my first log: a Middle East Solution?
I’ll admit I’ve questioned using Facebook, Twitter, blogging. Friends and colleagues keep telling me: forget it, we want nothing to do with it. You’ve got better things to do with your time. Your grandchildren are into it, but so what? They live in another world.
Then people I care about and seldom communicate with will say: “I want to be your ‘friend.’” Naturally I click “Yes” but that’s about it, just one more name. I know folks with hundreds of “friends” but what’s the point? I’m not really interested in the trivial details of someone’s life and I doubt they’re interested in mine. On the oher hand, I’m very interested in what’s on their mind, what’s important to them.
For example, these next efforts to get the Palestinans and Israelis talking has huge importance. A solution there would have more benefit in cooling the Middle East, including Afghanistan and Iran, than anything else we could do. I remember writing in my book (“Odyssey of a Practical Visionary”) about meeting an Arab student from Jordan when I was a grad student at the University of Chicago in the 1950s, over half a centry ago. He said all the talks are useless. The Arab leaders want the Arab refugees to stay in the camps and not be resettled. That keeps the problem alive until they can push the Jews into the sea and get back their lands.
Obama is hosting a big dinner this week at the White House for Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahoud Abbas. There will be intense negotiations, if they don’t get sidetracked right away (e.g., several Israeli settlers were just killed, or if Israeli construction on the West Bank is renewed, the talks could be off). Will each side find something lacking in the past, such as enlightened statesmanship, to bring a two-state conclusion? Will the American public be even-handed? Don’t hold your breath, but a miracle wouldn’t hurt. Imagine the millions who use Facebook pushing both sides! A productive result right here would produce far more value than all the billions of dollars and military might now mobilized elsewhere in the Middle East.
Belden
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL