Posted by on October 5, 2011
This time it was the US secretary of defense who came out with a warning against “Israel”. Ahead of his visit to “Israel” Leon Panetta warned that “Israel” was becoming increasingly isolated in the region amid the popular uprisings.
These are the second statements of their kind recently after Panetta’s predecessor Robert Gates made similar remarks. Now all this does not mean that there is some kind of major rift in US “Israeli” ties. On the contrary these ties will remain intact and from now until the American elections at the end of next year there will be more shows of support for “Israel”. Indeed as Ali Younes, a prominent expert and a good friend of mine from Washington told me, Panetta’s visit to “Israel” is part of a domestic agenda for the Obama administration to gain the support of the “Israeli” lobby for reelection.
Younes says that such visits by American officials will greatly increase during this period. He also describes Panetta’s statements, in which the latter said Israel was diplomatically isolating itself and called on “Israel” to take diplomatic steps to repair its ties with countries like Egypt and Turkey as talk between friends, i.e friendly criticism.
Probably true but when your friend begins criticizing you more than once over a certain period of time this shows the extent of trouble you are in (because in the end isn’t it friends who really care). Now let’s examine more closely Panetta’s statements. Look for example at the following “as Israel takes the risks for peace we will be able to provide it with the security guarantees”.
Well what if it doesn’t take such risks (remember that the Netanyahu government hasn’t budged on its stances and continues to expand settlement activity with more housing units recently announced). And what about this quote “The question you have to ask is: ‘Is it enough to maintain a military edge if you are isolating yourself in the diplomatic arena?’ Real security can only be achieved by a strong diplomatic efforts as well as a strong effort to protect your military strength.”
This quote is clearly saying “yes we can give you more military support and assistance as much as you want but that is no longer enough now with Arab spring and the awakening of the people”. Panetta is also trying to say in such a situation the US can no longer guarantee Israel’s security without “Israel” taking some dramatic steps to show it is interested in peace.
Well as stated above this “Israeli” government is the most stubborn government which is not intent on taking any risks. It will continue on the same track and will not listen to Panetta or anyone else (especially with the blind support for “Israel” in congress particularly amongst republicans).
So this means more isolation of “Israel” in the future as Panetta has warned. We could some up by saying that from “Israel’s” perspective it has the wrong government at the wrong time(with Arab uprisings).The US meanwhile is scrambling to preserve its leverage in the region (which can be seen by Panetta’s visit to Egypt).
It can be summed up in the following way :the comments of the US defense minister show how the US is trying to preserve it interests and at the same time satisfy Israel and its supporters in Washington for electoral purposes. Unfortunately for the US this balancing act is not working and America in the eyes of the region’s people is a blind supporter of “Israel” and its policies and the Obama administration also finds itself in the wrong time because as the presidential elections draw closer so will US “Israeli” ties which implies less leverage for Washington in a region where people now have a say.
Uprooted Palestinian
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