Let the conflict resolve itself on its own terms

James Kirchik, World Affairs Journal, under the title The Broken Link: What Peace Won’t Fix is right on all counts.

[..] To judge by the obsession of so many Western leaders with the “peace process,” there is little reason to hope that they will renounce the seductive illogic of linking every problem plaguing our relationship with the Muslim world to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But if morality is to play a prominent role in American foreign policy, as most Americans believe it should, then that policy should not be held hostage to the cynical and historically illiterate arguments offered by Arab regimes and their apologists. Let the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolve itself on its own terms, if it is ever to be resolved, and let us not force upon the parties a solution that neither of them are willing to accept and that will only prove to be a prelude to the next phase of the Islamist struggle.

If the Palestinian problem didn’t exist, the Arab and Muslim regions would have to invent it. The authoritarian regimes that rule over so many of the world’s Muslims need something to distract attention away from their corruption, lavish lifestyles, and utter inability at providing a hopeful future for their citizens. Directing the collective awareness of not just Arab and Muslim populations but also the elite class of Western policymakers to the Palestinian question has proven to be an amazingly useful propaganda tool. Those who designed it have been able to convince much of the world that the most egregious problem confronting humanity is the fate that has befallen the Palestinians. The diplomatic extortion and moral blackmail of “linkage” has diverted attention from addressing far more pressing issues and has provided leaders in the West with the illusion of an easy way out of tough problems.

James Kirchick is a contributing editor for the New Republic and writes the weekly blog Off the Fence for World Affairs