And in a sense, the Palestinians are prisoners. The blame for that is shared between their leaders and the Israeli leaders. And even our hands are dirty, because we've continued to back Israel, even when its hardliner extremists go overboard.
I recognize that the blame goes even further, through all the Arab leaders past or present that have insisted on making war with Israel. But it has become pointless to assess blame. Instead, it is time to seek out, to beg even, for a more visionary leadership to step forth from all sides.
Well put. I just saw Tom Friedman on Charlie Rose. He said that in 1950, the Asian countries made a deal with their populations, "give up democracy and we'll give you prosperity." The Arab countries made a deal, "give up democracy and we'll give you the Arab/Israeli conflict." So fifty years on the Asian countries have prosperity and are democritizing, while the Arab countries have three deficits: a deficit of freedom, a deficit of education, a deficit of women's rights. And they're falling further and further behind. Asked what he had learned since 9/11, Tom Friedman replied, "Culture matters. It matters what you teach your kids." He also noted that there is more democracy going on any given day on a street corner in Tehran than in all of Saudi Arabia the whole year long. He said that Iran, which like the Arab world is growing younger and poorer, is in better shape to democritize because the people are more educated and 60% of university students are women. In Saudi Arabia the first elections would likely return some bin Laden wannabe.
In short, he painted the picture of an Arab world that has dug a very deep hole for itself. |
