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Politics : Middle East Politics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: t2 who wrote (157)	12/16/2001 12:50:56 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6945

As long as this conflict continues, many of these governments are going to be risk from Islamic militant movements..and the potential terrorism that can result in their own countries...ie. demonstations, political assasinations etc.. Their populations see the Palestinians as oppressed people and any stance against the PLO will be very unpopular and anger even the average individuals. The Arab populations do see the Palestinians as oppressed by the Israelis (which does not mean, by the way, that they don't treat them badly themselves), but the Islamicists would have no shortage of sure-fire issues even without the Palestinian conflict. The governments of the Mideast are autocratic, corrupt, unresponsive to change, and have failed to provide a decent standard of living for their populations. Moreover, the governments of the Mideast allow no space for dissent except within the mosques, so the Islamicists have a natural advantage in recruiting. There's no shortage of popular discontent to tap into -- but with one crucial difference -- were it not for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the anger would be directed inward, at their own governments, instead of outward, at the Jews. This is what I meant by "politically useful".