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It is of significant importance to shed light upon the outside intervention of prominent political forces in reaching reconciliation between Israel and Palestine. As thinkers devoted to such a beneficial condition, we should dedicate time in considering which states can make a contribution, along with the logical reasons as to why. This paper will allocate attention to the ability, and incentives for the United States to employ its diplomatic and political leverage in attaining reconciliation. To reiterate, I will attempt to point out the United States' blindly unrealized interests in reaching a genuine state of conciliation between the two sides.
To begin, since the assertions of President George W. Bush after the events of September 11th, the United States has seen an impressive mounting of opposition to its proposed policies from many states, including some of its traditional allies. While historical trends are evidence that American policies have been traditionally supported by the country's allies, we are undoubtedly witnessing a significant change, which may suggest that the tradition of conformity to American policies may be broken. This significant change is a result of the implicative decline of world support for the United States after realizing the nature of Bush's proposed right-wing policies, and can be signified as a consequence of the flaws in American foreign policy. Consequently, the US has not only suffered from this decline in support, but has been forced to sustain pressure from numerous human rights groups, along with being exposed to pressure from the UN not to advance its policies in the war against terror.
My allusion is an attempt to point out that the US should now be more opportunistic than ever. However, it should be opportunistic in employing methods by which it can alleviate some of this tension, which it faces. This is where exerting a true effort in helping to reach reconciliation between Israel and Palestine becomes a significant move in the political game. Now, and only now, is the most opportune moment for the American political elite to engage in reaching reconciliation between Israel and Palestine. This move, if employed, will prove to be fruitful in significantly reducing tension, with which the US has been faced. I do not make this assertion with the intention of convincing the American leaders to help reach reconciliation for the sake of adhering to universalized humanist principles. They have already proven they are unable to do so. In turn, I propose that they exert their influence because it will in fact be beneficial for them, as well as the populations of both Palestine and Israel. This benefit, to which I allude, is political, as a decline in pressure and an increase in support would unquestionably converge to serve American political goals. Such future American political goals, however, are not the concern of this paper. Yet it remains important to point out that should those goals call for the engagement of war, discrimination against Muslim states, or economic exploitation, they will be met with even more consequential opposition, which would act as an impediment to the American leadership in realizing its goals.
Needless to say, this requires more than a mere handshake. To adopt the policy of attaining reconciliation, the US needs to skillfully draft policies, which would help it, along with Palestine and Israel, to converge upon a mutually beneficial condition. Such policies should urge the Israeli state to discern, and treat the causes of terrorism in the country, along with refraining from conducting ineffectual military retaliations, which serve to perpetuate the terrorism. As well, any policy, which the US adopts, needs to take into consideration that terrorism cannot be suppressed, it can only be treated. This treatment would require the policy makers to take into account the causes and roots of terrorism, and subsequently facilitate arrangements, which would take away the conditions, under which terrorism develops. I make mention of this to point out the importance of the role, which terrorism plays in serving as an obstacle to reconciliation. The United States, instead of encouraging the Israeli state to wage war on terror, should assist it in distinguishing its causes, and should adopt policies, which would prevent terrorism from being such a consequential impediment to this necessary condition.
I may be invited to offer a rebuttal to objections, which would assert that such proposals would serve against the national interests of Israel, and that their application would avoid these interests. My response to such objections would involve alluding to the fact that this exertion of positive diplomatic effort would indeed serve the interests of Israel, rather than avoid them. Such interests include first and foremost, security, less military expenditure, less pressure from the UN, and more support from the international community. Simultaneous to serving fundamental Israeli interests, those of the Palestinians would also be served, as they too would enjoy a state of security, and a sense of hope. These are some of the benefits of a state of reconciliation, which, as I mentioned, are mutually beneficial, and do not merely serve the interests of one side.
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Nima Shirali
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A very timely and complex issue aclam | May 23rd, 2003
Your article deals with it quite well :)
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