It’s risky to predict how the various revolutions in the disparate nations of the Middle East and North Africa will play out. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR, some of the successor regimes have indeed been true democracies, while others have substituted Soviet tyranny with nationalistic tyranny.

What is certain is that the entire geopolitical and strategic landscape of the Middle East has been transformed and a new reality faces the United States, its NATO allies, Israel, and other nations and entities in the Middle East.

A news analysis by Scott Shane in Monday’s New York Times is headlined, “Al Qaeda Sees History Fly By,” pointing out that for the past two decades the leaders of Osama bin Laden’s terror network “have denounced the Arab world’s dictators as heretics and puppets of the West and have called for their downfall.”

However, Shane notes that Al Qaeda “has played absolutely no role” in the uprisings, and neither “murderous violence” nor “fanatical religion” have been the driving forces behind the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Certainly Al Qaeda cannot be written off as a serious threat, but the pro-democracy revolutions have dealt bin Laden’s murderous network a strong propaganda setback in the battle for the hearts and minds of the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The theocratic dictators in Iran have also been overtaken by the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, which have reignited the pro-democracy “Green Revolution” among Iranian citizens. The Iranian regime brutally put down the Green Revolution back in 2009, but the events of recent weeks must have given the Ayatollah Ali Khameinei and the fanatic President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad many sleepless nights. Perhaps a citizen-led regime change will resolve the problem of Iran, including its quest to develop nuclear weapons.

One could also question Israel’s response to the convulsive changes exploding among its Arab neighbors.

On the one hand, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu showed wise restraint during the crisis in Egypt, when Hosni Mubarak, who had honored and protected Egypt’s peace treaty for 30 years, was under siege. Bibi and his Cabinet refrained from commenting or appearing to intervene, which would only have made matters worse for Israel’s long-term interests. The temporary military council which took over after Mubarak’s ouster has indicated it will honor the Egypt-Israel treaty, much to the relief of Israel’s citizens.

At the same time, Israel has been criticized in opinion pieces in Israeli newspaper Haaretz for turning even more hawkish and rightward at the very time the Arab world seems to be embracing democracy. Even Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, long considered one of the most pro-Israel European leaders, has expressed frustration at Bibi’s government for failing to make any meaningful moves to advance the peace process with the Palestinians.

However, how could Israel effect a peace treaty with a weak and corrupt Palestinian Authority at the very time citizens of other Arab nations are seeking free elections? Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas apparently woke up and smelled the coffee of the Arab revolutions around him and has finally scheduled new elections for the presidency and parliament of the P.A. for September.

The best result would be a brand new Palestinian government, perhaps headed by the impressive Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who has worked quietly to prepare the West Bank to become the heart of an independent Palestinian state. Under Fayyad’s leadership, the economy of the West Bank is robust, as evidenced by the fact that its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) now exceeds that of some neighboring Arab states.

This would also be an opportune time for Bibi to again reach out to Tzipi Livni, the leader of the centrist Kadima Party to join a government of national unity which could make the tough decisions needed for meaningful progress toward a two-state solution.

At a time of major change throughout the region, Israel and the Palestinian Authority must not “see history fly by.” Instead, they should embrace it, make the needed changes in their government and make a full-court press toward achieving peace through a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security.