A ray of light in the Libyan darkness

Most of the news out of Libya is deeply disturbing, but I did catch two uplifting developments: 1. For the first time, Israel and the Palestinians co-sponsored a resolution, in this case condemning Qaddafi’s brutal treatment of the Libyan people. 2. In a worthy humanitarian gesture, the government of Israel said it would allow 300 ...

Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Stephen M. Walt
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.

Most of the news out of Libya is deeply disturbing, but I did catch two uplifting developments:

Most of the news out of Libya is deeply disturbing, but I did catch two uplifting developments:

1. For the first time, Israel and the Palestinians co-sponsored a resolution, in this case condemning Qaddafi’s brutal treatment of the Libyan people.

2. In a worthy humanitarian gesture, the government of Israel said it would allow 300 Palestinians fleeing the Libyan violence to enter the West Bank. Among other things, this admirable act reminds us that stateless peoples are vulnerable precisely because they lack any sort of safe homeland. 

Stephen M. Walt is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University. Twitter: @stephenwalt

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