A thought came to me today while I was reading Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish's book, "I Shall Not Hate", and having just read the newspaper about Syria and the growing tensions between Israel and Egypt (due to an accidental killing of Egyptians during an Israeli reprisal raid against Palestinian terrorist attacks):
The argument of some in Israel and the US is that we should fear the "Arab Spring", because it may let loose the "anti-Israel & anti-West" side of the Muslim Arabs and put them in power or influence.
I'm seeing this from another angle or perspective:
Basically it is this: If the dispute between Palestinians and Israelis was today fully settled, there would be absolutely nothing to fear in the Arab Spring.
This statement doesn't blame one side over another (in the failure to resolve the dispute). I've heard both sides of the argument and the only thing I blame is intransigence.
From reading Dr. Abuelaish and from what I see in the polls in Israel and Palestine, I believe that the people are ready to settle.
If the 2 sides had settled by now, we'd all be welcoming the Arab Spring in open arms, wouldn't we? We'd have states in the Mideast closer to the Israeli and democratic Arab model than we have today. Isn't this what we want, especially if neither side regards the other as a threat?
If you do fear the Arab Spring, what is your response? (If you believe I am naive, read my very first post.)
I'll have a review of Dr. Abuelaish's book in a future post.
Thanks for reading.
