In the Arena

Feckless Allies

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  thumbed his nose at the United States, and the world, by insisting that Israel would continue to build settlements in Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem. As General David Petraeus and others have said, increased tensions between Israel and the Palestinians are deleterious to U.S. interests in the region. This has been especially true over the past decade, as U.S. troops have been on the ground in the Middle East in a sustained, extensive way for the first time. There are also diplomatic consequences: Israel’s intransigence hampers U.S. efforts to build an anti-Iran coalition in the region and gives the appearance of credibility to Iran’s–and Al Qaeda’s–anti-Israel blather.

The situation is complicated by Arab states who continue to refuse Israel recognition–which is ridiculous, on its face, 62 years after the founding of the state. But it is also made more difficult by the Israel, Right or Wrong cult of American neoconservatives who refuse to acknowledge that Israel’s continuing refusal to stop building illegal settlements does severe damage to its standing in the civilized world–and to ours, since we are Israel’s unflinching ally.

No doubt, some of these new housing blocs are located in areas that will accrue to Israel in future negotiations leading to a two-state solution. But their status must be decided by mutual agreement of Israel and Palestine; unilateral decisions, such as Netanyahu’s today, must be considered illegal seizures of Palestinian lands.