A petition worth signing. (maybe)

I've been signing up for too many mailing lists recently. My latest acquisition is Avaaz.org, a group that coordinates petitions on issues of international justice. Their newest burning cross is the fresh round of talks in the mid-east being urged on Israel by the Arab League.

Arab leaders are making a serious peace offer, and the world supports them. Ordinary Israelis want negotiations too - but their leaders risk losing this rare chance. Talks just about security will never bring peace. (Avaaz)

The offer centres on an Arab peace plan rejected by Israel outright in 2002, but this time round the word is that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is reacting more positively, if still skeptically. Anyway, the pillars of the international community are generally rallying around the Arab push, notable UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Mr Ban told the summit that "the Arab peace initiative is one of the pillars of the peace process... [it] sends a signal that the Arabs are serious about achieving peace."

Correspondents say no-one expects any breakthroughs, but the fact that Saudi Arabia, the regional powerhouse, is being so pro-active means this will be one of the most scrutinised Arab League summits. (BBC)

So I signed the petition, because it seemed like a no-brainer. And then I ran into this fiery critique over at China Confidential. It's from Wednesday. It's titled Understanding The Saudi Plot to Destroy Israel.

The official version of the kingdom's peace plan calls for all Arab countries to formally recognize Israel's existence and establish relations with Israel if it withdraws from all land held since the 1967 war, recognizes the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and provides the so-called right of return for all Palestinian refugees. (China Confidential)

The general thrust being to flood Israel with Arabs, making it a dually-religious state, and thus not Israel at all. The pseudonymous Reporter seems to think this is a bad thing of course. I'm not so convinced, but that doesn't make the execution of such a plan any less duplicitous . I mean, God, at least Iran is being honestly malicious.

Nuclear-arming Iran, which has vowed to destroy Israel the old fashioned way--through blood and fire--is skeptical about the Saudi piece-by-piece plan. But Iran's energy-starved ally, China, is a believer. Sun Bigan, Beijing's special envoy to the Middle East, is said to be urging patience and restraint, advising Iranian monster-in-chief Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a deescalation of his country's nuclear standoff with the West would allow for implementation of the Saudi scheme. (China Confidential again)

Which brings us back to Asia. To say that China is afraid of an escalation in the Middle-East is an understatement. China is the world's second-largest (second-worst?) oil consumer, and even its recent pax with oil-rich Russia is not enough to wean it off its Arabian addictions. (hint: not talking about coffee) I find myself torn in choosing sides though. Iran's President is a terrible, terrible man, and China's policies are not much better, but if Chinese money is one of the keys to extinguishing the inferno in the Middle-East...

I just don't know what to think. It's too complicated. I give up. I'm going to go read some web comics.