Lawrence A. Franklin
There is no change in U.S
policy toward Israel that will win any true allies in the Middle East,
despite what Arab leaders claim. They often assert that if only we would
solve the Palestinian-Israeli problem first, relations would improve. This is a tactic. These leaders employ it simply to divert Western officials from making demands on them, instead of on Israel. The reality is that most Arabs view the U.S., its European allies and Israel with ineradicable contempt.
Remember the commentaries after 9/11 that "we should have been
expecting something like this"? Some even implied that America was, in
part, responsible for the attacks because of our one-sided policy toward
the Muslim world, and in particular, "our support for Israel's
occupation of Palestinian land."
Remember also, though, the news reports about the cheering and
dancing in Palestinian Arab neighborhoods on 9/11? Perhaps these
celebrations resembled the high-fives and other macabre gestures of glee
made by some Palestinian Arabs following the recent kidnapping and
murder of three Jewish teenagers in Gush Etzion, near the ancient Judean
city of Hebron.
Guilt-riddled apologies for America's alliance with Israel can only
be explained by ignorance, by disingenuous attempts to curry favor with
Arabs, or for some, by a darker motivation.
Given the pervasive Orwellian double standard applied to Israel by
Western media and the often sanctimonious comments by U.S. and European
politicians that Israel should be fearful of being internationally
isolated, a reality check might be in order.
First, there is
no change in U.S. policy toward Israel that
will win any true allies in the Muslim world, no matter what its leaders
claim. They often assert that only if we would solve the
Palestinian-Israeli problem
first, relations would improve. This is a tactic. These leaders employ it simply to divert Western officials from making demands on
them instead of on Israel. The reality is that most Arabs view the U.S., its European allies, and Israel with ineradicable contempt.
No Arab state has recognized the legitimacy of a Jewish -- or often
even a pluralistic -- state in Palestine. Egypt and Iraq have been
persecuting their Christians, only because the Jews were all forced out
already; and many Muslim countries cannot even abide each other, as seen
every day in the Shia-Sunni conflict, still under way after centuries.
This struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is not about land.
If it were, there would have been a two-state solution long ago. Former
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would have said yes to the Camp David
Plan offered by President Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister
Barak. The current strife between the Hamas terrorist movement and
Israel is just another stage in the
permanent state of Arab hostility towards the existence of a Jewish state in the region.
While U.S. support for Israel has sometimes been described as a
costly diplomatic albatross or a consequence of political influence by
American Jews, the truth weighs in quite the opposite direction. The
Israeli-American alliance greatly benefits both nations.
