EXPLOITING SELF-INTEREST

Bush's Commitment to Peace Plan Gives Rise to Optimism in the Arab World (SUSAN SACHS, 6/08/03, NY Times)

"For the first time in a long time, Arabs want U.S. policy to succeed," said a Saudi analyst with close ties to the kingdom's ruling family. "You'll see tremendous cooperation from the Arab states on this, because they saw a commitment from President Bush."

In Egypt, government officials have already started a low-key public relations campaign in support of Mr. Abbas, despite the criticism he has encountered from many Palestinians and other Arabs.

The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, in an interview published on Friday in the official daily newspaper Al Ahram, said Mr. Bush's support for a Palestinian state has created a real opportunity for regional peace.

"There is a time for everything," he said. "The armed intifada has reached the point where it cannot further achieve its objective, and it will be exploited against the Palestinian people and their rights."

Mr. Maher was also careful to praise the intifada, or uprising, that has roiled the Palestinian territories and Israel for nearly three years. And in an interview published today in the Saudi newspaper Al Riyadh, he added the requisite criticism of Israel.

Palestinian militants cannot be reined in, Mr. Maher said, while Israel "insists on maintaining the policy of invasion and killing and destruction."

One important factor working in favor of a settlement has to be the eagerness of Arab leaders to delegitimize intifadism, because of their fear that, at a time when the U.S. is already exercising its capacity to change regimes in the region, such street risings could destabilize their own governments. Their own survival is more important to them than the non-survival of Israel. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 8, 2003 6:45 AM