Conventional Foolishness

Over the past four years of the al-Aqsa war, the Western purveyors of conventional wisdom have incessantly criticized Israel for its actions, and Bush for his supposed inaction. David Brooks shows how all the supposed "unfortunate events" have led to a situation where the hope for peace is greater than at any time since September of 2000, showing how wrong all those wise men really were.

It was a series of unfortunate events.

How did we get to this sudden moment of cautious optimism in the Middle East? How did we get to this moment when Egypt is signing free trade agreements with Israel, when Hosni Mubarak is touring Arab nations and urging them to open relations with the Jewish state? How did we get to this moment of democratic opportunity in the Palestinian territories, with three major elections taking place in the next several months, and with the leading candidate in the presidential election declaring that violence is counterproductive?

How did we get to this moment of odd unity in Israel, with Labor joining Likud to push a withdrawal from Gaza and some northern territories? How did we get to this moment when Ariel Sharon has record approval ratings, when it is common to run across Israelis who once reviled Sharon as a bully but who now find themselves supporting him as an agent of peace?

It was a series of unfortunate events.

Undoubtedly the death of Arafat had a lot to do with the new possibilities of progress, yet as Robert Satloff describes this has much more to do with the direction of the policy emanating from the White House.