UNITED STATES DISQUALIFIED!

If you or I were in a conflict with another party, would we trust a third party with any role in helping us resolve that conflict, if we knew that the third party had given more than two decades of unconditional support to the party that was our adversary? The United States has for several decades provided unconditional support to Israel. In the United Nations the U.S. abstains, votes against or vetoes any statements or resolutions that are critical of the Israeli government. The United States provides financial and military aid to Israel with no strings attached. Operation Cast Lead resulted in the deaths of hundreds of women and children and many institutional structures were reduced to rubble. The American government has done nothing to investigate whether Israel’s use of gifted armaments in Operation Cast Lead violated U.S. laws. The United States gave tacit approval to the Israeli invasions of Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and in Gaza in the winter of 2008-9. Yet, the United States has imposed many conditions on support provided to Palestinians. When less than a majority of Palestinians elected Hamas (about 44% according to The Economist), the U.S. government withheld financial assistance to this donor dependent Palestinian community.

Aaron David Miller in his book, The Much Too Promised Land, characterized the role of the U.S. as “Israel’s lawyer.” The United States government has done little or nothing to stop “facts on the ground” that now make a two-state solution very difficult if not impossible. For more than a decade, the Israeli government has increased its matrix of control over the daily lives of all Palestinians even grade school children and others who are in no way security threats to Israel.

Championing the U.S. in a major role with the Israelis and Palestinians is fundamentally flawed. Only if the United States stops unconditionally supporting Israel can we qualify for a legitimate third party role. Free and open discussion is likely to convince most Americans that unconditional support of Israel is neither in the best interests of the United States nor in the best interests of Israel. However, Israeli/Palestinian issues are rarely discussed freely and openly by academics, religious leaders and especially not by politicians. Quick, vicious attacks from the Israel Lobby (this includes not only AIPAC and other Jewish organizations, but also secular Zionists and a significantly larger group of evangelical Christians) discredit and marginalize speakers whose comments are against the unconditional support of Israel. As a result many opinion leaders censor themselves in public settings even though in private settings they may express very different views. Let us hope that the climate for free and open discussion continues to improve so that the United States can qualify for a legitimate third party role with the Israelis and the Palestinians.