The Israel Palestine Relationship and Middle East Instability

There are people who say that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs is the root of instability in the Middle East. That is obviously incorrect. The turmoil in the Middle East is mainly due to conflict within the Arab and Moslem world, secular nationalists versus Moslem fundamentalists, Shiites versus Sunnis, and Iranians versus Arabs. The Jews have been a convenient scapegoat since before the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. If you can blame all your woes on Israel or the Jewish people, then you don't have to take responsibility for them yourself.
However, although the Israel/Palestine question is not the cause of instability in the Middle East, creating a stable relationship between Israel and Palestine that is reasonably accepted by both sides would go a long way in promoting the interests of both. It would make Israel less isolated and open Palestine to greater financial opportunities and stability. Actually with a little compromising, the common interests of both sides are greater than their differences. The cooperation that is actually going on already between Israel and the Arab world below the radar could come out into the open and blossom. It would not stop the conflicts that exist within the Arab and Moslem world, but it wouldn't hurt.

Visionary Israel

Some leaders have vision, but can't seem to make things happen on the ground. Others can pull things off on the ground but lack vision. Ehud Barak had the vision to offer Yassir Arafat the best deal that the Israeli people would have accepted at that time, but Arafat rejected it and started the Intifada. Netanyahu lacks the vision to offer the Palestinians a deal they can accept. He has the ability to keep things as they are with a temporary peace. The Israeli people are willing to accept the status quo because a temporary peace maintained by military superiority and a fence beats a present war. When Barak offered his best deal to Arafat, it was rejected. When Barak again tried to create a Palestine with a first step out of Gaza, the Palestinians elected Hamas and used Gaza as a base to fire rockets into Israel. My advice to the Palestinians is this. Cultivate and enable the visionary Israel of people like Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni, or you will be stuck with the Netanyahus.