In an assessment of the winners and losers emerging from the Arab democratic revolution, Fawaz A Gerges writes:
Regionally, Israel is the biggest loser. It has put all its eggs into the basket of Arab dictators and autocrats, like Egypt’s deposed Hosni Mubarak. Israel fought tooth and nail to support Mr Mubarak, who played a key role in tightening the siege of Gaza and the noose around Hamas’s neck.
Time and again, the Israeli political class has proven to be its own worst enemy. Israel lost Iran 40 years ago because it put all its eggs in the Shah’s basket. It has just lost Turkey over the killing of nine activists on board a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship.
And now Israel is likely to lose Egypt, a critical and pivotal neighbour whose Camp David peace agreement in the late 1970s consolidated Israel’s superiority in the region and undermined the official Arab state system.
Regardless of what governments emerge out of the rubble of political authoritarianism in the Arab world, they will have assertive foreign policies that challenge Israel’s hegemony and further colonisation of Palestinian lands.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has lost all credibility in the eyes of the people there. The leaked negotiation documents obtained by al-Jazeera – offering wide-ranging concessions to the Israeli side – were the final nail in the PA’s coffin.
Resistance-based movements like Hamas and Hezbollah have gained more popularity at the expense of Abbas’s Palestinian Authority; they will emerge as major winners of the social turmoil unless Israel takes concrete steps to sign a peace settlement and withdraw from occupied Arab territories.
Can’t say that Israel didn’t bring this on this on themselves. The idea that they could continue moving the goal posts each time they negotiate with the P.A. or any others, that they allow the I.D.F. to conduct itself with impunity, they deserve to be left out in the cold. Being two faced while on stage, is best left for the theater, not the real World stage. This time, Israel may indeed find itself out in the cold, for the U.S. now has to try and deal with new, different Governments, so much so that there won’t be the status quo of the past. I don’t think that the clout Israel has had in the U.S. will remain the same, as business as usual. The U.S. is stretched too thin now, along with treasure drain and the possibility that what’s happening in the M.E., can happen at home.
“Regardless of what governments emerge out of the rubble of political authoritarianism in the Arab world, they will have assertive foreign policies that challenge Israel’s hegemony and further colonisation of Palestinian lands.”
Whatever, assert away. What a toothless threat, and so typical of the severe delusions coming out of the Arab world right now. Sorry to burst your bubble Fawaz, but your whole entire world is falling apart and you have enough problems for now. You won’t be asserting on anyone for a good long while. And if you think you’re going to try anything with Israel, be prepared to watch your much needed aid money dry up. (this obviously doesn’t apply to you Fawaz, as I don’t think Lebanon is getting too much from uncle sam anymore).
The 1967 UN accords will be fully implemented by 2015. You heard it here first…
“And now Israel is likely to lose Egypt, a critical and pivotal neighbour whose Camp David peace agreement in the late 1970s consolidated Israel’s superiority in the region and undermined the official Arab state system.”
Statements like this are easy to make, especially when they’re ambiguous. What does “lose Egypt” mean? It isn’t in Egypt’s interest to back out of the Camp David Accords and it distorts the aims and goals of the revolution. People in Egypt are just as interested in peace as they are in Palestine. However, Israel will lose Egypt as its police partner on the Gaza border, which is going to the be first step to substantial change in that occupied territory. As for the West Bank, Israel will have more international pressure because it won’t be able to claim it’s the only democracy in the Middle East and its illegal occupation will continue to lose credibility. It’s not that Israel will lose Egypt. It’s that Israel will just lose, period. The PA could have capitalized on this moment; instead, they choose to pander to Israel and US for concessions that were never delivered.