Roger Cohen: The End of an Alibi

The Egyptian Revolution is watched with understandable concern in Israel. The way Egypt acts in the complicated Mid East equation is of crucial importance. What will happen from now on? Roger Cohen looks at this question from a different angle: One way to measure the immense distance traveled by Arabs over the past month is to note the one big subject they are not talking about: Israel. And he continues, for too long, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the great diversion, exploited by feckless Arab autocrats to distract impoverished populations; now, Arabs are thinking about their own injustices. With great courage, they are saying Enough!. The big shift is in the captive Arab mind, says Roger Cohen. It is an immense journey from a culture of victimhood to one of self-empowerment, from a culture of conspiracy to one of construction.

I think Roger Cohen is right and everybody in the region should leave the culture of victimhood and the paranoia of seeing conspiracy everywhere. You should read the op-ed of Roger Cohen from today's NY Times. Its title is Exit the Israel Alibi:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/opinion/01iht-edcohen01.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

(Zoon Politikon)