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Seeking a Quick Exit in Gaza
Arab leaders, too, must put an end to the pattern of one-upmanship over Palestine. Those who support Hamas in pursuing armed resistance to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine should stand up and be counted—open fronts for active resistance, provide Hamas with weapons, withdraw recognition of the Palestinian Authority. If they wont, they should stop the lip service, which is killing more Palestinians.
Those Arab leaders who advocate peaceful negotiation also must dare to make a clear stand against Hamas for hijacking Palestinians civilians in its pursuit of power. They must actively support the PA and launch a diplomatic offensive in Europe and the US to highlight the dangers of absolving any party to the conflict from accountability and responsibility.
Obama would surely rather not take office with such a mess and be dragged into slippery Middle East intrigues. Now he might have no other option. But there may be an opportunity for the incoming president to shape his leadership on this issue rather than follow in the steps others would like to lay out for him. He would do himself and the world a great service if he leads at the outset and defines the parameters with a bold step of his own.
Raghida Dergham is Columnist and Senior Diplomatic Correspondent for the London-based Al Hayat, the leading independent Arabic daily, since 1989. She writes a regular weekly strategic column on International Political Affairs. Ms. Dergham is also a Political Analyst for NBC, MSNBC and the Arab satellite LBC. She is a Contributing Editor for LA Times Syndicate Global Viewpoint and has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune and Newsweek Magazine.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
This is the silliest and longest opinion piece I've ever read. In fact, this is a collection of opinions, that go all over the place, some contradicting each other, offering nothing useful to the reader. What makes the writer think she can tell everybody what they should or should not do? Or does she think every country and leader should abandon their national interests to satisfy her wishful thinking? I'm sorry, but this op-ed is simply stupid, unbefitting the great DB.
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