By Condoleezza Rice, WaPo

The civil war in Syria may well be the last act in the story of the disintegration of the Middle East as we know it. The opportunity to hold the region together and to rebuild it on a firmer foundation of tolerance, freedom and, eventually, democratic stability is slipping from our grasp.

Egypt and Iran have long, continuous histories and strong national identities. Turkey does as well, except for the matter of the Kurds, who are still largely unassimilated, mistrusted by Ankara and tempted by the hope of independent nationhood.
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By Steven Plaut, Daily Mailer, FrontPage

The Hamas terrorists fired over 1,500 rockets into civilian areas of
Israel just before and during the recent “Pillar of Defense” military
operation, rockets that killed at least five Israelis, wounded many
others and did loads of damage. Southern Israel underwent the
regional equivalent (and the moral equivalent) to the Londoners of the
1940s who endured the German Blitz.

Israel had learned in its 2006 war with the Hezb’Allah Islamofascist
terrorists in Lebanon that bombing from the air does not achieve very
much against entrenched terrorist infrastructure. Nevertheless, that
was essentially the same failed military strategy used against the
Hamas savages by the Netanyahu government in the “Pillar of Defense”
campaign. Air attacks with conventional weapons not only failed in
Lebanon, they also failed to end the aggressions by Germany and Japan
in World War II, and they generally failed elsewhere.
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Seth Mandel, Contentions

Last month, I wrote about the danger Hamas poses to peace in the Middle East on a second, and relatively new, front: its newfound diplomatic clout in the region. Saudi Arabia first began dumping cash into Gaza, and was soon followed by Qatar doing the same—between them the countries just pledged nearly $1 billion in investment in the Strip. And Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has figured out that he wields more influence with the West as a mediator between Hamas and the Western world.

Always clearly, though quietly, opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, the Arab world is no longer hiding it, choosing instead to garishly empower and enrich the entity that will make peace impossible. And so, as Egypt mediated an Israel-Hamas cease-fire this week, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal also received a prime interview slot on CNN at the tail end of Operation Pillar of Defense. Did he use this time to feign moderation? On the contrary, Meshaal reads the support he’s getting from around the world as a signal that he need not moderate, nor claim to. Here is Christiane Amanpour asking Meshaal about a two-state solution and renouncing terrorism:
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By Tom Gross

* U.S. chooses stability over democracy in Egypt; James Brandon: On Thursday, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president declared all his decisions to be irrevocable and immune from any form of judicial challenge or overturn. Morsi said this would allow him to achieve “political and economic stability” and to “defend the revolution”: an ominous phrase beloved by every revolutionary-turned-despot from Robespierre to Lenin and Mao.

* Just hours before, Hillary Clinton told a press conference in Cairo that “Egypt’s new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone of regional stability and peace.”
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Duration – 45 minutes

I covered this MOU four years ago and included the text of the document.

By Ted Belman

Just prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama, he demanded that Israel agree to a ceasefire and end Cast Lead. The ceasefire agreement was negotiated and signed by Condeleeza Rice and PM Livni. The issues then were identical to the issues today. LiveLeak reported:

Some of the clauses in the memorandum, that would bind the incoming US administration as well, included measures against Iran, Hamas’s main backer as regards funding and armament.
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By MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST

Into the Fray: If the current government does not have the diplomatic competence to create the conditions necessary to provide security for its citizens, it should admit it.

The ultimate test of this agreement will be a test of blood…. If it becomes clear that they [the Palestinians] cannot overcome terror, this will be a temporary accord and… we will have no choice but to abrogate it. And if there is no choice, the IDF will return to the places which it is about to leave in the upcoming months. – Yossi Beilin, on the Oslo Accords, Ma’ariv, November 26, 1993.

Is it just me or is there something dreadfully wrong – almost grotesquely absurd – with the government not only asking a member of the Muslim Brotherhood to broker a deal for it in a conflict with… the Muslim Brotherhood, but, incredibly, also to adjudicate in the case of alleged breaches?
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Zakaria says Israel is  worried Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state. This is leftist BS. Most Israel believe that Israel is not threatened demographically and is secure as a democratic and Jewish state.  What they worry about is the vulnerabilty we will usher in if they give up Judea and Samaria. Ted Belman

Eve Harow points out:

There is more than one security expert in Israel who will tell you that the
only thing the wall does is lessen car theft from Israel into PA areas,
that the reason the terrorism is way down (poopoopoo) is due to -post
Defensive Shield -our soldiers going and out at will arresting terrorists
from Area A as well as B.

By Fareed Zakaria, WaPo

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