I just finished reading the opinion piece in The Eagle that explained how America doesn't understand how our support of the state of Israel "hinders peace in the Middle East" and is counter-productive in our new war on terror. As I was reading the article, I couldn't believe my eyes. Our support of the sole democracy in the Middle East hinders peace in the Middle East? Our collective and strategic security alliance threatens our safety? The United States always "rubber-stamps" Israeli occupation measures? Wrong.
There is a reason why both Republicans and Democrats, who never seem to agree on anything, both envision a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. It's not that a group of Iraqis supposedly called American troops "Jews," as the article stated. It's the opposite. America gets it. As Americans, we value certain principles as the staples of liberal democracies. We value life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We value equality and we value justice. We share our value system with the Israelis and our unique relationship fosters a deep commitment to these liberal and democratic values.
The violence that the Middle East is currently experiencing is not only a pertinent international concern, but it is also quite heartbreaking. Both Israelis and Palestinians find themselves in a state of disarray, unsure of the future, while they are too often forced to bury friends and loved ones who died for no good reason. And neither entity is perfect; both sides make mistakes, react with force, often overreact with force, and spiral deeper and deeper into an ongoing cycle of violence. Something must be done, and the entire world knows this. Israel knows this. America knows this too.
America also knows that the vast majority of the Israeli population wants to end the horrible occupation of the Palestinian people. Through America's dedication to peace in the Middle East and constant interaction with Israeli officials, American presidents become aware that even on the most basic practical level, Israel wants to end the occupation of the Palestinians. Israel was founded as a state for the Jewish people, just as France is a state for the French and Germany for the Germans. The Israelis strive to be a moral driving force, a light upon nations, by setting the bar for ethics-not a military driving force. In fact, the Israeli Declaration of Independence states, "The State of Israel ... will promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants ... based on the precepts of liberty, justice and peace ... without distinction of race, creed or sex." After it outlines domestic equality for all, the document continues, "We offer peace and amity to all the neighboring states and their peoples."
America understands that Israel does not want to occupy foreign territory, and has even offered it back at Oslo. It is being forced to occupy. Israel, like America, is a liberal democracy where Jews, Muslims, Christians, Bahais, Druze and all others have complete freedom of worship. It is a nation where gay citizens enjoy the same rights as all others. Where Arab Christians are the most educated and wealthiest ethnic group in the country. Where women have the right to a safe and legal abortion as well as the right to dress as they please and vote to control their destiny. How dare Desmond Tutu compare it to apartied South Africa. Even aside from all of the moral implications and concerns with occupation of a foreign entity, Israelis understand that occupation takes away money and resources from their programs at home. Just as our war in Iraq led to a brutal occupation that is draining our economy, Israelis understand that every dollar spend on occupation is one less spent on their system of universal health care. Every dime spent on a tank is a dime less for their public system of higher education.
The next logical question, then, is obvious: If the majority of Israelis are against occupation, why does it continue? The answer to this is actually simpler than many may expect: because reality does not always pan out the same way that theory does. If tomorrow morning the Israeli army suddenly left Gaza and the West Bank in one swift swoop, there would be no more Israel. Many Palestinians desperately want peace. However, there are large terrorist groups such as Hamas that openly declare that they will not stop attacking innocent Israeli men, women and children until Israel no longer exists. This ultimate hatred and innate anti-Semitism threatens not only Israelis but all of the moderate Palestinians as well-the Palestinians who truly want peace. I know that last week KPU brought a speaker to campus who was a former body guard to the actual important people involved in the policy making at Camp David who now works for a Palestinian lobbying group. You can listen to him when he calls President Clinton a "liar" and accuses ambassador Dennis Ross of "drinking the Kool-Aid," or you can believe President Clinton, Ambassador Dennis Ross and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when they claim that Israel offered roughly 95 to 97 percent of the Palestinian land claims back to Yasser Arafat. So what do you do after an offer you can't refuse is refused and the violence continues without an outlook for peace? What would the United States do if Mexican hate groups began to cross our boarder and kill innocent people at public places and blow up the D.C. Metro? The only thing you can do-you build a security fence (that will only be 3 percent wall around areas where terrorists have stood on the roofs of tall buildings and shot and killed Israeli children crossing the street). Additionally, the fence should be the beginning of the end of occupation. Israel is showing the Palestinians and the world, "Look, this is where Israel ends and a free Palestine begins." Its not perfect, but it's definitely a start.
And to argue that the US-Israel relationship is not only hinders peace but also impedes upon our war on terror? I could not more strongly disagree. Even President Bush's administration-an administration that will never utter the words "We made a mistake" or "We are not perfect"-concedes that Israeli intelligence is arguably better than American intelligence because Israeli intelligence places a greater emphasis on individual manpower and not solely on satellites. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Israel has had to live in the face of terrorism since its inception and is thus decades ahead of the United States in its war on terror. Many of the security precautions and devices that we have put into place (and many we haven't yet) are Israeli conceptually and technologically. We need Israel just as much if not more in our war on terror as it needs us. Actually, it's the same war. And to claim that the United States simply-rubber stamps all of Israel's actions is just downright misleading. Since Israel's rebirth as a modern Jewish state, American presidents have repeatedly pressured and threatened Israel when it was in our own interest to do so. If anything, it's the other way around. Israel provides a shadow of American support at the United Nations and is the country that most frequently votes in line with the United States.
For 200 years, America was able to grow and flourish as a free democracy with a vast ocean to shield it from European and other foreign hostility. Israel, on the other hand, has always been forced to struggle with balancing the responsibilities of a free and liberal democracy with the threats of unfriendly and all-too-often hostile neighbors. Perhaps it has not always acted appropriately in every situation, but it has been able to preserve its functioning democracy, free and fair elections, and a way of life that we all too often take for granted here but is a very rare commodity in the Middle East. If we want to win the war on terror, we have to win it by protecting other free civilizations and working with them to defeat the terrorists, not by abandoning them when we are in need of a mutual relationship the most.
Jeremy Rovinsky is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences.
