William Pfaff
The relationship between
The destruction has now begun, as the pretensions and hypocrisies begin to fall. The cause of this is external and unexpected. Preoccupied with its own interests, and by the expansionist forces inside its society of secular Zionism, expressed in the
This has been obvious for many years but has only now been acknowledged by military commanders. As
When this was conveyed to the
This lies behind the fury of
Relations between the two countries, and the foreign-policy dialogue within both countries, have both for many years rested upon a very large dose of hypocrisy.
On
Now Benjamin Netanyahu has provoked what the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. calls the worst crisis between the two countries in three decades.
Until now, successive Israeli governments pretended to the world community that its land seizures from the Palestinians would all be peacefully sorted out in a final two-states agreement (if one occurred!).
The most important and dangerous pretence has been that American and Israeli interests in the
The American interest with respect to Israel is permanent peace between it and its neighbors. The obstacle to this is the unwillingness of most Islamic governments to recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli state within its present borders, so long as there is no agreement with the Palestinians. Until then, (as the Pentagon briefers said), the present enmity of Muslims, particularly in the
Israel at present is unable to define what it really wants (even if it could have it) because its people are divided in interpreting their nation's permanent interest. There is an alliance of expansionist secular Zionists with that part of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that believes that God, in the Book of Genesis, gave his people the land from the Nile to the Euphrates. They have no way at present to fulfill this prophecy, but they are patient. The vast majority of Israelis would probably welcome a settlement with the Arabs that assured them permanent security within their present frontiers -- if only they could have that. They presumably can -- under another government.
The annual conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee is scheduled for next week. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Secretary of State Clinton are both expected to speak. It will be an interesting occasion.
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(C) 2010 William Pfaff. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services.