"Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the state of Israel on trial" - Ariel Sharon - (b.1928), the 11th prime minister of Israel (2001-2006) and often referred to as "The Butcher of Beirut"
On a number of occasions over the past seven plus years of this column I have addressed and issue that has been with us now for a couple of generations and that is the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. More specifically I have discussed the plight of the Palestinians and their struggle for not only international recognition as a people but also the birth of their own nation. I don't think that is unreasonable to say that Irish people, to a large degree, feel a natural affinity to the cause of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, having ourselves fought for hundreds of years to establish our own independence. In the modern era one cannot talk about the Arab-Israeli situation without also discussing the role of America as Israel's benefactor in the Middle East and the power of the pro Israel lobby in the United States.
Since the country came into existence in 1948, the centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has revolved around its relationship with Israel. For sixty years American support for Israel has been unwavering, whether that support be measured in financial, diplomatic or material terms. It is hard to comprehend why the most powerful nation in the world would choose to sometimes jeopardize its own security (by inflaming the Arab world) and put serious strain on long time international relationships by obstinately sticking by Israel through thick and thin, human rights violation after human rights violation. Since World War II, successive U.S. presidents (with the possible exception of Richard Nixon, who was a notorious anti-Semite), have pandered to the will of the pro Israel lobby. Time and again the international community has witnessed the brutality of Israel's continued aggression towards its regional neighbours, with little or no reprimand from Washington. Personally speaking, it is a state of affairs that has frustrated me greatly for a long time.
U.S. timidity towards Israeli belligerence may well be at an end however, at least for the duration of Barack Obama's presidency. In March, on the day Vice President Joe Biden arrived in the country, the Israeli interior ministry announced a housing expansion in a Jewish community in North Jerusalem, a very touchy subject with Washington, not to mention the Palestinians, who regard Jerusalem as their historical and spiritual capital. Biden, while in the country, condemned the action. A couple of days later, after discussing with President Obama specific language she would use, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton read Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu the riot act during a well publicized 45 minute telephone conversation, calling the earlier action on housing an "insulting" to America and its efforts to broker an Arab-Israeli peace agreement. Clinton says that she expects Israel to take real and concrete steps towards advancing the peace process.
Finally. Its about time the United States stopped pampering Israel. Kudos to Hillary Clinton for calling them out over another blatant act of intimidation and belligerence. Maybe the U.S. is waking up to what the rest of the world has known for decades, but I doubt it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment