Say, you think public opinion in the Arab world has just gotten even more negative about Israel and the U.S.? My understanding was that it would have been a good idea to try and separate HAMAS from more moderate Arab regimes but it turns out creating a huge wave of popular sympathy for Gazans has created a public backlash against that idea. This is not only making it harder for moderate Arab regimes to condemn HAMAS, but also splitting apart fragile peace talks that recently emerged in the region:
The polarization appears to have ended a thaw that had taken place in the past year, Mr. Masri said. Syria had been reaching out to the West and holding indirect peace talks with Israel. Lebanon's political factions had reached a peace deal. Syria and Saudi Arabia had made gestures toward resolving their feud.
Now, fault lines visible during the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah have reappeared. Syria has been pressing for an emergency Arab summit meeting, but Egypt and Saudi Arabia have resisted.
It's a good thing we don't have thousands of troops deployed in the Muslim-majority countries, fighting wars that depend on a strategy of counter-insurgency and winning the support of the local population. In a similar stroke of luck, the dictators the U.S. has allied with in Middle Eastern countries like Saudia Arabia and Egypt support the goal of destroying HAMAS -- the movement threatens to undermine their legitimacy -- but the conflict has made it risky to come out against the group. In some cases, see Jordan for an example, the conflict is destablizing the regimes of U.S. allies.
-- Tim Fernholz
