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Misreading the Direction of History

(Ha'aretz) Shimon Shamir - Last year, when Mohamed Morsi assumed the presidency of Egypt, the White House warmly embraced the Muslim Brotherhood regime, a policy decision that meant abandoning Washington's veteran allies in Egypt and arousing concern among its allies in the Arab world. It also meant ignoring the anti-Western essence of the Brotherhood. President Obama explained that "you have to be on the right side of history." His argument was that everywhere in the region Islamic movements are on the rise, they express the will of the masses and therefore democratization means Islamization; the U.S. must compromise with this change because it reflects a one-way historical process. It took only one year for the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt to collapse when confronted by a broad popular movement that won the support of the army. Islamic forces have been checked in other countries as well, such as Jordan and Tunisia. It is definitely right to aspire "to be on the right side of history," but only if you are aware of its complexity and acknowledge the limitations of reading it. The writer is a professor emeritus of Middle East history, and a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt and Jordan.
2013-12-30 00:00:00
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