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An Israeli Tennis Player Continues a Political Education
by Harvey Araton
 More than world peace, Shahar Peer wished for a chance to be No. 1 in
the world. She dreamed of being a citizen of the global tennis
community, not so much a champion for her country. “I always tried to stay out of the politics, you know, just play tennis,” she said.
It took an educational, emotional trip with her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, last month
for her to fully understand that identity is not strictly a matter of
personal choice. Peer, the 20th-ranked player on the WTA Tour was invited last
month on Holocaust Remembrance Day to join Natan Sharansky in Poland at the head of the annual March of the Living. Only when grandmother and granddaughter were on their way to the scene
indubitably symbolic of six million crimes did her grandmother confide in Peer and tell her of her past. “Whatever my career is bringing, wins and losses, I feel now that it’s
much more than that,” she said in a telephone interview. “I feel like
being asked to lead the march is going to give me a lot of strength, a
lot of values, things I wouldn’t have imagined at 23.” (New York Times)
Middle East: "Proximity Talks" Benefit Hamas and Iran
by Khaled Abu Toameh
 The Obama administration is making a mistake forcing Israel and the Palestinian
Authority to discuss "core" issues such as Jerusalem, refugees, borders and
settlements when the two sides are crying out that the gap between them on these
explosive topics remains as wide as ever. The "proximity talks" will eventually
undermine the moderates and boost the extremists among the Palestinians. The
only ones who will benefit from this are Hamas and its friends in Tehran and
Damascus. By insisting on putting the issues of Jerusalem and refugees on
the table, the Obama administration is placing Israelis and Palestinians on a
collision course. Achievements on the security and economic fronts seem to be at
risk now that the "peace process" is being revived. (Hudson New York)
Israel as a Security Asset for the United States
by American Generals and Admirals
 We, the undersigned, have traveled to Israel over the years with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. We brought with us our decades of military experience and, following unrestricted access to Israel’s civilian and military leaders, came away with the unswerving belief that the security of the State of Israel is a matter of great importance to the United States and its policy in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. A strong, secure Israel is an asset upon which American military planners and political leaders can rely. Israel is a democracy – a rare and precious commodity in the region – and Israel shares our commitment to freedom, personal liberty and rule of law. Israel and the United States are drawn together by shared values and shared threats to our well-being. In the Middle East, a volatile region so vital to U.S. interests, it would be foolish to disengage – or denigrate – an ally such as Israel. (JINSA)
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The Middle East Peace Industry
by Walter Russell Mead
 Some things don’t seem to change. One is that
outsiders want peace more than the participants in the conflict. This
isn’t because either the Israelis or the Palestinians are bloodthirsty
and depraved. It is because of the difference between the interests of
outside powers and the parties to the conflict. The Middle East peace industry isn't going away. The Americans want peace so
this whole distracting and annoying headache will just stop. The major Arab
countries want to deprive Iran of the opportunity to play the Palestinian card
as Iran struggles to gain street credibility in the Sunni world.
The EU hates all the noise and the brawling in the neighborhood, and with a
growing Muslim population at home the Europeans want to reduce friction between
the West and the Islamic world. China, India and Japan would like to see less
chaos and trouble in the part of the world that sends them so much oil. (American Interest)
Debunking the Gaza Siege Myth
by Jacob Shrybman
 In 2009 the IDF Spokesperson reported that 738,576 tons of humanitarian aid was transferred into the Strip. The UN claims there is a siege when it has given $200 million to Gaza following a military operation that left 1,300 dead and wounded among a population of less than 1.5 million, and yet has only given $10 million to Haiti after the natural disaster there claimed the lives of an estimated 230,000. Of course, that is without noting that Haitians have not been attacking an innocent nearby civilian population for nine years. International humanitarian aid has been flowing freely into the Strip for years, and in no way stopped after Operation Cast Lead, as 30,576 aid trucks entered the territory in 2009 while in the same period, 4,883 tons of medical equipment was also transferred to it. (Huffington Post)
The Middle East: Complex Crisis Most Analysts Fail to Explain
by Rhoda Kadalie
 Why Israel is always held to the highest standards of democracy when every other country flouts them intrigues me. I think the world is jealous of a small country that has turned a desert into a garden, adversity into prosperity. Those who are prejudiced against Israel for ideological reasons do us a disservice when they portray the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in black-and-white terms. For more than half a century there was a flight of more than 850,000 Jews from Arab lands, which, in effect, means that more Jews were forced to flee Muslim persecution than the approximately 762,000 Palestinian Arabs who left their homes in the newly declared State of Israel. Israel's socioeconomic and military strength is quite astounding. The writer is a South African human rights activist. (Business Day-South Africa)
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