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I like to share two opinion pieces I read in the Jerusalem Post today … read complete article@Jpost.com
Encouraging Peace: Netanyahu: Commit to two states by Gershon Baskin
“2013 must be the year when the leaders go beyond themselves, move forward beyond the expectations of their people,
far beyond their own expectations of each other and of the possibilities for peace.”There is no better person to lead Israel to peace than Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. That is not an easy statement for someone like me to write. Netanyahu as the leader of the right wing has the ability to reach an agreement with the Palestinians and gain the support of the majority of the Israeli public.
Israeli-Palestinian peace will entail concessions on the positions held by Netanyahu and backed by at least half of the Jews living in Israel.
Coming to terms with the parameters of peace for Netanyahu will mean an enormous, heart-breaking struggle with the ideology he has lived with and by his whole life. But peace with our neighbors is the most important long-term achievement an Israeli prime minister can deliver and we need Netanyahu to be the leader to do it.
Netanyahu sees himself as a great historic leader of Israel and the Jewish people. He perceives of himself as the inheritor of the legacies of David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin. It seems that he has sought to step into those great shoes by taking on the Iranian bomb and Iran’s dream to destroy Israel.
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Israel’s other neighbors that have peace treaties with Israel should show their support for the two states for two peoples solution. They should provide clear assurances that once the Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty is signed the frozen state of peace will be converted to real peace.
That is especially important now that the Muslim Brotherhood rules Egypt and because of the large Palestinian population in Jordan. The leaders of Egypt and Jordan can provide substantial assistance both in the process of negotiations and by providing political support for the Palestinian leadership, which will have to make its own significant concessions. Visits to Israel by the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Palestine together – addressing the Knesset [Video Anwar Sadat]with an appeal for peace, would make real inroad towards changing Israeli public opinion. [Arab states ignored funeral of President Anwar Sadat]
A Middle East Islamicized, or balkanized?
“We see in the “Arab Spring” (or “Winter”) that elections have not been accompanied by minorities’ rights being protected, a central feature of real democracies.”
Two decades ago, Yugoslavia, a third larger than Syria, broke into multiple political entities: Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. As a state it had existed in several forms since the First World War. Its peoples used two alphabets, hosted several religions, spoke four languages, comprised two major races and included several nationalities.
For decades it has been commonplace to describe the Middle East as “Arab-Muslim,” as though it belongs to them exclusively. In reality, the region’s multitude of minorities considered together may be a majority. Populations may be categorized by religion, ethnicity, language, race, nationality and perhaps other variables. For example, people of Syria define themselves not only as Syrian but also Alawite, Sunni, Shi’ite, Druse, Kurd and Christian.
IRAN
Iran is home to Shi’ite Islam (as compared to Sunni Islam, the center of gravity of which is Saudi Arabia) and also home to the Zoroastrian and Baha’i religions. Its people speak Farsi, not Arabic.IRAQ
Iraq’s three major distinct populations are now mostly grouped geographically: Shi’ites mostly in south and center, Sunnis in the west and Kurds in the north. Vast population transfers or migrations occurred the past decade (after America’s 2003 takedown of Saddam Hussein’s regime), those regions becoming more homogeneous. Until recently, Iraq was also home to many Jews and Assyrians.THE PAST century saw considerable population movements in the Middle East, some voluntary, others imposed. Christian Armenians living in the Caucasus region were unsuccessful at maintaining statehood after WWI. Many were killed by Turks in a conflict variously defined as a civil war or a holocaust, and they suffered post-war Soviet dominance.
EGYPT
Egypt has a durable national identity distinct from its Arab or Muslim identity, and includes large minorities of Coptic Christians and racial Africans. There were once also many Greeks, Europeans and Jews, most of whom left. The tension between Egyptian nationalism and Arab-Muslim identity is reflected in the November 13, 2012, CNN News report citing an Egyptian Muslim calling for destruction of the Sphinx and pyramids as pagan.LEBANON
Lebanon was established as a Christian state alongside Syria, with Maronites and the Eastern Orthodox Church providing primary identities, but also with large Sunni, Shi’ite and Druse populations. It endured civil war in the 1950s, `70s and `80s. Lebanon once had a Jewish community.ISRAEL
Israel, while a Jewish state, provides religious freedom for Christians, Muslims and other citizens and residents. Its Jews include various races – from Africa, Europe, Mideast, South Asia – as well as Ashkenazi and Sephardi, assorted religious streams, and peoples from many lands.