Hi Joe,
Your commentL: “He (Friedman) argues that the resolution of the conflict will require a fundamental shift in the region’s political and ideological landscape,” I think is the most important takeaway to focus in on. Many critics of Israel (many of whom I believe are well meaning) are frustrated by things that are ultimately rooted in Israeli security concerns.
While I do not have the expertise to say when it is the critics are correct or when it is that Israeli policies are justified by their valid security concerns, I am able to see that the more secure the region is for Israel, the more likely it is that some sort of a deal can be reached.
Whatever one thinks about agreements reached in the 1990s, they wouldn’t have been possible without regional changes preceding them in the decades before. It is my hope that regional changes occurring today similarly precede agreements reached in the future- as elusive as these may presently seem to be.
