Ariel Center for
Policy Research

A JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND THE ARTS

 

NATIV   ■    Volume Thirteen   ■   Number 4-5  (75-76)  ■  September  2000   ■  Ariel Center for Policy Research

 

SYNOPSIS

 


Between a Nation’s Charity
and the Vision of Independence

Aharon Ben-Ami

A historical paradox by which the US has been considered a friend and ally of the State of Israel, while, in fact, it has consistently undermined Israel’s chances of securing defensible boundaries vis-à-vis the Arab world, is discussed in this article stage by stage.

Since the War of Independence in 1948, through the wars of 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982 (including constant terrorism and attrition between wars) the same pattern of appeasement of the Arab aggressors and forcing precarious territorial conditions upon Israel has repeated itself. The present situation seems like a form of servitude under the guise of alliance, which, in fact, becomes more and more detrimental to a stable peace in the Middle East.

The climax of Israel’s predicament is now reflected in the so-called “peace process” by which Israel is being pushed back to its vulnerable borderlines of June 1967. Yet instead of Jordan as its eastern neighbor, we now have the PLO (with the US as a sponsor and arbiter) that by its very raison d’être is disposed once again to ignite the entire Middle East by cries to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem, etc. Thus, although Israel and the PLO have reached an agreement of mutual recognition and partition by themselves in Oslo, the two sides have noted and agreed since then, as obedient vassals depending on their over-lord in Washington, to draw the final lines of a new partition of this tiny land.

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