Many people in Israel and around the world have been glued to their television sets, praying - each according to his own custom - for the success of a democratic revolution in Egypt. Their prayers, however, will not be answered. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will no longer be the ruler of the country, but even if his successors are not from the Muslim Brotherhood, there will be no democracy. Lebanon is not formally ruled by Hezbollah either.

Based on the current regional unrest, Israel's decision makers have an obligation to plan for the preservation of a democratic Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.

While this old-new situation is very dangerous and complex, it can be dealt with. As seen during much more difficult times here prior to the declaration of Israel's independence and after the state was established, our success does not depend on what is said by the heads of regimes in the Mideast (or Israel's well-wishers, like U.S. President Barack Obama ). It is dependent on what the Jews believe in, and on what they do.

The Jews continue to place vain faith in the prospect that peace will come knocking on their door, blaming themselves that it is slipping away. They misplace faith, which has caused them to continuously make mistakes, some of them fateful.

Egypt, an oil and gas exporter, is now exporting regional instability as well. Not only the Arab regimes in the region, but Israel, too, could suffer from this instability. That is, unless it manages to navigate the situation to the country's benefit, and there are number of options in this regard.

Against the backdrop of regional instability - and in light of the revelations from former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's memoirs concerning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' cowardice, narrow vision and lack of popular support - the time has come to rethink Israel's strategic priorities. In any event, peace with the Palestinians can no longer remain at the top of the agenda.

The fire that was ignited in Tunisia and took hold in Egypt is liable to spread to the streets of Amman, Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah. Even if the people running the Palestinian Authority were made of different stuff (and they're not ), these flames destroy any chance of the peace track progressing. The masses, as in Egypt and Tunisia, will flood the streets and bring down rulers who have dared betray the Palestinian people. The rehearsal for such a protest was actually just held, following Al Jazeera's recent disclosures related to the Palestinians' negotiations with Israel.

With the Nile floods threatening to spill over into Jordan, perhaps Israel should shift focus and stop backing the Jordanian monarchy in its time of need. It is doubtful the new cabinet Jordan's King Abdullah II rushed to set up can stop the deep flood tide among the Palestinian majority in Jordan, who make up about 70 percent of that country's population. This majority, or so it appears following events in Egypt, will no longer be able to sit idly by in the face of an absolute monarchy that subjugates its people and leaves them behind economically and politically.

If this majority conducts itself in the same way as the masses in Egypt, the Palestinian state will indeed arise - first in Jordan and then, it is reasonable to assume, it will create confederal ties and eventually join with the territories Israel has evacuated in Judea and Samaria. About 95 percent of the Arab population in the territories reside there.

The existence of such a state could lift the pressure from Israel, from within and even from outside. The new regime will presumably not be friendly to Israel, but most of its efforts will be devoted to establishing a nation state, stabilizing governance, solving economic and national problems and attracting recognition and legitimization from the countries in the region and the rest of the world.

And so, at least in this regard, the current earthquake could be a blessing in disguise. In order to put flesh and bones on this process, however, Israel must stop sitting idly by - or in the words of Genesis, crouching between the sheepfolds.

www.haaretz.com

(Image from www.who-sane.com.)