In the lead-up to Netanyahu's foreign policy speech next week, it is clear that the Middle East is hungry for a new course.
As reported in APN's Middle East Peace Report Monday, majorities of Israelis support a freeze to settlement construction, an evacuation of settlement outposts, and cooperation with Barack Obama.
Lebanon's recent election results signal a rejection of extremism. "Evidently the majority of the Lebanese have resolved their minds; they don't want confrontation, they want peace," says political scientist Hilal Khashan.
While we cannot predict the outcome of Iran's upcoming elections, it is clear that Iranians by-and-large reject the confrontational leadership of their president. The New York Times reports an Iranian poll showing that Ahmadinejad has support from only 39% of respondents while the more moderate candidate Moussavi has support from 54%. On Monday, Iranians formed a 12-mile human chain to protest Ahmadinejad's extremist policies and rhetoric.
It would be a mistake for Israel to let its guard down, as we know all too well that constructive opinion often does not translate into constructive action. Extremism is not going away.
Still, it would also be a mistake for Israel's leaders to ignore the changing tide. When Netanyahu makes his speech, the world will be watching. Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, and people throughout the Muslim world will await Netanyahu's announcement of concrete steps toward peace.
Netanyahu's campaign said in November that "Netanyahu is the real candidate of change for Israel." Bibi owes Israelis, and the world, some proof.
This is another great piece of analysis written by APN intern Dan Fischer.
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What about the Palestinian threat to Israeli security? Israel has far too many enemies that are dedicated to destroying it to ever let its guard down. Abandoning the settlements would only be giving land back to people who are set on destruction.
There is no "hunger for a new course" in the Middle East. There is no "changing tide". These are cliches representing wishful thinking by people in the so-called "Israeli peace camp" who have been in a state of despair for 10 years since it became clear that the Palestinians were not prepared to come to any peace agreement with Israel on any terms.
Firstly, the Lebanese election results. They do NOT represent any rejection of pro-Iranian extremism. This is because the whole contest was restricted to the Christian camp. The Shi'ites voted for pro-Iranian parties (HIZBULLAH and AMAL), the Sunnis voted for anti-Iranian parties, so it was the Christians who were divided. Of course, none of them are thrilled with living under HIZBULLAH-Iranian domination, but those Christians who supported the pro-HIZBULLAH Michel Aoun simply felt their best chance for survival was to be allied with HIZBULLAH. They lost. The Shi'ites, largest sect in Lebanon are pro-Iranian and will have major power even if they don't have a majority in the Parliament. Thus, the vote does not reflect at all on "change" in a moderate direction in the Muslim world. Do not look for any change on that front.
Secondly, the poll in APN Newsletter does NOT indicate that Israelis support Obama's policies, nor does it mean they want to completely "freeze" building in the settlements. A majority does say it wants a "freeze", but also a majority says it wants "natural growth". So what does that mean? Meanwhile the large majority of Israeli do not believe Obama has Israel's interests at heart, so they are not going to jump because he says to, no matter how much American Jewish "progressives" may be in love with him.
Thirdly, the Iranian election has nothing to do with "extremism". All Iranians support their nuclear program, including the so-called moderates. It is true many Iranians feel that Ahmedinejad's big mouth is damaging their interests, but all they want is for the same policies to be carried out, just with a little more tact in order to curry favor with the rest of the world. Iran will continue to support international terror groups like HIZBULLAH and HAMAS no matter who wins. Internal economic conditions are the main issue and many voters feel that Ahemedinejad has failed in this realm.
The Arab struggle against Israel and Zionism has gone on for over 90 years now. It has been remarkably consistent. Of course, many Israeli 'progressives' want to pretend that it is going away because they can not face the fact that there is not going to be a contractual peace for the forceable future. Thus, as I said above, there is no "hunger of change", merely a change of tactics over the years. Now that the Arabs perceive that there is a pro-Arab President in the US they will adjust to this in their propaganda line, but it does not mean they want peace any more than they did in the past.
Read Benny Morris' new book "One State, Two States" to see how Arab propaganda against Israel has changed over the years while maintaining the same basic war of attrition against Israel.