Overcoming Fear and Anxiety in Tel Aviv: How Israel Can Turn Egypt's Unrest Into an Opportunity |
|
By Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs 8.2.2011
via Foreign Affairs (click here for original) EXCERPT:
Mubarak's departure would strip Israel of its most important regional ally. But it would also leave the United States without a trustworthy "pillar of stability" in the region. This friendless situation could push Obama and Netanyahu into closer cooperation, despite their rocky relationship to date.
The Egyptian revolt also opens up new opportunities for peacemaking elsewhere. Israel wants to break away from its growing diplomatic isolation, having just lost its Turkish alliance last year, and now watching its Egyptian alliance hang in the balance. Its interlocutors in Syria and the Palestinian Authority are afraid that they are next in line to face popular revolts. Peace deals can serve both sides' interest, with the added strategic bonus for Israel of preventing encirclement on multiple fronts.
Israel could offer new peace proposals to the Palestinians and Syria, or demonstrate renewed interest in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which hinged a comprehensive settlement between Israel and the Arab world on the creation of a Palestinian state. By proposing a serious blueprint to Palestinian statehood and pulling Syria away from Iran's orbit through negotiations, Israel would not only defuse animosity against it in the Arab street, but also take part in the rebuilding of the Middle Eastern community in the wake of Egypt’s unrest.
|
|
|
|---|
