Daily Alert Archives

Losing the Middle East

(National Interest) Benny Morris - When the dust settles in the Middle East in a few months, my guess is that one will see that Western - and Israeli - interests will have been substantially undermined and anti-Western - and anti-Israeli - interests substantially bolstered. In the Gulf states with large Shi'ite populations - such as in Bahrain, where the Shi'ites constitute the overwhelming majority - Iran's influence will vastly increase. In Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Jordan, and Yemen, help to the American "War on Terror" will be considerably reduced, or will vanish altogether. Similarly, a greater frostiness will enter into attitudes across the Middle East towards Israel. In Egypt, opposition elements are already calling for revocation of the 1979 peace treaty with the Jewish state or, at the least, "reconsidering it" and a permanent end to the multi-billion dollar gas exports to Israel. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the Egyptians will attempt to control the flow of arms and ammunition to Gaza as they did during the Mubarak years.
2011-02-24 00:00:00
Full Article