RUTHFULLY YOURS

The greatest injustices are caused to us by ourselves. Media outlets that have lost their sanity are blaming us, of all people, for the tectonic changes that erupted recently from the depths of the religion, culture and history of Middle Eastern peoples.

If you choose to believe some of our commentators, Israel’s failure to engage in negotiations with the Palestinians is to blame for the Tunisian president’s expulsion, Muammar Gaddafi’s toppling, Mubarak’s trial, Assad turning Syria into a slaughterhouse, and Turkey going back in time to the Ottoman sultanate.

We are told that “We’re left with no friends,” “We lost our last allies,” “we’re all alone.” Moreover, we are told that all of this is the result of the Israeli government’s actions.

Where did they find so much ignorance, hypocrisy, demagoguery, wickedness and self-hatred in order to come up with such baseless, imagery accusations bordering on paranoia? What else is needed for them to also attribute the blood libels and inquisition to the “conflict”?

However, what did rise to the surface in the interface between the Arab spring of bloodshed and the Palestinian obsession proves precisely the opposite – the limitations of peace. With our own eyes we saw on the streets of Cairo, Istanbul and Amman that the masses – that is, the people – do not want peace with Israel.

Indeed, their authentic, democratic (yes, democratic!) hatred erupts the moment dictatorship ends.

Hence, in the Middle East, peace treaties can only be signed with dictators who ignore the will of their peoples, and such peace would always be cold, futile, and time limited. For that reason, we are only allowed to pay modest and limited prices for such peace.