As a first result of the Saudi crackdown on Qatar, a dozen major Muslim Brotherhood (MB) officials were "invited" to leave the emirate (read "expelled"). They will not be homeless, of course. Turkey among others will be happy to receive them, but the development is significant as a first step towards removing Qatar from the shrinking support group behind Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorists. The content of the Arabic broadcasts on Al-Jazeera should be carefully monitored to see if it changes significantly from its former anti-West, anti-Israel and pro-terrorist stance, which was another Saudi demand. This is good news for Israel, and potentially even better.
Secretary of State John Kerry is now on another quixotic quest in the mysterious Middle East, this time to try to convince countries of the region to provide the "boots on the ground" in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) that the Western countries are not willing to commit. [...]
Finally the mysterious Egyptian proposal which may or may not have been made to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, and which he may or may not have rejected, to provide an area in the Sinai five times larger than the Gaza Strip, to be a homeland for the Palestinian people, welcoming all the scattered refugees as well as any West Bank inhabitants who wish to relocate. A brilliant solution to an intractable problem. Added elements were apparently that the new "Palestine" would be demilitarized and administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA) minus Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which would be banned. Egypt and the PA subsequently denied that any such offer had been made. Almost certainly it was made, and certainly it was rejected by Abbas, who has no interest whatsoever in actually resolving the refugee situation, which would completely eliminate his reason for being. Conclusion, it is a brilliant idea and will not happen as long as the present PA leadership is in place. Which may suggest a way of encouraging the fulfillment of the project.
Norman A. Bailey, Ph.D., is Adjunct Professor of Economic Statecraft at The Institute of World Politics, Washington, DC, and teaches at the Center for National Security Studies and Geostrategy, University of Haifa.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 16, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014
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