It’s easy to miss that the Middle East has changed
By Fareed Zakaria
The Washington Post
March 8, 2024
"As we watch the horrors of another war in the Middle East, it is easy to get gloomy and depressed. It seems that the region as a whole continues to be violent and unstable. But that misses an important shift that has taken place in recent times, one that provides some cause for optimism about the future: The Arab states that are now the Middle East’s leaders are playing an important and constructive role in stabilizing the situation and are working for peace. This is a sea change from decades past…
"Arab governments are not the same as the Arab people, and public opinion in the Arab world has turned sharply against Israel and the United States — and gets more critical by the day. But even here, there is a silver lining. As Carnegie Endowment scholar Amr Hamzawy noted in November, Arab attitudes since the war began have been far more moderate than in the past, condemning violence against civilians on both sides, rejecting terrorism and urging a two-state solution…
"That backdrop might explain why, despite their vehement opposition to the scale and scope of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, no Arab country has suspended its relations with Israel. Even the denunciations have been somewhat muted. Instead, the focus has been on practical ways to help the Palestinians, such as cease-fires, aid corridors and postwar reconstruction — all on the path to a Palestinian state…
"This change in both the composition of the leading Arab states and the attitudes of the leaders will not solve the Israeli-Palestinian issue. But it does suggest there is some support for peace, stability and moderation in a region that desperately needs it."
Fareed Zakaria writes a foreign affairs column for The Post. He is also the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.
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