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Nyt mideast op-eds mar 2010

Opinion pieces about the Middle East in the New York Times during March, 2010.

Zion Evrony:

For Israel, the vital interest is its recognition by Palestinians as the nation-state of the Jewish people, existing with adequate security arrangements alongside a demilitarized Palestinian state. For Palestinians, the vital interest is independence and freedom within their own state.

2) Thomas Friedman:

I am a big Joe Biden fan. The vice president is an indefatigable defender of U.S. interests abroad. So it pains me to say that on his recent trip to Israel, when Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's government rubbed his nose in some new housing plans for contested East Jerusalem, the vice president missed a chance to send a powerful public signal: He should have snapped his notebook shut, gotten right back on Air Force Two, flown home and left the following scribbled note behind: ''Message from America to the Israeli government: Friends don't let friends drive drunk. And right now, you're driving drunk. You think you can embarrass your only true ally in the world, to satisfy some domestic political need, with no consequences? You have lost total contact with reality. Call us when you're serious. We need to focus on building our country.''

Harshly anti-Israel, not even acknowledging that there's a diplomatic difference between Jerusalem, which was never an issue until March and Judea and Samaria.

3) Thomas Friedman 2:

Ever since Israel occupied the West Bank and its Palestinian population in 1967, Israelis have faced a dilemma: Do they want a Jewish state, a democratic state and state in all of the land of Israel (Israel plus the West Bank)? In this world, they can have only two out of three. Israel can be Jewish and democratic, but not if it keeps the West Bank, because the Palestinians there plus all the Israeli Arabs will eventually outnumber the Jews. It can be Jewish and keep the West Bank, but then it can't be democratic; Arabs will be the majority. It can be democratic and keep the West Bank, but then it can't be Jewish.

If only the Israeli government weren't so extreme America and the Middle East as a whole would benefit from the wisdom of "Fayyadism."

4) Parag Khanna

We also fail to understand the Arab strategic reality. If Arabs are supposed to be lining up with the United States and Israel to contain the hegemonic ambitions of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then why did Syria host a "war council" of Iran and Hezbollah in Damascus last month? And why is Qatar exploring gas fields jointly with Iran?

The fact is that most Arabs prefer a modus vivendi with Iran -- just as many tacitly collaborate with Israel on matters of mutual interest.

Rather than seeing themselves as trapped between Israel and Iran, the most common Arab objective seems to be to limit excessive American influence in their region.

The Arabs know what they are doing. Trust them.

5) Thomas Friedman 3:

To put it another way, the collapse of the peace process, combined with the rise of the wall, combined with the rise of the Web, has made peacemaking with Palestinians much less of a necessity for Israel and much more of a hobby. Consciously or unconsciously, a lot more Israelis seem to believe they really can have it all: a Jewish state, a democratic state and a state in all of the Land of Israel, including the West Bank -- and peace.

In Friedman's fantasy world Israel must make peace with those who sitll deny its legitimacy.

Summary: Of the NYT op-eds that appeared in March 2010 only one - written by an Israeli ambassador - can be considered sympathetic to Israel. Four others, including three by Thomas Friedman, are critical of or hostile to Israel.