Haaretz
Adar 18, 5766
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Middle East policy is not
in America's national interest and is motivated primarily by the country's
pro-Israel lobby, according to a study published yesterday by researchers
from Harvard University and the University of Chicago.
Observers
in Washington said yesterday that the study was liable to stir up a
tempest and spur renewed debate about the function of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee lobby. The Fatah office in Washington distributed
the article to an extensive mailing list.
"No lobby has managed to
divert U.S. foreign policy as far from what the American national interest
would otherwise suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that
U.S. and Israeli interests are essentially identical," write the authors
of the study.
John J. Mearsheimer from the University of Chicago's
political science department and Stephen M. Walt from Harvard's John F.
Kennedy School of Government do not present new facts. They rely mainly on
an analysis of Israeli and American newspaper reports and studies, along
with the findings of the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
The
study also documents accusations that American supporters of Israel pushed
the United States into war with Iraq. It lists senior Bush administration
officials who supported the war and are also known to support Israel, such
as Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith and David Wurmser. The authors say the
influence of the pro-Israel lobby is a source of serious concern and write
that it has even caused damage to Israel by preventing it from reaching a
compromise with its neighbors.