Hans Rustad Saudi-Arabia og Israel er i samme situasjon: De forsøker å løse med politimetoder problemer som bare kan løses med økonomiske og politiske midler, skriver Thomas L. Friedman.
De kunne behøve å hjelpe hverandre, skriver Friedman, som var budbærer for kronprins Abdullahs fredsplan ifjor.
En løsning på konflikten Israel/palestinerne vil lette noe av presset på Saudi-Arabias kongehus og gi dem tid til reformer.
Det er interessant å se hva han skriver om Europa og den nye antisemittismen:
Where the Israelis need the Saudis is in combating the rising tide of anti-Semitism. This new anti-Semitism is a witches’ brew of Muslim rage — nurtured in madrasas and mosques financed by Saudi money — and classic European hatred fed by a new anti-Israel anti-Semitism. Both are fanned by a European press that increasingly reads like the worst Arab press, and abetted by the real images of Israeli settlers seizing Palestinian land and uprooting their olive groves.
The way to reduce these fires — which will only worsen with the growth of Muslim populations in Europe — is by forging a solution to the Palestine issue along the lines of the Clinton plan. Nothing would do more to extinguish this new anti-Semitism than an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal — followed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, the custodian of Mecca and Medina, carrying out his promise to normalize relations with Israel once such an accord is reached.
Det er bemerkelsesverdig når Friedman sier europeiske medier begynner å ligne den arabiske i fremstillingen av Israel. Dekningen tar også farge av den stigende andelen muslimer i Europa. Dette er en dårlig miks.
Friedman er en true liberal: Sharon har ikke noe valg: han må gjøre noe med settlerne, før de drar hele Israel med seg i avgrunnen. Saudierne må gjøre noe med wahhabismen.
Unfortunately, right now both the House of Saud and the House of Sharon prefer to buy time by relying on police rather than political initiatives. In the long run, this won’t work. Both need to take on their Wahhabis: the Muslim Wahhabi extremists who are choking Saudi Arabia’s future and the Jewish Wahhabi settlers who are doing the same to Israel.
