The stunning barbarism and relentless aggression of ISIS coupled with the emerging international coalition seeking to take the terrorist group down has laid bare the enduring religion-based conflicts that drive the politics of the Middle East.
That dynamic gives the lie to the old saw that if it were not for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, peace would long ago have broken out all over the region.
Indeed, it is this notion that has long motivated a series of American presidents to seek to pressure Israel into making enormously risky concessions to the Arab world and in particular the Palestinians in order to facilitate a peace agreement and thereby create a more orderly Middle East.
However much the murderous members of ISIS would like to take aim at Israel and doubtless include its territory in an Islamic State caliphate, it is clear that Israel per se in not central to the thinking of ISIS leaders.
And the political/religious gymnastics President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry have had to engage in just to form an anti-ISIS coalition of 10 Sunni, Shiite, and secular countries in the region – and the president and secretary of state deserve credit for declining to have America go it alone once again – is reflective of the complex and profound religious differences even among Muslim states. Centuries of palpable animosity have had to be papered over, if only for the moment.
Peace or the lack of it between Israel and the Palestinians matters not one whit when it comes to the long-term agenda of ISIS and other Islamists, nor does it affect any of the long-running inter-Arab conflicts and wars. Perhaps the U.S. will finally appreciate these realities and let Israelis and Palestinians work things out in the normal course without throwing unreasonable expectations into the mix.
