THOUGHTS CONCERNING
THE ARAB/ISRAELI CONFLICT
AND AMERICA'S INVOLVEMENT

"There can be no Arab winners as long as some governments remain convinced that violence can produce political results. Nor can there be any Jewish winners as long as Israeli governments believe that their right to security and self-respect is greater than others’. Nor can the United States be anything but an eventual big-time loser as long as its elected officials are locked into the mind-set of viewing the Middle East from the simplest of perspectives: one side is inherently good, the other basically evil, and it isn’t particularly necessary to understand who the Arabs are and what Islam is, because anyone not guided by Western logic is an unreliable ally anyway … The grass roots animosity between Arabs and Americans is growing on both sides of the ocean for no reason other than ignorance, and most Americans do not understand that this tension rests in the failures of its own government. …The day is approaching when the United States and Israel will stand together and alone against the Arabs, and I can think of no more unhealthy scenario – for the Israelis, the Arabs or the Americans. … In the end, even the Israelis could turn against the United States, resentful that they are militarily, economically, and spiritually indebted to and totally dependent on a foreign power, which, like any protector, would make demands that the ward is not prepared to meet. --- "

"The Arabs - Journey Beyond the Mirage" by David Lamb
Vintage Books, a Division of RandomHouse
Submitted to VoxPax by Ed Shaw