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Middle East at the moment is more than unusually rocky. Islamist
extremism is a threat to several Arab regimes. On the run from Afghanistan,
al-Qaeda terrorists can count on clandestine networks to help them
regroup and start all over again. The Saudi royal family has never
been so unpopular. Poverty and oppression everywhere are breeding
discontent, perhaps revolution. Any day, some Palestinian suicide
bomber may spark a wider conflagration involving Israel and its
neighbors.
The good news
is that the United States has fought and won a campaign that numerous
critics judged certain to end in shipwreck. Victory, they held rather
patronizingly, would inflame the "Arab street" with a
generalized anti-American sentiment. Nothing of the kind has occurred.
On the contrary, Arabs everywhere have taken note of American political
resolve and military capacities. They know that the United States
is doing what it has to do, and that power in the pursuit of national
interest is only normal, not in the least shocking. Had the United
States failed to react as it did to September 11, the Arabs would
have lost all respect for it, and their anti-Americanism would have
conveyed contempt for people too feeble to defend themselves.
The next immediate
step should be to relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem, the country's capital. In every presidential campaign,
the candidates declare their willingness, even eagerness, to do
this. The eventual president, however, discovers that somehow the
moment is not opportune. This is supposed to be tactful to the Arabs,
but more often than not they interpret it as a failure of political
resolve.
As things stand
now, Islamist extremists are attacking Israel in the expectation
that one more suicide bomber will somehow blow the country apart,
and there will be no more Jews in it. Like Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda,
they have parted company with reality. Yasser Arafat bleats that
he can do nothing about the terrorists whom he is supposed to be
governing. In this quandary, the Sharon government hesitates to
adopt the obvious tactic of occupying Palestinian territory and
cleaning out everyone who possesses a gun or a grenade.
To relocate
the embassy is a simple but highly symbolic step, signifying that
Israel's legitimacy and secure future are beyond question. This
not only acts to reassure Israelis, but also serves notice on Islamist
extremists that they are deluding and harming themselves in their
attempt to eliminate Israel. After the Afghan success, even small
symbolic acts of power may serve to enforce reality and stabilize
the Middle East.
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