Israel Should Make Peace With the Palestinians ASAP

UPDATE II: "Welcome to the Arab Spring, Arab-Israeli chapter. Commentators sometimes talked as if the Facebook revolutionaries had forgotten about the Palestinian issue. Not so: The 'dignity revolution' is connecting, as in last week’s frightening riot at the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, with the ever-flowing font of Arab shame and rage toward the Jewish state. Bidding for regional leadership is Erdogan, who thundered Monday, 'Israel cannot play with our dignity.' . .

When you strip away the posturing on all sides, what’s happening is that Israel now lives in an Arab neighborhood where public opinion matters. For decades, Israelis have dismissed the 'Arab street,' as if presidents and kings were the only decisive voices. That approach worked so long as dictators could suppress popular opinion, but no more. . .

[The] bottom line on the collision of the new Arab Spring and the old animosities: Israelis may ultimately be more secure in a world of Arab democracies. But it will be a world where compromise is part of survival."

Read the Washington Post, Israel’s new problem with the Arab Street.


UPDATE: "If you think Congress is obstructionist on the debt ceiling, look at the Middle East. But there’s hope." Read The New York Times, Seeking Balance on the Mideast.

"The struggle today across the Arab world is between the 'I will make you afraid' leadership and the 'We are not afraid anymore' citizens." Read The New York Times, The New Hama Rules.