By Barry Rubin

Note: The following article was published as a response to an editorial in The Diplomat, a top Canadian international affairs magazine, which explicitly claimed that the Arab-Israeli conflict–and specifically Israel’s “occupation” policy–was at the root of all the problems in the Middle East, between the Middle East and the West, and between Islam and the West. This notion continues to be expressed (perhaps increasingly so) despite the fact that there is so much evidence to the contrary and that (though many in the West seem to have failed to nice this little detail) Israel has withdrawn from the Sinai, south Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and much of the West Bank, as well as offering to leave the rest of the West Bank and the Golan Heights in exchange for full peace.

What is antisemitism? It is not merely the Nazi view that all Jews are evil and should be killed without exception. It is a set of beliefs including the idea that Jews are the cause of all the world’s problems–which is expressed in this editorial–and others which are not contained in this particular editorial.

These other ideas include, Jews are conspiring to seize world power, Jews are traitors to the nation and pursue their own interests at its expense, and Jews drag countries into unnecessary wars for their own greedy reasons. We can look to Jimmy Carter and Walt-Mearsheimer for these aspects of antisemitism.

Another contemporary mistake about antisemitism during most of history is to think it is present only if all Jews are seen as enemies. Historically, of course, if Jews ceased to be Jews religiously (by conversion) or took a position that advocated the community disappear by other means (as left-wing revolutionaries dissolving any Jewish identity in the new socialist or communist utopia), they were given immunity from being denounced or persecuted. Even Usama bin Ladin likes Noam Chomsky. But I digress. If you are interested in these issues, please see my book, Barry Rubin, Assimilation and Its Discontents.

On the other side, there is acceptance of a myth–if it was ever true at all it is 20 years out of date–that all Arab states are obsessed with the Palestinians. It ignores such things as inter-Arab rivalries, fear of Islamism and Iran, disgust with the Palestinian political groups and leaders, the use of the issue in demagoguery at home and manipulating the West internationally, and many other factors–not to mention radical Islamist revolutionary ideology. If you are interested in this point, please see my book, Barry Rubin, The Tragedy of the Middle East.

It’s understandable that many people want to believe that the sole or core issue of the Middle East is the Arab-Israeli conflict, as you suggest in your September 5 editorial (”The Problem Is Still Israel-Palestine”), but to think in this manner is to ensure the region will be misunderstood and that problems there become much worse.

After all, if everything can be pinned on the Arab-Israeli conflict, it means the West need fight no battle, face no threat, bear no cost, or deal with complex issues. All that is necessary is to force Israel into concessions that risk its existence or eliminate it altogether and all problems of Arab nationalism, Islamism, terrorism, and revolution disappear.

Father King, cited as the source for this view, may be a great theologian but is certainly no expert on Middle East, politics, Islamism, terrorism, nationalism, or revolution. In fact, the key issues there are: Who holds power in each country and in the region; who gets rich and what ideas govern society. The Middle East’s troubles stem, too, from failure in development rooted within the local societies. Arab nationalists and Islamists strive for power; states seek to expand their influence and perhaps territory.

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That is what’s going on in the region. Iran and Syria seek hegemony; the Sunni and Shi’a fight for control of Iraq; Arab nationalist dictatorships survive their shortcomings by demagoguery against Israel and the West. Radical Islamist movements challenge them for power.

This isn’t surprising. European history was marked by violence and ideological dispute for centuries along similar lines, even though European countries were far more successful in economic, social, and intellectual development. All this turmoil took place without there being an Israel there.

Even radical non-Palestinian Islamist literature in Arabic has not focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Prior to September 11, for example, Usama bin Ladin mentioned the Palestinian issue around 10 percent of the time, far less than he talked about Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and many other things. As for the Arab states (other than Syria), the emphasis they put and the resources they devote to the Arab-Israeli conflict have fallen steadily over the last 30 years as they turned their attention to other matters.

Your editorial claims: “The problem is, ‘as it always was’ still rooted…in Israel and Palestine.” Really? Conflict between Middle East and West isn’t rooted in decades of colonial rule over Algeria, Egypt, or Iraq? In Western support for Arab regimes past and present including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt while radical Islamists want to overthrow them? Not rooted in jealousy over the West’s greater success and power? In the Islamist view that the West is decadent and the Arab nationalist view that it is imperialistic, whether or not these accusations are true? Not rooted in murderous conflict between Sunni and Shi’a, advocates of capitalism and socialism, and other internal disputes spilling over as participants think they can get Western help or use anti-Western xenophobia to mobilize support? Not rooted in the false picture daily presented of Western society, religions, and culture? Not rooted in antagonism that powerful Muslim groups find in Islam itself, whether or not they “misinterpret” it?

Has it really come down to this: that all problems between the Middle East and West or the Middle East and Christianity can be blamed on Israel?

The idea that the “essential rift between Islam and the West is still to be found in the Israeli-Palestinian divide,” is also highly inaccurate. Inasmuch as there is a rift, Islam is a different religion with its own historical culture and worldview, whereas the West has been shaped by different religions. Ordinary Muslims worry about their societies becoming secular like the West, overwhelmed by Western culture and attitudes. Islamists know the West opposes its goal of turning the Middle East into the equivalent of Iran and Taliban Afghanistan. September 11 didn’t happen because of Israel, but due to al-Qa’ida’s goal of spreading radical Islamist revolution and most immediately due to U.S. backing for the Saudi regime, their top target. To believe the problem is mainly or basically Israel is to fool oneself.

Moreover, the greatest outpouring of attacks on Israel happened after Israel made the Oslo agreement, withdrew from southern Lebanon, the whole Gaza Strip, and virtually all populated portions of the West Bank, proposed an independent Palestinian state, and so on. Israel has made numerous concessions and taken many risks for peace which have not been reciprocated by Syria and Palestinians, though Jordan and Egypt have shown through diplomatic compromise how real progress can be attained.

Blaming Israel for everything blinds one to the real issues, which must also be addressed if any problems are going to be solved: The Palestinian movement is still largely based on Israel’s destruction, radical Islamists seek to take over Middle East countries and transform their societies, Iran and Syria seek regional hegemony, and failed Arab nationalist dictatorships make their people discontented.

The Middle East and the problem of radical Islamism require a bit more work than a single-issue approach and a single scapegoat for the turmoil there.

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Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center university. His latest book, The Truth about Syria was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in May 2007. Prof. Rubin’s columns can be read online at: http://gloria.idc.ac.il/articles/index.html.

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The Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center
Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya P.O. Box 167 Herzliya, 46150 Israel
Email: gloria@idc.ac.il Phone: +972-9-960-2736 Fax: +972-9-956-8605
© 2007 All rights reserved.

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Related: Anti-Semitism, Foreign Policy, Islam, Israel, Palestinians, Political Correctness

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