Friday, March 15, 2002

What's Behind the New Arab Momentum
The actual conflict between Israel and Palestine may or may not be at a turning point. But the ability of Arab states to deal domestically with the intensification of that conflict may indeed be at such a point. Arab League members are now speaking very seriously of normalizing relations with Israel. For the first time in this hundred-year struggle between Arabs and the Jewish state, a consensus exists in the Arab world regarding peace with Israel, based not on the previous land-for-peace formula but on full normalization of cultural, economic and political relations between the protagonists.

Today the Arab establishment, even former hard-liners like Syria and Libya, accepts a settlement that recognizes the existence of Israel and its integration into the regional landscape. The Saudi Arabian peace initiative, anchored within this new vision, has been embraced by pivotal Arab states, including Syria. Although the Syrian regime kept silent at first, President Bashar Assad has since fully endorsed the proposal. Neither the pariah Iraqi regime nor Iran, both of which oppose the current peace process, has criticized the Saudi plan. It is more than likely that the Arab League will ratify this consensus at its meeting later this month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/15/opinion/15GERG.html

No comments:

Post a Comment

con·cept