What Comes after Death of Mideast Peace?

Until Mideast leaders of the caliber of late Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat, Yitzhaq Rabin and Menachem Begin of Israel and the late King Hussein of Jordan who are now all dead – two of them at the hands of assassins – emerge, there is not much leadership out there strong enough to strike deals and make them stick.

This, IMHO, is the centerpiece of the challenge in the Middle East. It takes guts to sit at the same table with your enemy to hammer out a peace treaty. For the greater good, Sadat sacrificed his life so that there would be peace between Israel and his own Islamic Arab country. It takes courage to take the action he took. Now, all we have are cowards like Assad, Abbas, Nasrallah and Hussein's son. They rattle their swords and pretend that they're tough. If they were REAL men of REAL courage, they'd do what Sadat did.

Perhaps peace is not their goal.

On the Israeli side, one can assume the country can take care of itself militarily and otherwise. It has matured to a nation of 7.5 million including 1.5 million Arab Israelis who are not as unhappy as their Palestinian brethren suggest and would, if pressed, more likely opt for an Israeli quality of life. Israel just hit a per capita income level of around $ 35,000, putting it squarely in the higher ranking of the industrialized western living standards, with an economy bigger than all neighboring countries. It has never lost a war and can still win any.

Beyond this, the best strategy for the White House when it comes to those Middle East ‘’tribes with flags’’ may be benign neglect. When you think of it, despite predictions of dire consequences and World War Three out there, the Middle East dispute has survived with various accommodations quite well for 100 years already.

This all may be true, but Israel would prefer a peace treaty over the current set of circumtances. They continue to be asked to give the store away. I guess the Arabs have to want it more before they make a move.