiment," but the fact is that the political forces manipulating Gazans are in effect conducting social and military experiments.
* Tel Aviv, for example, is very consciously testing the hypothesis that if collective punishment is sufficiently harsh, it will force the population to give its support to the oppressor.
* Hamas is testing the hypothesis that the harsher the collective punishment of Gaza, the more the nationalist indignation of Gazans will be stimulated.
* Tehran is testing the hypothesis that vociferous rhetorical support for Arab dissident movements plus dribbles of funding and the (perhaps true) rumors of military aid will make Iran a major regional player.
* Conservative Arab dictators are testing the hypothesis that the Arab street really doesn't have any significant pan-Arab nationalist feeling.
* Washington is testing the hypothesis that Muslim nationalists, reformers, and radicals can all be lumped together and defeated through brute force.
The world would do well to analyze the real causal dynamics generating all the heat in Gaza. It's is a relatively controllable laboratory for conducting experiments in how to resolve Western-Islamic differences. It is a tragedy for the whole world, not just the people of Gaza, that this helpless territory is currently being used by violence-prone regimes seeking ways to achieve victory rather than by regimes serving the interests of their populations seeking ways to achieve mutually beneficial accommodation. Gaza could make a real contribution to world peace by serving as a model for finding common ground instead of serving to justify the most extreme advocates of violence in both Western and Islamic societies.

William deB. Mills of NY 1:44PM January 30, 2009

woooooooooooooooooooooooooo yeaaa

jofds of AL 11:15AM January 30, 2009

You would only strengthen the radicals and weaken the moderates that are helping Israel to reach a peaceful settlement.

Ahmed 10:34AM January 30, 2009

You missed the whole point of the article by Rahim ElKishky, he was not saying that both Radicals and moderates are weak. He mentioned that radicals only bring destruction upon the Arab world and moderates are the true leaders that did accomplish a lot for the arab world and gave example of the last anti-Israeli UN resolution that passed without a US veto

Ahmed 4:11AM January 30, 2009

Spent a year there, the place was a dump and poorly built. The Brits contractors who built it ripped someone off.

of WA 2:30AM January 30, 2009

What is he waiting for? He is waiting to obtain a nuclear bomb. Have you forgotten?

Alexander of CA 2:53PM January 29, 2009

What with all the land the Arab countries have it would make perfect sense for them to absorb all of the Palestinians, just as Israel absorbed many of the Jews who were forcibly evicted from Arab countries in 1948 and let there be one Jewish state in the Holy Land.The rightful home of the Jews

David Howard 1:24PM January 29, 2009

The borders of Israel are clear. They are not authorized to expand. Imperial Israel? Wow - how obnoxious can you get.
The arab nations should be ashamed of their lack of support for an honest two state solution. They have done nothing to encourage proper behavior from Hamas and Hezbollah, but also have done nothing to let Israel and the US know that:
1) they are insulted by our treatment of arabs rightfully living in their own lands
2) they disagree with a wall that takes Palestinian land
3) they demand removal of Israelis settling in their land.
Arab nations do not appreciate the fact that they are being lumped together and villified. Why do arabs never stand together?

Dorfy of SC 12:43PM January 29, 2009

Come on people. Enough of blind support to Isral. Now we should press our so called ally Israel and I believe the only solution we the world left with is One state solution. We don't want another 911 thrust upon us because of what Israel is doing there with our FULL HELP. Wake up and smell the coffee people.

John of AL 12:18PM January 29, 2009

With the Gaza battlefield still smoldering we now hear voices calling for the rebuilding of Gaza. Einstein defined insanity as – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It appears we are going to consign the Gazans to endless despair. In 1948 the population of Gaza was 250,000 today 1,500,000. Chronic shortages of water, energy and arable land will make it impossible for them despite all the billions of dollars that have poured in over the years from the EU, United States, Israel, UNRWA and others. Originally used as a dumping ground by Egypt for members of the Muslim Brotherhood, it has now become a hotbed of Islamic radicalism with the Egyptian Foreign Minister stating recently that Egypt would not allow an Islamist state in Gaza. What to do? Population transfer has some precedence. Prior to the 1990 Gulf War 400,000 Palestinians resided in Kuwait. When Arafat and Company backed Saddam and lost, Kuwait ethnically cleansed their Palestinians without any “help” from the UN or an outcry from any corner of the world. Saudi Arabia offers hope and promise for all with vast amounts of unused land, a population of some 27,000,000 including over 5,000,000 foreigners (guest workers). Why not allow Gazans and other Palestinian Arabs to flourish in place of these foreigners?

herb glatter of PA 12:14PM January 29, 2009