America-Israel Friendship League: The Arab Revolt, 2011; A Bush Redux?
America-Israel Friendship League: The Arab Revolt, 2011; A Bush Redux?
The world is watching the spreading demands for change by Arab citizens to throw off the shackles of autocratic and repressive rulers. So far, the governments of Tunisia and Egypt have fallen and demonstrations continue in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan and Morocco, and rumblings of unrest simmer elsewhere. A brutal and bloody civil war threatens in Libya. We do not yet know whether these strivings for freedom and democracy and demands for economic reforms, educational opportunities and jobs will produce meaningful change. At AIFL we respect and admire the strivings for democratic realization and reform by those who are seeking a better life and opportunities. A true respect for human rights and participatory democracy would bring great benefits to all the peoples in the Middle East.
Democratic ideals inflame the hopes of all subjugated peoples and one never knows what it is that provides the spark which ignites the fury. The seemingly spontaneous uprising in Tunisia may have been influenced by the advocacy of the Bush Administration seeking the spread of democracy in the Middle East. The process of seeking to form a democratic government in Iraq, which is still a work in progress, has been carefully watched in Arab lands and elsewhere.
Since 1948, virtually the entire Arab world (except Egypt and Jordan who have treaties with Israel) has opposed the State of Israel, and since 1967 has adhered to the Khartoum Declaration of No Peace, No Recognition, No Negotiation with Israel and has incited the Arab peoples towards hatred and rejection of Jews and Israel. They have employed scandalous lies and propaganda in their viscous assault and since 1979 Iran has joined that chorus. Yet, it is more than slightly remarkable that in all of the protests, complaints and demands of the leaders of the new Arab Revolt the name of Israel has hardly been mentioned, nor have there been cries of sympathy and support for the demands of the Palestinian Arabs, or for an end to Israeli residential construction in the West Bank or Jerusalem. Those complaints hopefully vanish in the face of the real, sincere and desperate pleas of Arab demonstrators for recognition of their civil and human rights and their demands for participatory democracy. Perhaps the time is coming that the Arab world will see that Israel and the Jewish people are not their enemies, but indeed offer the hand of peace and friendship and the opportunity to realize a New Middle East as advocated some years ago by Shimon Peres, now the President of Israel. Under Mubarak the Egyptian government maintained a "cold peace" with Israel and resisted demands from many sources to return to the state of war which prevails between many Arab states and Israel.