The futility of peacemaking and democratization in the Middle East

Submitted by Kenneth S. Besig (Israel), Jul 24, 2007 at 11:53

The tragic failure of the Iraq War should serve as a warning to all those who believe that it is possible to impose peace or democracy in the Middle East. I would have thought that the monumental Western failures in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict would have been enough to make this simple fact plain, but there you go, each generation apparently has to learn it's own lesson.

While many things went wrong in the Iraq War, the destruction of Saddam and his murderous regime was certainly good for the region. Had the coalition forces settled for replacing Saddam with a strong and ruthless Iraqi ruler, democratic or not, chances are that the entire Coalition occupation period could have been reduced or even avoided

For example, the Hamas terrorist movement has imposed peace and quiet on the Gaza Strip, not by building schools, hospitals, and water treatment plants, but by throwing drug dealers, thieves, and murderers, as well as members of the PLO opposition, off the top of high rises or simply shooting them like dogs in the street.

Of course, no one argues that this has brought the Palestinian/Israeli dispute any closer to resolution, to the contrary, peace and democracy among the Palestinians, and thus peace with Israel, is even more far off than before.

But what the Hamas violence has done is made the Gaza Strip a better place to live for the Palestinians.

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