From Arlene Kushner:
November 19, 2012
Convoluted
Well, we are in the Middle East, at a particularly volatile time in history. Nothing is going to be simple.
Last night I went to bed reasonably certain that Israel was headed to a ground operation in Gaza. It seemed fairly inevitable:
Hamas's response to our demand for quiet was a barrage of rockets, a barrage that continues off and on even as I write, and which has brought injuries and trauma and destruction of property.
It's a very complicated situation. It should not be, but is. The continued existence of Israel is at stake and most involved in the negotiations would much prefer that Israel cease to exist because she is not Islamist and is the only democratic and free nation in the Middle East. More fruitless negotiations presided over by Egypt? If the situation were not as serious as it is that would be a funny question, one to be thrown out by late night comedians.
IMO, Obamas shift of focus to Asia will help the situation by taking away two incentives: (1) on the Palestinian side of things it recedes the US as a punch-through target for America-hating muslims, and (2) on the Israeli side it reduces the influence of the hawks by making the US a less available target for Israeli manipulations.
I think that will work to OUR advantage, whether the Palestinians and Israelis like it or not. In the end, they will have to solve their own problems. We are simply too busy preparing for the world of the future to concentrate our attention in these age-old animosities.