US Relations with Israel: Slanted?
The following article is based upon the article “Unblessed Peacemaker” which appeared in the October 4, 2001 issue of the British news magazine, the Economist. For completeness I have added information in order to enhance the timeline and show the evolution of America’s relationship with Israel.
Until the 1967 War, Israel’s main ally was France and the USA was merely a friend. This friendship did not begin well. There were many voices against American recognition of the state of Israel in 1948 by those in the Truman Administration who feared that it would antagonize friendly Arab regimes in the region. In 1957 Eisenhower forced the Israelis out of the Sinai Peninsula which they had gained as part of the Anglo-French Suez incident. No American president visited Israel until Richard Nixon.
The 1967 War energized the Jewish constituency in the US and lead to the formation of AIPAC. American politicians took notice of Israel as a possible ally against the Soviet supported Arab states of Syria and Egypt. However US has never accepted the legality of the lands captured by Israel during this war, supporting UN Resolution 242.
During this time, the neighboring Arab states as well as the Palestinians refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist within any borders until the Egyptians broke ranks in 1979 (a policy change which resulted in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat two years later by Al – Jihad). In that year, the Arab League met and declared that there could never be any negotiation, recognition or peace with Israel. This attitude made it much easier for Israel to build settlements in the Occupied Territories (justified on strategic grounds). Arab sentiments didn’t change until 1988 when the PLO finally renounced terrorism and recognized Israel’s right to exist.
Nixon tried to play peacemaker by pushing for a broader peace after the disengagement agreements ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Jimmy Carter worked tirelessly to turn Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem into a broader Arab-Israeli peace. As a reward, Egypt receives $2 Billion a year in aid ($1 Billion less than Israel).
Reagan bitterly opposed Menachem Begin’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and sent US Marines to help evacuate the PLO from Beirut (243 of which were rewarded for this act with death by a Hezballah truck bomb). After the 1987 Intifada started, US Secretary of State George Schulz offered to start talks with the PLO if Yassir Arafat renounced terrorism. Once he did, the US under George Bush senior ignored the protestations by Israel’s PM Yitzhak Shamir and began a “substantive dialog” with the PLO. In 1991 after the Gulf War, President Bush pressured Shamir to attend a peace summit in Madrid.
Myth of AIPAC
AIPAC tried to prevent Reagan from selling AWACs to Saudi Arabia. The deal went through. In 1989 Secretary of State James Baker attended an AIPAC meeting and lambasted Shamir’s belief in a Greater Israel. In 1991 the same administration ignored AIPAC’s protests when it threatened to withhold loan guarantees if Israel continued settlement expansion.
Last 10 Years
President Clinton admired Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin and spent both of his terms actively involved in the search for peace. He brought Rabin and Arafat together on the White House lawn. He presided over a peace agreement between Israel and Jordan. He thrilled the Palestinians when he visited the Gaza Strip in 1998. And last year he almost concluded a broad reaching and comprehensive peace agreement between PM Barak and Arafat.
President Clinton also drew up a Palestinian state that would be created out of Gaza and 95% of the West Bank. Settlement areas would be swapped for Israeli land. It’s capital would be in East Jerusalem, with divided sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees would be settled in the new state, other nations or within Israel proper.
Was the US favoring Israel? Not by the reaction of the Israeli Right when Clinton’s ideas were published. Nor did the Israeli Right support American policy moves. It must be remembered that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin wasn’t shot by an Arab but by a disgruntled member of the Israeli extreme Right who is still viewed as a hero by Israelis opposed to the Land for Peace formula enshrined in UN Resolution 242.
