OTHER COUNTRIES MUST ACT TO CORRECT THE DISASTER OF US-ISRAELI POLICY

By Kare Willoch and - - Reprint | | Print |

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OSLO, Sep 1 2006 (IPS) - The current American-Israeli Middle East policy has caused such enormous damage and such grave problems for both Israel and the West in general that other powers should feel more confident in criticising them and taking vigorous and concerted action, writes Kare Willoch, former Prime Minister and leader of the conservative party in Norway It is clearer than ever that peace in the broader Middle East is impossible without peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Efforts for peace cannot assume that the oppressed must first renounce all violence. History shows that oppressed peoples deprived of all hope for a life of dignity do not renounce violence. Attempts to pressure Lebanon to use force against Hezbollah would be counterproductive. The transition to a single Lebanese armed force will take time. Some may fear that Lebanon could be left defenceless if Hezbollah is disarmed faster than the Lebanese army is built up. And one can\’t expect complete confidence in the UN\’s ability to defend Lebanon after the discouraging experience with UNIFIL, which gave the country no real protection. And some may remember Bosnia, where the UN failed to prevent mass murders of Muslims, not unlike those that Ariel Sharon presided over in the Beirut of 1982.

The current American-Israeli Middle East policy has caused such enormous damage and such grave problems for both Israel and the West in general that other powers should feel more confident in criticising them and taking vigorous and concerted action.

Almost no one disagrees that the current tragedies in the Middle East have roots in the period before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

At the conclusion of World War I, instead of the promised independence, the Arabs received new rulers from the West, who demanded that those they were oppressing abstain from all violence. In Iran some may remember how the European powers wished to divide the country among themselves. In the 1950s the US infiltrated Iranian society to secure a government compliant with Western oil interests. Then during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the US aided Saddam Hussein.

But the events in Palestine from 1948 on overshadow almost everything else in their effect on the region’s thinking. Even before the state of Israel was established, Jewish terrorists instigated massacres of Palestinians. Israel drove over 700,000 Arabs from their homes and refused to allow them to return, in clear violation of the conditions set forth by the UN for the new state’s establishment.

This was the beginning of the enormous refugee problem which has poisoned the whole region ever since. Many of these desperate outcasts fled to Lebanon, and some of them resorted to violence against those who had used violence to drive them away. Israel thus saw Lebanon as a threat and invaded it several times.

The 1982 invasion brought massive death and destruction. The massacres in Sabra and Shatila, where then Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon let in mass murderers who killed 1500 unarmed Palestinians, were particularly horrifying. Israel’s decision to remain in Lebanon led to the establishment of Hezbollah, which received help from Iran to engage in armed resistance. This in turn led to new Israeli attacks against Lebanon in 1993 and 1996, which killed numerous Lebanese and reinvigorated Hezbollah. Israeli occupation forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 after suffering considerable losses. The result of Israel’s invasions was the creation of a more dangerous adversary.

In this year’s elections a clear majority of Palestinians voted for Hamas, which opened new possibilities both for stability in the Occupied Territories and for peace negotiations. Yet US and Israel imposed conditions for talks with the new government that they knew Hamas could accept only after negotiations, including renouncing violence and recognising Israel.

Hamas had indicated that it would recognize Israel if Israel recognised the Palestinians’ right to their own state in accordance with UN resolutions. But this Israel refused to discuss. Then by withholding all revenues from the new, legally-elected government, Israel and the West increased the misery and chaos in the Palestinian territories.

Israel was holding thousands of Palestinian prisoners when a single Israeli soldier was captured in a Palestinian raid. This was used as a pretext for an assault on Gaza that in six weeks killed over 200 Palestinians and gave rise to indescribable misery.

Not long after Israel’s assault on Gaza began, Hezbollah carried out an operation against a group of Israeli soldiers. This incident did not differ in any significant way from previous incidents which had been resolved with prisoner exchanges.

But this time Israel’s response was an assault on Lebanon which overshadowed even the suffering in Gaza. It was not the rain of rockets from Hezbollah that provoked the Israeli assault, but rather the Israeli assault on Lebanon that provoked Hezbollah’s massive rocket attacks.

This fanned hatred against Israel in the Arab and Muslim worlds and seriously weakened respect for the US. Terrorists in Iraq will feel more strongly motivated to fight against those cooperating with the US. Iran and Syria will be less restrained in their anti-Israeli policies. Arab regimes that wish to cooperate with the West will meet with greater opposition from their own people.

Israel’s situation will become critical if this hatred is not addressed before the West loses the capacity or the will to prevent a catastrophe. Those who talk about the need for both sides to renounce violence while ignoring the massively disproportionate use of violence on the Israeli side and the massively disproportionate loss of civilian life on the Palestinian and Lebanese side, render their criticism of Israel meaningless and increase the risk of Israel’s taking new steps towards a catastrophe that could have devastating results for both itself and its neighbours, to say the least.

It is clearer than ever that peace in the broader Middle East is impossible without peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Efforts for peace cannot assume that the oppressed must first renounce all violence. History shows that oppressed peoples deprived of all hope for a life of dignity do not renounce violence.

Attempts to pressure Lebanon to use force against Hezbollah would be counterproductive. The transition to a single Lebanese armed force will take time. Some may fear that Lebanon could be left defenceless if Hezbollah is disarmed faster than the Lebanese army is built up. And one can’t expect complete confidence in the UN’s ability to defend Lebanon after the discouraging experience with UNIFIL, which gave the country no real protection. And some may remember Bosnia, where the UN failed to prevent mass murders of Muslims, not unlike those that Ariel Sharon presided over in the Beirut of 1982.

It is time for vigorous and concerted action. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)