WEEK IN REVIEW

What constitutes an interesting week in the Middle East is when we learn something new. Last week was such a week, we learned a lot and witnessed events that had before just been theories. The week started out with the tragic death of five Gazans and the injury of many more, accompanied by the loss of homes. The images of the burst sewage lagoon and Gazan's swimming in its aftermath to save a goat were telling. Gazan Palestinians have the energy to launch daily missiles at the Israelis, to mass-rally for every funeral, to war against themselves, but they have no time to fix an overflowing pool of sewage. The dikes burst, overwhelming the surrounding neighborhood and literally drowned people in a sea of shit. This is the result of a policy of hate, extremism and war. There is only so much energy in a society and if it is consumed with death and destruction it will choke off life and the building of a better society.

Those that have led their people into the squalor of hate can see the results; a toxic infrastructure that resembles a corrupt third world country. Meanwhile in Riyadh, the very plan that Hamas fears was re-floated: recognition and full diplomatic relations with the Zionists. The actions that the Israelis take are actually less important than the offer. For all their Whabbi extremists the Saudi's not-so-subtle message is that this state is not going away, let's deal with it and get on with our lives. No matter how bogged down the negotiations over boarders, Jerusalem and refugees get the King's cat of diplomatic recognition is out of the bag. Hamas is far too weak to put it back in however.

The Israeli's and the Palestinians are more than ever moving apart. One country is building a Singapore-style hyper-charged economy on a postage stamp of land, the other an African-style failed state with Zambia its model. It is time for everyone to put the hate back in the box before more human beings die from downing in their own shit.

Later in the week we learned more about hate. We always wondered what was the purpose behind the massive state directed anti-Semitism of the Egyptians. For years a carefully orchestrated Nazi-style hate campaign has been fed to Egyptians by the media and mosques. It seemed that the Egyptians were heading to war against Israel. Yet there was no military buildup, no modernization of armaments, and no war games in Sinai. The other theory advanced was that this was just a distraction orchestrated by the government covering its failure to deliver anything to the Egyptians.

It seems that theory was closer to the mark. The real intent of the Jew- hating rhetoric, which narcotized the population, resulted in constitutional changes that removed even a fig leaf of freedom. In a Stalin style mock election, phony from the first ballot cast, the Egyptians have "voted" to grant totalitarian powers to a family dynasty. Greeted by apathy and indifference the future of Egypt is now clear. It will be an aid dependant corrupt state that represses everyone of freedom-having sentenced a blogger to four years in prison-in order to preserve the privileges of those few who hold state monopolies. Left in the economic dust by the rise of the Asian and even South American economies this once vibrant center of the world will slip further and further into irrelevance. Repression of all will be the rule of law and the jails will be full of dissidents of every stripe, students and Mullahs.

It was fun while it lasted. Perhaps the Egyptians can bring back their favorite song "why I have Israel" and pipe it into their crumbling homes, overcrowded schools, and non-existent work places. Perhaps they can give out iPods with the song so university graduates can listen to it while they sit at home or cafés dreaming about jobs and the future. Maybe they can even rewire their jails so that political dissidents and writers can groove to it, while they serve out their interminable sentences under the newly amended constitution. You have to hand it to Mubarak and fils, they dealt themselves all aces using the hate-card.

The last lesion we learned about in the Middle East this week was oddly not out of Lebanon, but out of London. For years we thought the newspapers The Guardian and The Independent hated Israel and perhaps Jews. The capture of the British sailors in the Shatt al-Arab waterway has shown that, they also hate themselves. Reading opinion articles referencing orange jump suits as a justification for putting an Islamic headscarf on Faye Turney is liberating. Stating that the Iranians are no worse than the Americans with their Guantanamo prisons, while their own soldiers are held captive by the Revolutionary Guards makes us feel better about The Guardian's and Independent's coverage of Israel. In the name of intellectual truth these two bastions of British opinion have revealed a love of fanaticism and an anti-westernism that is far deeper than just that little state between the Mediterranean and Jordan.

While the world's sane citizens are horrified by the Islamic republic of Iran's barbarity these two newspapers are delighting in the comeuppance of Blair and Bush. As I said, it was an instructive week.