Peace, Weakness and Israel
A small-time player claimed this week to have been involved in an Israeli-Syrian peace initiative. I say that because peace initiatives in the Middle East have involved “small time players” in the past, but most have foundered for one reason or another. Professor Suleiman, a Maryland resident, blamed, among other things, Olmert’s weakness as a reason for the talks failure.
He’s right. Katzav, Olmert, entire rafts of failed generals, and an atmosphere of corruption and failure of the government to uphold the public trust contravene any possible peace initiative.
That’s like saying “he didn’t win the Boston marathon because he had brain cancer.”
Israel’s continuing pandemic of morally and fiscally bankrupt leadership deprives the Israeli as well as Palestinian peoples of a partner in prosperity as well as a prospective partner for peace.
Don’t get me wrong: the hamas/PLO ‘love fest’ is a clear indicator that there’s no one home on the other side. But Israel in the past has at least had solid leaders with vision, power and the ethical standards necessary to at least stand at the altar of peace, even if stood up.
Now there’s no one, and the only benefactors are the extremists in Iran and the cunning in Syria. A sad state of affairs.