Suicide Prevention

The storm is brewing in the Middle East. The atmosphere clouds ominously under threat of nuclear attack and international Islamic intransigence. The locals are already gathering their herds and pairing off for the long ride ahead. Not everyone will make it to the fabled Ark. Only this time there is no Noah. In his place, a confusing babble of leaders and caucuses that struggle to make sense of and solutions to the disturbing events taking place.

First to pair off in a steadily growing line is Iraq and the Palestinians. Although not physically in direct partnership, there is plenty that these two strife-torn populations have in common. On the face of it, they are fiercely competing for the top spot in the global media wars. Beneath the surface is the constant battle between the forces of democracy and the forces of terror. Both have in varying degrees yielded to American power and patronage and therefore are the prime causes of global Islamic rage against the Great Satan. The outcomes of these two conflicts bear direct and immediate influence on global daily life and security with the growing forces of Al Queida planning attacks in their buried bunkers and worldwide networks.

Cheering them on from behind are best friends Syria and Iran. Once fondly remembered as European-style Middle Eastern hot-spots, these two bully states have furiously degenerated into the world’s most outlawed governments. Well, sort of. With a penchant for taking over weak parliaments and injecting into them terrorist parties with political wings (or is it the other way around?), this pair of war-wagers are poking their tongues at the entire world and have nothing to show for it except a diary of diplomatic engagements. How sad.

Hot on all their heels comes the Arab League and the Quartet. This unlikely partnership comes together in good faith and goodwill bearing all manner of plans, maps, initiatives and diplomatic do-gooding. Ironically, the harder they negotiate to dissolve the above-mentioned pairings, the stronger those pairs become. And so, cemented together by their collective failures, these two diplomatic entities remain firmly entrenched in their futile offerings.

With not much room left and choices running low, who will be Israel’s most reliable partner for a secure future? Who would be the most likely to share a common fate, and be trusted to ride out the storm? Look no further than next door. Israel’s immediate neighbor, Jordan. With so much in common, it would be a match made in Middle East heaven.

Both are successor sovereign states to the British Mandate for Palestine. They share a fully-functional peace treaty, a border, major water supply, and most importantly: a serious demographic problem: the Palestinians. By forging a diplomatic partnership to ward off the serious impasse currently facing the region, Israel and Jordan present the most positive, insightful and historically correct chance for serious progress in the Middle East today.

Due to his righteousness, Noah was the only man allowed onto the Ark. This time, too, there will not be room for those who continue to plunder the Middle East with terror or territorial suicide.

It’s time to jump off the bandwagon and onto the boat. Those who miss the boat will be facing a far worse storm than Noah did. And there won’t be any dove coming back, either.