Jerusalem

Just had dinner with a young Palestinian activist who told me that his friends were feeling more positive toward the US than they had in years because of the military action in Libya. “It’s on Al-Jazeera all the time,” he said, “Libyans dancing in the streets and saying, ‘Merci Obama, Merci Sarkozy.’ Everyone was furious after you vetoed the UN resolution on the Israeli settlements–but this has made people forget all about that…And the Gulf States hate Gaddafi so much, I’m sure they’ll pay for all your military expenses.”

Hmm. I’m still skeptical about how this ends. But: if it ends quickly and if no NATO bomb massacres a group of Libyan civilians, and if the Gulf states do foot the bill…well, I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be happy to languish in cringing total wrongitude in this case. But we’re not there yet.