Democracy Reformers Isolated by Lebanon Conflict
August 10

New York Times reporter, Niel MacFarquhar, reports in the August 9th  issue that reformers across the Arab world say American support for Israel’s battle with Hezbollah has put them on the defensive, tarring them by association and boosting Islamist parties.” He says “The very people whom the United States wanted to encourage to promote democracy from Bahrain to Casablanca instead feel trapped by a policy that they now ridicule more or less as ’'destroying the region in order to save it.’”quotes Egyptian reformer Ibrahim Issa, the editor of the weekly Al Dustour, saying ''Those calling for democratic reform in Egypt have discovered that once Israeli interests are in conflict with political reform in the Middle East, then the United States will immediately favor Israel's interests.''

The situation has progressed to such an extent that, rather than discouraging Islamist movements, American actions are actually helping them, says MacFarquhar. He quotes members of the Muslim Brotherhood saying that while recruitment and conversion to extremism used to be the most difficult part of an Islamist movement, it is now the easiest, due to the degree of anti-American sentiment. Whereas Americans “wanted to tarnish the Islamic resistance and opposition movements, …in reality they only served them,'' said Sobhe Salih, a 53-year-old lawyer in the Muslim Brotherhood. ''They made them more appealing to the public, made them a beacon of hope for everyone who hates American policies.''

Reformers worry that the current mood leaves no room for moderate voices in politics. ''There is no room on the street for a moderate like me,'' said Mr. Qudah, a civil engineer in Jordan. ''We are all against Israel attacking Lebanon, but I am also against hitting cities in Israel where there are civilians. If I tried to say the things in public that I am telling you on the phone, I might be beaten. In a war like this, the extremists alone own the streets.''
MacFarquhar