By the way... I wrote this article earlier this week for United Liberty.
Look. Some of Israel's acts are deplorable (the same goes for Hamas). But, I do not believe in global government. Israel has the right to act in its perceived national interest: right or wrong... they need to then face the consequences of their actions.
We need to stay out of it.
3 comments:
Do you think Israel/Palestine can achieve peace without foreign intervention (regardless of whether recent strategies of US and others have made things better or worse)? I am not sure myself but I think it is an important question.
Well, anything is possible. I really don't foresee a meaningful, lasting peace in the region for some time with or without foreign intervention. I will concede that a partial peace is more likely to come sooner with intervention, but I don't believe the problem will be solved.
Regardless, I strongly believe that it is not the responsibility of the U.S. to serve as global policemen. Further, the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel does not pose a substantial national security threat to the U.S.
In regard to your last sentence: US/Israeli violence in the Middle East usually has the effect of increasing the popularity and facilitating the recruitment of Islamic terrorists. That this is true historically is easy to confirm via simple research. As far as this particular conflict goes, the trend has been observed by at least two people more familiar with the situation than I am:
Returning from a visit to the Arab world, Fawwaz Gerges strongly affirmed what others on the scene have reported. The effect of the US-Israeli offensive in Gaza has been to infuriate the populations and to arouse bitter hatred of the aggressors and their collaborators. "Suffice it to say that the so-called moderate Arab states [that is, those that take their orders from Washington] are on the defensive, and that the resistance front led by Iran and Syria is the main beneficiary. Once again, Israel and the Bush administration have handed the Iranian leadership a sweet victory." Furthermore, "Hamas will likely emerge as a more powerful political force than before and will likely top Fatah, the ruling apparatus of President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority," Rice's favorites.
The above is from this really long Chomsky article. I do think he has some dubious reasoning for calling it the "US/Israeli offensive" (the fact that we supplied Israel the arms--we supply arms for most of the world). Regardless, the passage demonstrates how the Bush Administration's response to the conflict--enthusiastic support for Israel--was their final example of a completely lack of understanding and failure to deal with a complex enemy in Islamic terrorism.
BTW Obama is also a little too pro-Israel for me, but I think his overall Middle East strategy is more thoughtful and nuanced, and will ultimately be much less harmful to US interests (I'm on the fence about whether it will actually be "effective" but we will see).
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