Connecting the Dots

March 23, 2010
“Let's assume there is a comprehensive settlement to which the Palestinian Authority (PA) agrees. It isn't going to happen but this is for demonstration purposes. … What would happen? First, none of this would apply to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Muslim Brotherhoods, and many others would renounce this as treason. … Would the kind of people who are now prone to support revolutionary Islamism then say: 'What a fair settlement. This settles all our grievances. Thank you, America for being so wonderful!'”
—Barry Rubin, director, Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, blog, “Why What General Petraeus Said is Wrong About the Middle East (Or is It Just Being Misinterpreted?)” March 17, 2010
  • “The Arab-Israeli conflict, and especially the Palestinian issue, remains one of the most contentious and sensitive issues in the entire Muslim world. The Palestinian issue can get Muslims demonstrating in the streets from Jakarta to Nigeria to Lebanon. … When the United States is expending its blood and treasure fighting insurgencies in overwhelmingly Muslim Iraq and Afghanistan, the dots are even easier to connect. It’s all part of a very important whole. We would be naive to think that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will eliminate the problems of terrorism and radicalization in the Islamic world, but it will go a long way toward draining the swamp of issues that extremists exploit for their own ends. So I think any American president would be well-advised to tackle this issue.”
    —Edward Djerejian, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs and U.S. ambassador to Israel; currently director, James Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, interview with the National Journal, February 20, 2010


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