Washington Post Columnist David Ignatius writes about moderating a panel discussion at Davos that erupted into a minor international incident between Israel and Turkey. At the event, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres launched into a long rebuttal to the other speakers, defending Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip. Trying to respond, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan was told he could only briefly comment due to the event running late. He then stormed off the stage. Ignatius writes that the incident clearly shows the polarization in the Arab-Israeli conflict, a recent phenomenon that ultimately harms the peace process. Notably, he writes:
“American leaders must give up the notion that they can transform the Middle East and its culture through military force. George W. Bush tried that. He sought to alter the dynamics of the region by knocking down the tent pole, just as Sharon thought in 1982 that, by going all the way to the PLO stronghold of Beirut, he could transform the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the Middle East doesn’t lend itself to transformation.
Everything I know about the region tells me that military power will not break the resolve of America’s adversaries. The Israelis have tried that strategy against radical Palestinians for decades, without much success. It turns out that even the most wretched, desperately poor resident of Gaza will sacrifice his home, his job, his security, his life—before he will give up his dignity.
It’s time to try something different, and Obama offered the right formula for it in his inaugural address: “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
All wars end. Even people who claim to despise each other eventually find a face–saving way to begin talking. They don’t stay in the middle of a conflict where there is no middle. They move on. That’s what I hope is happening for the United States in the Middle East. America is beginning a serious and sustained process of talking with its enemies. That process means listening carefully and speaking frankly, and giving up, too, the pretense of “moderating.” America needs to get out of the elusive middle, step across the threshold of anger, and sit down and talk. Even if these negotiations fail, America will have moved into a different, and better, place.”
