Or do I repeat myself?
by Justin Raimondo
How many times have we read some variation on the following lede?
“Israeli armored forces backed by aircraft thrust into the southern Gaza Strip today, killing four Palestinians a day before Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to begin laying the groundwork for peace talks.”
The Israelis don’t want to negotiate, but they’re willing to go through the motions – after all, why not? It’s just another way for them to thumb their noses at everyone, including their American benefactors. They’ll never make meaningful concessions: there’s no reason to as long as there are no constraints on their behavior. As long as a steady stream of American aid and arms keeps the Israeli ship of state afloat, Israel is the regional superpower, with none of its neighbors a match for its nuclear-armed military might. Why should the Israelis be interested in peace, when war has been so good to them? War gave them their country to begin with: first against the British, then against the indigenous Arabs, then against the entire Arab world – all of whom they beat handily.
The Iraq war has been very good for them, if not for us. Israel’s sphere of influence, which never extended much beyond Lebanon, now reaches into Kurdistan – giving them easy access to Iran.
We stood by while the Israelis bombed Lebanon, killing mostly civilians and targeting factories, waterworks, and other non-military, non-Hezbollah facilities, such as churches. Aid to Israel has been increased, and Congress recently passed, with bipartisan support, a resolution naming a military arm of Israel’s number one enemy in the region as an officially-designated “terrorist” group, paving the way for a shooting war.
Peace? Israel doesn’t need it or want it. Oh, sure, the people of Israel may want it, at least in theory. In practice, however, the successive governments they keep electing are not the least bit interested in real negotiations with the Palestinians or anybody else in the region. Where’s the payoff? From the Israeli perspective, things are going just swimmingly, thank you: no need to upset the apple cart.
There have been a few setbacks, however, but nothing serious. Their drive to push us into a military confrontation with Iran has been stalled, for the moment – but that just means the road to war with Tehran is going to be a little longer. No one really cares that Iran stopped its alleged nuclear program in 2003 – that is, if it ever had one, which I seriously doubt. The whole issue has been trumped up by the West for the sole purpose of humiliating the Persians, and disabusing the mullahs of any illusions that the humbling of Iraq will prove a boon to them.
Israel is sitting pretty, right now, openly threatening its patron and financier, the United States government, with taking the Iranian nuke matter into its own hands and launching an attack on suspected nuclear facilities – leaving U.S. troops in Iraq to face the Iranians and their Iraqi allies. Gee, thanks a lot, guys.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12042