Former Defense Secretary: Arabs more concerned about Iran than about Israel
William Cohen, a former Senator from Maine who served as Secretary of Defense in President Clinton's second administration, tells the Washington Times that fear of Iran has replaced animosity toward as Israel as the top concern of Arab governments in the Middle East. Having made six trips to the Gulf in the past 18 months, Mr. Cohen came to a conclusion reached by other U.S. and foreign diplomats and analysts regarding Arab jitters about Iranian influence.I've seen no indication that the Arabs accept that Israel is going to be here permanently, but other than that, I believe his analysis is correct.
"What has changed in the Gulf region from my perspective is that, in all my years in the past, the first thing I'd get was a lecture about Israel, and it could last for a long time," Mr. Cohen told editors and reporters at The Washington Times.
"I no longer receive that, and when I go and travel, what I hear is, there is greater fear of Iran than there is animus toward Israel," he said. "So that is almost a predominant sentiment that I've noticed throughout most, if not all, of the Gulf states."
Mr. Cohen, who after leaving office in 2001 founded the global consulting firm the Cohen Group, said that many Arab leaders have made gestures toward Israel in a sign of their shifting strategic concerns. He cited a meeting he attended that was hosted by the emir of Qatar last year and also included Tzipi Livni, who was Israel's foreign minister.
"I think [the Arabs] accept the fact that Israel is going to be there, it's going to exist, and now the question is, how do you solve the issue for the Palestinians?" he said.
The Arab regimes understand the depth of the hatred between Shia and Sunni Muslims. Since most of the so-called 'moderate' Arab regimes are Sunni and Iran is Shia, they understand that if he goes nuclear, Ahmadinejad will likely attack them at some point as well.
The Arab regimes are also tired of the 'Palestinian' saga, but they still would like Israel to take it off their hands one way or the other. Israel cannot possibly absorb 7,000,000 'Palestinians' - the idea is absurd. If the Arab regimes truly wanted to resolve the Israeli-'Palestinian' conflict, they would come up with creative ideas that would resettle the 'Palestinian refugees' in countries in the Arab world.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:42 PM
2 Comments:
The Arab World is not ready for peace with Israel today. There a few voices in the Arab World who would like to end the conflict but they are marginal to it and have no real power. Peace is not going to happen for the next generation or two and people are just to going to have to accept it as a fact of life.
The Arab regimes understand the depth of the hatred between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
And that hatred should be fomented by the non-muslim world. Let them destroy each other rather than us destroy them in self defense.
We can pick up the pieces and destroy the side left standing if necessary.
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