James Taranto, "Best of the Web" @ the Wall Street Journal
"Saudi Arabia's participation in the U.S.-sponsored talks on Middle East peace was seen as a diplomatic coup for the Bush administration but the kingdom has made clear there will be no handshakes with Israeli officials," Reuters reports from Washington . . . .
Now of course handshakes are not always sincere. As Reuters notes, Yasser Arafat shook hands with Yitzhak Rabin in 1993; and in the process he made fools of Rabin, Bill Clinton and the Norwegian Nobel Committee. So in a way Faisal's snub is refreshingly honest. At least he is not making a pretense of amity only to betray it later.
What is more, a refusal to shake someone's hand is a sign of weakness. Contrary to Faisal's protestation, it is a sort of theater--a show that one is unable to rise above one's own grudge to observe ordinary social niceties. The Saudis have no legitimate grievance against Israel (the Palestinian problem notwithstanding); their hostility toward the Jewish state is based in a combination of religious hatred and envy.
Faisal has demonstrated that Saudi Arabia is a petty little country, worthy only of the world's contempt and condescension. It is a clarifying moment in Mideast politics. |