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Surge here first

"Davos, Switzerland: It was an electric moment in this mountain town last week when the young Hashemite king, Abdullah II of Jordan, stood in front of the World Economic Forum and warned of a conflagration that could spread "from Beirut to Bombay" — pitting Shiite against Sunni, Persians against Arabs with untold consequences for all.

The king saw three potential civil wars on the boil, involving the Palestinians, the Lebanese and the Iraqis. The number one issue that could soothe the region would be the swift creation of a Palestinian state."

So begins an op-ed piece "Surge here first" in the Boston Globe [reproduced in the IHT]. No, there is nothing basically new in what the King is saying, but it comes from an ally of the West and a moderate to boot. Despite the US and Israel forever pouring scorn on the notion that a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a prelude to resolving wider issues and conflicts in the Middle East, the time has come for both countries to take notice of wiser-counsel or third-parties to use their good offices to get the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli "problem" fixed once and for all.

Over at the NY Times it editorialises:

"Given America’s bitter experience in Iraq, one would think that President Bush could finally figure out that threats and brute force aren’t a substitute for a reasoned strategy. But Mr. Bush is at it again, this time trying to bully Iran into stopping its meddling inside Iraq."

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