So there is fighting in Libya, one of the largest oil producers in the world. Bahrain’s reserves are expected to last for another 15 years or so. Yemen and Syria also have a few barrels of the black gold. And the list goes on.

So, while all the leaders of these countries are under threat, the dollar revenues keep flooding in. The more they fight, the more they profit. Brent Crude his risen 25% in the past quarter alone.

But what goes for the top brass is not necessarily true for the rest of the folk in the Middle East. A report from The Economist notes that of the countries surveyed “real GDP growth outlook for 2011 has worsened in nine between December and April, improved in eight and remained the same in three”….

Most of the countries registering higher growth forecasts are oil exporters, but Israel and Turkey are both in this group by virtue of better than expected actual performances last year and as a reflection of our modest upgrade of our global economic forecast.

It is somewhat ironic that Israel was given a positive citing. When oil prices first surged back in 1973, it was an aftershock of the Yom Kippur war. Blame Israel for the instability all those years ago? Debatable, but that is certainly not the case with the current violence in the region.

A few days ago, Moody’s issued its annual report on Israel.

The Israeli economy is resilient and dynamic, and the macroeconomic policy framework is coherent. Having eased fiscal and monetary policy to support activity and avoid a pronounced recession during the global crisis, the Bank of Israel is rapidly removing its monetary stimulus in order to ensure the recovery is sustainable and inflationary pressures remain in check.

And here’s another irony. Israel is one of the world leaders in pioneering alternative energy sources, such as solar energy. I wonder why that is?