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US Mediation Undermines US Interests

The well-intentioned US mediation between Israel and its Arab neighbors was initiated in 1949 in order to advance the cause of peace and enhance US leadership and power-projection in the Middle East and beyond. It has failed on both accounts, debilitating vital US economic and national security interests.

US mediation has yet to produce a single Israel-Arab peace treaty. The only two Israel-Arab peace treaties were initiated directly between the parties without US mediation.

The 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty was initiated by Prime Minister Begin and embraced by Sadat, in defiance of President Carter’s preference for an international conference over direct Israel-Egypt negotiation. However, he was quick to jump on the bandwagon, attempted to derail the initiative – by pressuring Israel on the Jerusalem and the Palestinian issues – but then played a critical role in sealing the peace treaty.

The 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty was the brainchild of Prime Minister Rabin, adopted by King Hussein and codified by President Clinton during the signing ceremony.

Similarly, the 1993 Israel-PLO Oslo Accord was introduced by Prime Minister Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres, surprising President Clinton, who then facilitated the signing of the agreement.

In contrast, several US peace initiatives failed to produce peace, but inadvertently fueled Arab belligerence. They were based on the morally-wrong and strategically-flawed “Land-for-Peace” concept, which does not penalize – but rewards – aggressors, thereby fueling further aggression, while punishing the intended victim.

Failed US peace initiatives include the 1949-50 bullying of Israel to “end the occupation of the Negev,” to internationalize Jerusalem and to allow Arab refugees to resettle in Israel; the 1970 Rogers Plan; the 1973-75 Kissinger-orchestrated initiatives; the 1982 Reagan Plan; the 1989-1992 Bush-Baker “foreswear Greater Israel” initiative, culminating in the 1991 Madrid Conference where Shamir rejected “Land-for-Peace”; the 1998 Wye River Conference; the 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Conference; the June 2000 Camp David Summit and the December 2000 “Clinton Parameters”; the January 2001 Taba Summit; the 2002 “Road Map”; the 2007 Annapolis Conference; and the 2009-2012 enshrining of the 1949 ceasefire lines, the repartitioning of Jerusalem and the freezing of Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

The attempt to be an honest-broker between Israel and the Palestinians has defied reality and US interests. While Israel has been an unconditional ally of the US and the role model of countering-terrorism, the Palestinians have actively and ideologically sided with US enemies and rivals: Nazi Germany, the Soviet Bloc, Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, North Korea, Iran, China and Russia. They celebrated 9/11; condemned the execution of Saddam and Bin Laden; participated in the murder of 300 US Marines during the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy and Marines headquarters in Beirut; murdered two US Ambassadors in Khartum in 1973; and established a horrendous anti-Semitic and anti-US hate-education system – a manufacturing line of anti-US terrorists and suicide bombers.

US mediation has been based on the false assumption that the Arab-Israeli conflict is a root cause of Middle East turbulence, creating a delusional linkage between the 100 year old Arab –Israeli conflict and the overarching endemic 1,400 year old Mid-East intra-Muslim turbulence. It has diverted US resources from primary – to secondary – causes of Middle East instability, thus undermining the US posture of deterrence. It has radicalized Arab expectations for sweeping Israeli concessions, thus inflaming Arab belligerence and terrorism and intensifying tension between US and Israeli Administrations. It has clouded US-Israel strategic cooperation while threats are intensifying; the anti-US Arab Street is boiling; the US reduces its military presence in the Mid-East and cuts its defense budget; the Russian and Chinese deepen their penetration of the Mid-East; and Iran’s nuclearization is advancing. All of these developments are independent of the Palestinian issue, the Arab-Israeli conflict, or Israel’s policies and existence.

In 1967, Saudi Arabia welcomed Israel’s devastation of pro-Soviet Egypt and Syria, which aimed to topple the House of Saud. In 1990, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were focused on the imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein, but the Bush-Baker team was preoccupied with Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. In 2012, Saudi Arabia and most Arab countries yearn for a US, or Israeli, military preemption against Iran, which they consider a clear and present lethal threat. They are anti-Israel and wish its destruction, but they do not consider the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the Palestinian issue, to be their primary concerns. They understand that when smothered by a sandstorm, one should not be preoccupied with tumbleweeds!

The enhancement of Arab confidence in US leadership necessitates that the US focus on regional sandstorms such as Iran, Islamic terrorism, the Islamic threat to pro-US regimes and the recent seismic turmoil on the increasingly anti-American Arab Street.

The enhancement of US power projection in the Middle East requires that the US upgrade cooperation with stable, predictable, reliable, capable, democratic and unconditional allies, such as Israel. The US should not subordinate such a viable cooperation to mediation of secondary Middle East conflicts.




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Open letter to Prime Minister Bennett ahead of visit to USA

(Hebrew edition in “Israel Hayom,” Israel’s largest circulation daily)

During your first official visit to Washington, DC, you’ll have to choose between two options:

*Blurring your deeply-rooted, assertive Israeli positions on the future of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), which would be welcome by the Biden Administration, yielding to short-term political convenience and popularity inside the beltway;

or

*Tenaciously advocating your deeply-rooted, principle-driven positions, which would underscore a profound disagreement with the Biden Administration and the “elite” US media, while granting you and Israel long-term strategic respect, as demonstrated by some of your predecessors.

For example, the late Prime Minister Shamir honed the second option, bluntly introduced his assertive Israeli positions on Judea and Samaria, rebuffed heavy US pressure – including a mudslinging campaign by President Bush and Secretary of State Baker – suffered a popularity setback, but produced unprecedented expansion of US-Israel strategic cooperation. When it comes to facing the intensified threats of rogue regimes and Islamic terrorism, the US prefers principle-driven, reliable, patriotic, pressure-defying partners, irrespective of disagreements on the Palestinian issue.

Assuming that you shall not budge on the historical and national security centrality of Judea and Samaria, it behooves you to highlight the following matters during your meetings with President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, National Security Advisor Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Austin and Congressional leaders (especially the members of the Appropriations Committees):

  1. The 1,400-year-old track record of the stormy, unpredictable, violent and anti-“infidel” Middle East, which has yet to experience intra-Arab peaceful-coexistence, along with the 100-year-old Palestinian track record (including the systematic collaboration with anti-US entities, hate-education and anti-Arab and anti-Jewish terrorism) demonstrates that the proposed Palestinian state would be a Mini-Afghanistan or a Mega-Gaza on the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria.

It would dominate 80% of Israel’s population and infrastructures in the 9-15-mile sliver between Judea and Samaria and the Mediterranean, which is shorter than the distance between RFK Stadium and the Kennedy Center.

Thus, a Palestinian state would pose a clear and present existential threat to Israel; and therefore, Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria is a prerequisite for its survival.

  1. The proposed Palestinian state would undermine US interests, as concluded from the Palestinian intra-Arab track record, which has transformed the Palestinians into a role-model of intra-Arab subversion, terrorism and ingratitude. Arabs are aware that a Palestinian state would add fuel to the Middle East fire, teaming up with their enemies (e.g., Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey’s Erdogan) and providing a strategic foothold to Russia and China. Consequently, Arabs shower Palestinians with favorable talk, but with cold and negative walk.

Hence, during the October, 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty ceremony, Jordan’s military leaders asserted to their Israeli colleagues that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River, and lead, subsequently, to the toppling of all pro-US Arab Peninsula regimes.

  1. There is no foundation for the contention that Israel’s retreat from the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria – which are the cradle of Jewish history, religion and culture – is required in order to sustain Israel’s Jewish majority. In reality, there is unprecedented Jewish demographic momentum, while Arab demography – throughout the Middle East – has Westernized dramatically. The Jewish majority in the combined area of Judea, Samaria and pre-1967 Israel benefits from a robust tailwind of fertility and migration.
  2. Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, bolsters its posture of deterrence, which has daunted rogue regimes, reduced regional instability, enhanced the national security of all pro-US Arab regimes, and has advanced Israel’s role as a unique force-multiplier for the US. An Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria would transform Israel from a strategic asset – to a strategic liability – for the US.
  3. As the US reduces its military presence in the Middle East – which is a global epicenter of oil production, global trade (Asia-Africa), international Islamic terrorism and proliferation of non-conventional military technologies – Israel’s posture of deterrence becomes increasingly critical for the pro-US Arab countries (e.g., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan), who consider Israel to be the most reliable “life insurance agent” in the region.

Contrary to NATO, South Korea and Japan, Israel’s defense does not require the presence of US troops on its soil.

  1. Sustaining Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge is a mutual interest for the US and Israel, which serves as the most cost-effective battle-tested laboratory for the US defense industries and armed forces. Thus, Israel’s use of hundreds of US military systems has yielded thousands of lessons (operation, maintenance and repairs), which have been integrated, by the US manufacturers, into the next generation of the military systems, saving the US many years of research and development, increasing US exports and expanding the US employment base – a mega billion dollar bonanza for the US. At the same time, the US armed forces have benefitted from Israel’s military intelligence and battle experience, as well as joint training maneuvers with Israel’s defense forces, which has improved the US formulation of battle tactics.

Prime Minister Bennett, your visit to Washington, is an opportunity to demonstrate your adherence to your deeply-rooted strong Israeli positions, rejecting the ill-advised appeals and temptations to sacrifice Israel’s national security on the altar of convenience and popularity.

Yours truly,

Yoram Ettinger, expert on US-Israel relations and Middle East affairs

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