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Outside-In, Not Victory, or Three-Way

Reader comment on item: The Three-Way Option: Arab States, Israel, Palestinians

Submitted by Robert (United States), Dec 30, 2021 at 14:21

Dear Dr. Daniel Pipes,

One of the things I appreciate about your MEF is the fact that you do read what your readers write in their comments here, even though you have 69 Million pages here! So I do a search of terms on your Website in order to understand better your views; I am trying to be more careful in not misunderstanding you by research you postings here. I maintain that the more one reads the writing of a scholar such as yourself the better on understands his (or her) position. That stated, I now wish to share with you a few observations and comments.

(1) You have at one point switched to a Policy and Strategy of Victory for Israel.

(2) However, this represent a switch from a Bottom-Up approach involving such things as the economic and self-governance, etc. improvement for Palestinians.

(3) However, when you distinguished between Bottom-Up and Top-Down, you also used the concept Outside-In vs. Inside-Out buy which you meant the Arab-States vs. the Palestine.

It is this THIRD (3) distinction which made upon which I wish to focus here. I believe that you were correct the FIRST TIME - before you advocated your Victory (over the Palestinians) Strategy. However, my I subscribe to a broader and clearer view of this Top-Down strategy. The scope of my use of the term "Top" is the Whole World, particularity as embodied and expressed in the UN; as you are aware, in a recent vote this month, the UN, through one of it's agency, with a vote of 125 member states established a permanent COMMISSION to investigate ONLY ISRAEL. Therefore, I see these 125 countries as the real ENEMIES of Israel, not merely Gaza, West Bank, Hezbollah, and Iran, and their assorted proxies. If the Metaphor of Victory is to have any meaning for me, it means that Israel has to triumph over these "outside" adversary.

And one place where Israel is doing great "victory" progress is in South America, particularly South America, and especially Honduras and Guatemala - I'm quite certain you know what I mean, especial in the case of the most recent move of the embassies to Jerusalem.

All that means is that one must look to the whole word and observe how Israel is interacting with each UN member state. The Battle-ground where Israel is "Wining" (you Victory metaphor) should be judged by the Voting states in the various UN Fora.

Furthermore, Arab Spring, it appears, has resulted in many Arab FAILED STATES, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and even Yemen. And behind all that is the other major Muslim state which not Sunni but Shia, namely Iran. I interpret that in a Metternich-Bismark-Kissinger Realpolitik: Ironically, it is the Arabs who are the ones who are making PEACE with Israel as manifested in the Abraham Accords executed under our President Trump. And also, it is to be noted that the non-Arab states are also substantial falli8ng into (if they have not yet achieved that status) into FAILED STATES. The next Muslim states that are doing relatively well, and may make PEACE with Israel, are Bangladesh and (with the largest Muslim population) Indonesia. And under the radar is Saudi Arabia, while over the radar are Egypt and Jordan. And there are of course NATO states Cyprus and Greece that have replaced NATO Turkey under Erdogan. And finally (to be brief), we have Russia which is "effectively" working with Israel in Syria, as well as China which has invested in the Port in Haifa Israel.

There is also the important fact that a practical, non-violent, Islamist Palestinian has joined the Israeli government who this month declared that Israel in fact is a Jewish State.

In summary, I think there is a moment of Peace with Israel with most of the countries of the world while the 2-state solution is becoming more remote because of the split in the Palestinian Governance between Hamas Gaza and the PA West Bank. So, I think that I have successfully argued here that you should return to your Strategic initial position of Outside-In, and abandon you Revision of Victory (over the Palestinians) strategy.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Daniel Pipes replies:

Thanks for the effort, but I still prefer the Israel Victory paradigm to any other.

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Reader comments (34) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
2Outside-In, Not Victory, or Three-Way [691 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
RobertDec 30, 2021 14:21277887
3DAVID M. FRIEDMAN and Jews on What's Best for Jews in Israel [905 words]RobertFeb 20, 2017 17:34236839
3Try-partite solution will not work [356 words]PrashantFeb 3, 2017 22:30236282
Trump, the mideast conflict and the Jordanian option [36 words]PezDispenserJan 29, 2017 12:49236002
No Palestine [63 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Melvin A. FechterJan 29, 2017 02:44235964
2Best options so far [167 words]Sandy SaksJan 29, 2017 00:28235954
Only One Option Stands Out for Israel's Best Interests- The World Needs to Get Out of the Way [194 words]M ToveyFeb 6, 2017 16:31235954
1The Saudi Plan Offers Israel Conditional Recognition [110 words]DaveJan 28, 2017 20:31235944
external guarentor rarely works [110 words]ajnnJan 28, 2017 17:15235932
The dangers of 3rd party help [126 words]David BarnettJan 28, 2017 18:49235932
reliance on the altruism of nations is rarely beneficial [167 words]ajnnJan 31, 2017 21:36235932
1A "No-State" Solution [664 words]David BarnettJan 27, 2017 09:30235893
1Option Four (4) Israell, Palestine and the Arab States (after the Arab Spring) [252 words]RobertJan 26, 2017 20:54235869
2settling persecuted christians in the west bank? [178 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
fred debrosJan 26, 2017 07:27235849
christian settlers in the westbank [256 words]fred debrosJan 29, 2017 14:05235849
westbank settlements [82 words]fred debrosJan 29, 2017 14:13235849
christians in palestine [45 words]FredJan 29, 2017 14:15235849
westbank settling [15 words]fdeJan 29, 2017 14:29235849
United States is "occupied" territory - Not Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria (The whole territory of the Historical Land of Israel) [984 words]YJ DraimanJan 26, 2017 06:25235848
Jordan, Israel and Egypt need to work this out. Everyone else needs to butt out. The PA must be disbanded. [711 words]Michael SJan 26, 2017 05:56235847
1Transfer is not a dirty word, says Ben Shapiro [341 words]martin kesslerJan 25, 2017 19:42235822
Sharia is Palestinian Stumbling Block [58 words]DENNIS ALLEN DURKOPJan 25, 2017 19:21235821
All Four Proposals Fail for the Lack of Integrity of Any That Will Not Recognize Israel's True Rights [466 words]M ToveyJan 25, 2017 19:10235818
One state solution [129 words]DebanjanFeb 12, 2017 21:37235818
Israel's Future Monarchy - Voting Rights will NOT be a Central Issue. [400 words]M ToveyFeb 15, 2017 11:25235818
A proposal that could work [268 words]Michael SFeb 17, 2017 01:30235818
One state solution and votes for Arab citizens of Israel [136 words]PrashantFeb 18, 2017 22:24235818
The Muslim States Are Stuck in 1949, Or Maybe 649? [56 words]DaveJan 25, 2017 17:10235815
A Rose By Any Other Name [342 words]Keefe GoldfisherJan 25, 2017 15:00235813
Illusions [161 words]Hanspeter BuechiJan 25, 2017 14:32235812
Fly in the Ointment [74 words]John NudgeJan 25, 2017 14:28235811
Solving of an un-solving conflict [111 words]KesselmanJan 25, 2017 14:26235810
The three way option: Arab states, Israel, palestinians [293 words]Frances WeingartenJan 25, 2017 13:54235808
Why Peace When Non-Peace Pays Better! [65 words]Barry BlackJan 25, 2017 13:19235807

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