Implementing Israel’s Strategy
(Continued. Read Part I of the article here)
Since the election of George Bush to power we see that this Israeli strategy paper has served as a template for U.S. foreign policy in Middle East. Now let us examine each suggestion in the paper and the events in the Middle East.
1. Only the unconditional acceptance by Arabs of our rights, especially in their territorial dimension, "peace for peace," is a solid basis for the future. During Mr. Bush’s presidency, Israel has abandoned the concept of “Land for Peace” and concentrated instead on unilaterally drawing the borders of a future Palestine. This is being done by first constructing a so called “security wall” separating Israel from Palestine, and then declaring that wall as the international border separating the two states. The “Peace for Peace” means that Israel will increase the pressure on Palestinians by such a degree that Palestinians will come to Israel, hat in hand, begging not for land but for peace. In this way Israel will determine the size and shape of the future Palestinian state. This has been and is supported by United States. The current strangulation of the Palestinian Economy is part of that strategy.
2. An effective approach, and one with which American can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon,
This has been done through news media and United Nations where United States has tried hard to isolate Syria and even have put sanctions on the country. United States has also tried, by pressuring the Lebanese government, to isolate Hezbollah and reduce its power within the Lebanese society. Syria has claimed that former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Harriri was assassinated by Israeli agents to damage its reputation in Lebanon. It is interesting to note that this assassination was one of the main reasons that Syria was forced to leave Lebanon. It was also used to try to impose U.N. sanctions on Syria.
3. Work closely with Turkey and Jordan to contain, destabilize, and roll-back some of its most dangerous threats. This implies clean break from the slogan, "comprehensive peace" to a traditional concept of strategy based on balance of power.
The Israel’s relationship with Turkey prior to the Iraqi invasion was improving rapidly. Turkey knows that it needs United States backing in its negotiations with the European Union. It also needs United States’ help in restructuring its 200+ billion dollar loans. Therefore for Turkey it was a good idea to accept a close partnership with Israel. Currently Israeli pilots carryout air exercises in Turkey and rumours have it that they even spy on Iran from Turkey.
Israel (behind the scene) has traditionally had a good relationship with Jordan. Israel hoped that after invasion of Iraq, the former crown prince Hassan of Jordan would become King of Iraq. The Jewish Daily Forward of New York reported on August 9 2002, the following:
“Several observers said some Bush administration officials are indeed rooting for Hassan at a time when Washington is struggling to find a consensus leader to succeed Saddam. After the London meeting, the London-based Guardian newspaper reported that Hassan had the backing of Pentagon hawks and that he met in April in Washington with one of their most prominent figures, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.”
4. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right. Here we see that Israel’s strategy as presented in the document is the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. Israel could not do this on its own. But again Israel didn’t have to. United States achieved the strategic objective of Israel, without Israel spending a single dollar.
So far Israel has achieved most of its main objective except completely neutralising Hezbollah, Iran and Syria. Israel has been partly successful in weakening and isolating Syria, however, Syrian government remains in place and still supports the Palestinians. The Iranian government is still there, supporting Syria, Hezbollah and the Palestinians. The main point of problem for the Israelis then is Iran. If Iran is neutralised, then no-one is left to back Hezbollah, and Syria is left totally at the mercy of Israel. Then Israel can play the “Peace for Peace” game with Syria.
By occupying and breaking large centres of power in the Middle East such as Iraq and Iran, Israel will be left the dominating power for a very long time. Iraq is now fractured into many pieces and in near future will not be able to support Palestinians in any meaningful way or cause Israel any problem. If Iran is also occupied and made into a federation, like Iraq, the internal strife will be such that it (Iran) too will not be able to do anything.
Something for Israel and Something for the United States
