|
Paradox of Power and Weakness
by Guy Bechor
 Did the horrific scenes of Lebanese casualties shown daily on TV screens worldwide during the recent war in Lebanon weaken or strengthen Israel? It is a paradox: What is perceived as empowering in the Middle East weakens Israel's image in the West, particularly in Europe; and what is perceived in the Middle East as weakness, is perceived as empowering in world opinion. Of the next two options the preferred one is the one that provides regional power rather than favorable world opinion. Experience shows that demonstration of power is more durable in the Middle East's collective consciousness. Damages to world opinion can be rectified more quickly. (Ynet News)
Is Hizballah Rearming?
by Lee Hudson Teslik
 Some experts worry a flare-up between Israel and Syria could undermine the work of UN peacekeepers and the baby steps of progress made since August. Samuel Lewis and Edward S. Walker Jr., two former U.S. ambassadors to Israel, write in the Boston Globe, “Hizballah’s rearmament could reignite the conflict with Israel and jeopardize UN Security Council Resolution 1701.” This echoed John Bolton (pictured), the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, who made similar comments in August. “If the international community applies only a temporary band-aid solution to the problem and allows Hizballah to regroup and rearm, then the suffering of the people of Lebanon and Israel may very well intensify in the near future,” Bolton said. (Council on Foreign Relations)
|
Hamas Official: Violence Corrupted Us
by Roee Nahmias
 In an article published this week in the Palestinian weekly al-Ayam under the headline, "Let's uproot violence," Hamas spokesman Dr, Ghazi Hamad makes some unconventional statements. "Are we truly a violent society? Do we suffer from the chronic illness of violence that has stolen our peace of mind and our security? Are we caged in the prison of violence?" "Has violence become for us a culture so deeply rooted in our bodies and minds that it is part of us when we sleep and when we are awake?" (Ynet News)
Our Failure to Confront Radical Islam Is There for All to See
by Denis MacShane
 At long last, the debate on Islamism as politics, not Islam as religion, is out in the open. The struggle is not between religion and secularism, nor between the West and Islam, and still less between Bush-Blair and the Taliban or Iraqi insurgents. It is the ideologization of religion that needs confronting. An all-party commission on anti-Semitism that I chaired reported recently. Our most worrying discovery was the complacency on many university campuses about harassment of Jewish students. Jew-baiting behavior that would have had the Left outraged in the 1930s is now actively encouraged by an unholy alliance of the hard Left and Islamist fundamentalists, and the odious anti-Semites who have infiltrated some lecturers' unions. The writer is Labour MP for Rotherham and worked at the Foreign Office as PPS and minister, 1997-2005. (Telegraph-UK)
|