The Reality Of Linkage
The Reality Of Linkage
Writers at the usual outlets are up in arms over national security adviser James Jones’ assertion yesterday that “there are a lot of things that you can do to diminish that existential threat” of Iran to Israel “by working hard towards achieving a two-state solution.”
While Jones certainly could have phrased this better and more clearly, the idea behind the policy is sound: The Palestinian issue continues to be an extremely salient issue for many in the Middle East, and the U.S.’s unquestioning support for Israeli policies a deep source of anti-American sentiment. While making progress in Israeli-Palestinian talks won’t in and of itself diminish Iran’s nuclear aspirations, it will help facilitate U.S.-led attempts to confront and contain those aspirations.
It’s quite true that hostility toward Israel in the Middle East will not simply dissipate upon the end of Israel’s occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state. Nor will anti-Americanism disappear even if the U.S. is seen as having played a major role in producing such an outcome. But I’m not aware that anyone has ever made such claims — apart from conservatives producing straw arguments against the U.S. putting “pressure” on Israel to stop doing things like bulldozing Palestinian neighborhoods to make way for new parks.
We shouldn’t be inappropriately optimistic about the prospects for changing Iran’s behavior, but neither should we simply assume that it’s hopeless. And we certainly shouldn’t credit those who insist that the behavior of the U.S. or its allies has no bearing on attempts to change the behavior of others.
4 Responses to “The Reality Of Linkage”
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Matt- I gotta call you out on this one.
May 11th, 2009 at 4:35 pmYou, nor anyone else, has one iota of evidence to show that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
I know you didn’t use the word “weapon”, but the inference is clear.
Please stop propagating a false claim.
As for the Palestinian issue:
At the 2009 AIPAC meeting Vice President Joe Biden suggested Israel should stop building settlements, remove settlement outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement. This is a familiar refrain.
September 16, 1998 Boston Globe
If Israel wants peace, it will need to stop settlements, end land seizures, and offer the Palestinians a larger percent of the occupied territory…
February 6, 1999 Seattle Post Intelligencer
Israel stood alone at the UN General Assembly yesterday, defiantly defending its settlement policies…
April 30, 2000 Jerusalem Post
Peace Now called on Prime Minister Ehud Barak to clamp down on settlement construction and implement the building freeze he imposed in Judea…
May 23, 2001 Christian Science Monitor
“The pressure to stop [or] pause in settlement expansion must come from within the Israeli body politic.”
April 29, 2002 Chicago Tribune
Israel is under international pressure, including from the United States, to stop settlement growth
June 4, 2003 The Times UK “Stop settlements now, Bush tells Israel”
“Israel has got responsibilities,” Mr Bush said on the eve of today’s historic Middle East peace summit. “Israel must deal with the settlements.
May 26, 2005 USA Today
Bush said Israel should “stop settlement expansion” and help “improve the daily lives of Palestinians” by easing checkpoints.
Four years and two Israeli wars later, Vice President Joe Biden’s charge echoes hollow. It’s hard to believe Israel wants peace.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:34 pmThe reality of linkage is Hillary Clinton and General James L. Jones approved Israel’s pummeling of Gaza. Quartet Envoy Tony Blair spilled the beans in Haaretz in a pre-Christmas story. The bombing started a week later.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:35 pmAs for linkage, look at Iran’s election schedule and the October deadline offered by Obama’s neocon Dennis Ross.
How would America act if another country gave us an ultimatum in September of an election year, one with a deadline of March, a mere two months into the new President’s term?
That’s what we’re doing to Iran.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:36 pm