Sunday, August 20, 2006

Arab Leader Asks for Terms

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Qatar's foreign minister called upon Israel to take advantage of the current opportunity to reach a peace agreement with moderate Arab leaders.

In an interview that will be published in Newsweek on Monday, he warned that future generations of leaders may be more extreme and might insist on "pushing Israel into the sea."
A push into the sea? This has been the standard Arab offer for 58 years. Maybe they are coming to their senses.

Israel lost and yet an Arab state is asking for terms.

Who is winning again? This is very hard to figure out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll bite.

First of all, to lose on the battlefield and then win diplomatically is normal in the Middle East. It's just that usually the Arabs do it, not the Israelis. So if this is your reasoning to conclude that Israel is winning, then you have to concede that Israel has actually lost every previous war.

Next, Qatar doesn't need peace with Israel. Israel is nothing but an abstraction to them. This is a threat and a probe to feel out just how weak the Israeli government has become.

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=30678

Reading this, one can only conclude that the Israeli foreign ministry is as craven as the US state dept. Even Olmert is only against talking to Syria as long as the US toes the line.

Finally, the Arabs like to make absurd peace jestures just for PR purposes. If the Israelis bite, it's a sign of weakness. If they don't, then it must be the Jews who don't want peace.

M. Simon said...

Adam,

Some very good points.

If this was a normal Mid East War I'd agree. I think this is the cap to 60 years of Arab war with Israel.

Oil is running out. Time to focus on business. War is not working.

Besides the Arabs once owned the Palestinians. That investment was stolen by the Persians. It now seems foolish to acquire property to which you cannot hold title.

It seems foolish to acquire property to which you hold title but whose value can be reduced to zero in a minute.

Its just business.

The masses may be incited by religion. The regimes can read a balance sheet.