BREAD AND CIRCUSES NO MORE

The Road to Peace (WSJ-BOTW)
In an op-ed for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, author Frida Ghitis makes an excellent point:

Pay close attention to what is taking place just below the major headlines in the Middle East, because something extraordinary has just happened--or, more
precisely, not happened.

For possibly the first time since 1948, since the creation of the state of Israel, an Arab government's principal--indispensable--method for manipulating and controlling its people has stopped working. The well-known political sleight of hand consists of deflecting popular anger against the regime by shifting attention and blame onto an outside enemy: Israel.

The trick always worked--until now. This is no small development.

Ghitis is referring to Syria's attempt to blame Israel for the assassination of Lebanese political Rafiq Hariri, a charge that also found voice in London's left-wing Guardian. But look around the Middle East and you see example after example of people turning against their own repressive governments rather than directing their anger at Israel.

In Kuwait, hundreds of women and men "marched on parliament Monday in the conservative Gulf state's largest female suffrage rally," reports the Associated Press from Kuwait City. Meanwhile, the French-based Web site Iran va Jahan reports on the latest Persian protests:

Iranian presidential candidate, Dr. Moein, faced a barrage of protests by students in Isfahan university yesterday. At the beginning of the proceedings, the Islamic Republic anthem was played, but the students instead of singing the official state anthem, stood up and sang the alternative nationalist "Ey Iran" anthem.

Many of the students held placards saying "Referendum Yes, Elections No" which referred to the futility of pre-selected elections in Islamic Republic and what the people of Iran really want, a referendum for the drafting of a new constitution that is compatible with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all its associated covenants.

The faster the Arab and Iranian dictatorships fall, the sooner we will see a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is chiefly a proxy war between those dictatorships and their own people.