Haaretz
Cheshvan 24, 5765
The United States has re-elected an enemy of
Israel as its president. If George W. Bush's next four years in office are
anything like the first four, the damage he will do Israel will be all but
irreversible.
The headlines in the mass circulation papers here
screamed, "The friend stays" and "Bush is good for Israel," but from
Israel's point of view he is one of the worst presidents ever. An American
president who will give Israel four more years of freedom to act as it
pleases in the territories is not a friend of this country. A true friend
would save Israel from itself, as some European leaders are trying to do
by means of the criticism they hurl at Israeli government policy. In a
situation in which Israel is not restraining itself, restraint imposed
from the outside is a supreme national interest, even if it involves
exerting pressure that at times can be brutal.
Moreover, a
determined American president who really and truly wants to put an end to
the century-old conflict would discover that precisely now it is far
easier than may at first appear to be the case. To begin with, the present
Israeli prime minister is in awe of America and genuine pressure applied
by the world's superpower would have an immediate effect on him. If
America wanted, it could bring about a dramatic withdrawal from the
occupied areas and thus make a true contribution, not only to Israel and
peace, but also to the struggle against regional and world terrorism. If
Bush were really concerned about Israel's fate, he would have long since
pushed it to the negotiating table. At the very least he could, if he
wanted, bring about a reduction in the scale of the killing of
Palestinians and the damage to their property.
Remember when Israel
used to weigh carefully every violent move it made in the territories
because of its fear of America? That period ended four years ago. The
leader who is responsible for the killing of 100,000 Iraqi civilians is
not moved by the deeds of the Israeli occupation. And, himself being
familiar only with the language of force, he identifies completely with a
country where that is also the only language. In our case, though, damage
is being done not only to the population that is under occupation, whose
fate is certainly of no interest to the American president, but also to
the occupying society, whose secure future he purports to guarantee. From
this point of view, Bush's first four years will go down in history as a
calamity, as a period in which Israel discovered that there are no limits
to the force it is allowed to exercise. It will take a great many years
before Israel is weaned from this.
If the United States brought
about the end of the Israeli occupation in the territories, its
international status would also be enhanced, especially in the Arab and
Muslim world. Europe would take a different view of an America that
resolves conflicts instead of fomenting useless wars. The Middle Eastern
conflict nourishes much Islamic terrorism and gives it a triumphant cause.
The re-election of the person who on the one hand made it possible for the
entire Palestinian people to be pushed into the cycle of violence by the
infliction of collective punishment and the use of unrestrained force, and
on the other hand allowed Israel to continue expanding the settlements, is
bad news not only for peace but also for the global battle against
terrorism. The resulting damage is long-term and both Israel and the
United States will ultimately pay the full price.
The forecasts
that Bush, in his second term, will step up the pressure on Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon have no real basis. With his stereotypical view of all Arabs
and Muslims and his view of war as a legitimate weapon, Sharon, like the
proverbial leopard, is not about to change his spots. The Middle East is
bleeding to death. There are no bold actors in the wings, not Israelis and
not Palestinians, who can rescue it from the tragedy in which it is
immersed. A courageous American president could have fomented a
revolutionary change. Bush is good only for perpetuating the
occupation.