In light of Turkey's reaction to the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla last week, media pundits and policy wonks are already underlining the demise of the US-Turkish special relationship. The growing chorus of critics miss one vital point. Turkey was criticizing Tel Aviv's military overkill off the Gaza coastline, not Washington's.
So closely aligned have we become to Israel since the Reagan era, we now find ourselves reacting on behalf of the government of Israel. Instead of basing our policy determinations and official statements on the US's national security interests, we find ourselves uniquely defending the indefensible over and over again -- expending precious global political capital on Israel and attracting the whispered derision of even our allies.
In their book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt claim that "since 1982, the US has vetoed 32 Security Council resolutions critical of Israel more than the total number of vetoes cast by all the other Security Council members."
By another count, between 1984 and 2006, the US has used its UN Security Council veto privilege 27 times on resolutions criticizing illegal Israeli actions or demanding Israel's adherence to international law - even when the resolutions were consistent with our own official policy. In all 27 instances, we were the solitary veto in the Security Council.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time a permanent member cast a lone veto was France, which refused in 1976 to recognize its former colony Mayotte as part of newly-independent Comoros.
Turkey and the US: Different Tactics, Same Goals
A recent piece in Foreign Policy magazine underscores this destructive mindset in Washington. Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations points out: "In the abstract, Washington and Ankara do share the same goals: peace between Israel and the Palestinians; a stable, unified Iraq; an Iran without nuclear weapons; stability in Afghanistan; and a Western-oriented Syria. When you get down to details, however, Washington and Ankara are on the opposite ends of virtually all these issues."
Where do they diverge? Cook follows by saying: "For the first time in its history, Ankara has chosen sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, demanding that Israel take steps to ease the blockade of Gaza or risk unspecified 'consequences.'"
It may be prudent to point out here that even Washington has made statements advocating an easing of the Gaza blockade -- same goes for the European Union and every other nation that weighed in publically after Israel's deadly attack on the flotilla last week. Considering that the main flotilla ship was registered in Turkey and that the dead activists are Turkish citizens, it is only natural that Ankara takes a strong stand on this issue.
The fact is that the US and Turkey have a great many goals in common in the broader Middle East -- differences on how to achieve them do not fundamentally mean being at odds. Cook jumps to the conclusion of many American observers when he confuses Turkey's tactics with its strategic interests and then goes on to assume that our shared tactics with Israel means that our strategic interests are one and the same with the Jewish state.
Israel as a Strategic Liability
Two days after the flotilla tragedy, veteran foreign policy expert Anthony Cordesman wrote in an article for the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) entitled "Israel as a Strategic Liability:"
"America's ties to Israel are not based primarily on U.S. strategic interests. At the best of times, an Israeli government that pursues the path to peace provides some intelligence, some minor advances in military technology, and a potential source of stabilizing military power that could help Arab states like Jordan. Even then, however, any actual Israeli military intervention in an Arab state could prove as destabilizing as beneficial.
Cordesman continues with this critical point:
"The fact is that the real motives behind America's commitment to Israel are moral and ethical. They are a reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust, to the entire history of Western anti-Semitism, and to the United States' failure to help German and European Jews during the period before it entered World War II. They are a product of the fact that Israel is a democracy that shares virtually all of the same values as the United States."
I must first firmly note that I do not agree with Cordesman's assessment of "shared values" between the United States and Israel. This term is more myth than fact. I certainly do not advocate the occupation, killings, collective punishment and systemic racism that has colored most of the Jewish state's history, nor do most Americans I know. I think this phrase more honestly represents a certain - shall we say - blind identification with other "white cultures." Look at how far behind the pack we were in condemning the institutional racism of Afrikaner-ruled South Africa.
Let me also note that "moral" and "ethical" responsibility for the Jewish Holocaust should fall firmly on the shoulders of the Germans, and not us. "Israel" is not synonymous with "Jews" - all Jews do not identify with Israel, nor are all Israelis Jewish. Israel is a state created by a political, colonial-settler movement that has created more conflict than good for both Jewish and non-Jewish populations the world around. This is a state that - more than sixty years after its violent inception - does not have defined borders, is based on the very exclusivity we universally abhor since the second World War, is highly militarized and entirely dependent on US support for its continuity, and is probably the least safe place for Jews to live today.
But I digress.
Cordesman points out some carefully-worded realities. Israel is no longer the useful ally of the Cold War - a bulwark against Soviet satellites in the Mideast and the threat of regional nationalist movements blocking our ability to access and profit from the area's precious oil resource.
Instead, today Israel is a very real strategic liability. We have lost all influence and credibility in the Mideast because of our inability to broker peace and play fair in the region. Furthermore, Israel and its staunch US neocon friends can take responsibility for the colossal error we made in invading Iraq in 2003. Today, they are just as responsible for the war drums against Iran. Certainly, we have relied in great part on Israeli generated intelligence for much of our interactions with groups and nations that Israel opposes - groups and nations we also unsurprisingly find ourselves confronting, often on behalf of Israeli interests.
Would we be facing down Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran and Syria if it were not for Israel? Would they even be foes? Hezbollah and Hamas came into existence entirely as a result of Israeli occupation. We take issue with Syria because it refuses to recognize Israel - which is fully understandable as Israel has been occupying Syrian territory since 1967. The whole brouhaha over Iran's nuclear program is largely because Israel, having started the Mideast's nuclear race, doesn't want anyone else to threaten its regional hegemony and its qualitative military edge.
When was the last time any of them targeted Americans as a matter of policy?
Israel harms us each and every time it make a move in the Middle East. The "no-space-between-us-and-Israel" sound bites made by our sycophantic politicians is the problem -- the whole international community buys into this view that we sanction and support all of Israel's actions -- and because so many of these are illegal, we also look like hypocrites when we challenge transgressions of other regional states.
Turkey: Actions Not Words
And then there is Turkey: a NATO member since 1952; the world's 16th largest economy; second largest standing armed force in NATO with over one million soldiers; a founding member of the United Nations, OECD and the G-20 major economies; a major trading partner of the European Union -- more than 50% of its imports and exports; abundant in natural resources, minerals, oil and gas. The list goes on.
A Rand Corporation study published in February 2010 concludes the following:
"A strong security partnership with Turkey has been an important element of U.S. policy in the Mediterranean and the Middle East since the early 1950s. It is even more important today. Turkey stands at the nexus of four areas that have become increasingly critical to U.S. security since the end of the Cold War: the Balkans, the Middle East, the Caucasus/Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf region. In all four areas, Turkey's cooperation is vital for achieving U.S. policy goals."
Diplomacy rules in today's Turkey. In the past decade, Turkey has solved most of its outstanding regional conflicts by pursuing a policy of "zero problems" with its neighbors, in the process signing record breaking trade agreements that have boosted its economy and increased its influence exponentially in the international arena.
The US, on the other hand is neck deep in three wars, has lost the global influence it enjoyed a decade ago, confuses diplomacy with brinkmanship, and is mired in one of the worst economic crises in its history.
There are few countries that have served global security and stability better than Turkey in recent years. We have a lot to learn from them. Changing our failed policies and living up to our public declarations will make us more honest and useful. In the "strategic interest" contest between Israel and Turkey, I suspect we will ultimately find more shared values with Turkey -- but only if we can break the dangerous hold Israel has over us.
Follow Sharmine Narwani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/snarwani
James Zogby: Changing Direction on Gaza: Challenges Confronting Obama
If Obama's efforts to change direction are to bear fruit, he will have to confront not only a determined, hard-line government in Israel and stubborn Palestinian realities, but an entrenched and unthinking pro-Israel bias in Congress.
How can you trust allies that don't share common purposes ?
Must have been really, really hard to suck it up when Petraeus statements came out a few months ago. Seeing that he is widely popular and beyond your reach for the time being...
Israel serves no special (indispensible) interest to the USA, except for the same special interest it provides to the entire world. It is the proverbial "cork" which keeps the genie in its fabled bottle. Once the world becomes willing to sacrifice its Jews, and this sacrifice can be either physical or even social 9as a precursor), the world is then prepared for any other injustice or totalitarian barbarism.
It is the nature of the state that has always disturbed me. I don't believe in ethno-nationalism - I think it is dangerous creating all these homogenous entities. Lack of diversity is detrimental for human civilization in my view.
Furthermore, Israel was created by a settler-colonial movement that deliberately sought to displace an indiginous population to create a state based on exclusivity. That notion is a repulsive one - and has nothing to do with the fact that the instigators are Jewish.
I do understand that there are some who are antagonized by the fact that this is a "Jewish" state - that is definitely an anti-Jew sentiment. But I do not think the majority care whether this is a Jewish state or a Martian state. It is just wrong on so many other levels.
Washington has made Israel our largest recipient of foreign aid, encouraged private transfers to it through unique tax breaks, transferred huge quantities of weapons and munitions to it gratis, directly and indirectly subsidized the Israeli defense industry, allocated military R&D to Israeli rather than US institutions, offered Israeli armaments manufacturers the same status as US manufacturers for purposes of US defense procurement, etc.. Almost all US vetoes at the United Nations and decisions to boycott international conferences and meetings have been on behalf of Israel. Israel treats its ability to command support from Washington as a major tool of diplomatic influence in third countries; it does not exercise its very limited influence abroad in support of US as opposed to its own objectives.
Israeli Doctors Care for the World
The Israeli organization "Save a Child's Heart" is one of the largest undertakings in the world that provides urgently needed pediatric heart surgery and follow-up care for children from third world and developing countries. Its entire surgical, intensive care and nursing staff volunteer their services and donate their time, in conjunction with the Wolfson Medical Center outside Tel Aviv. The organization also brings medical personnel to train in Israel. Thousands of sick children from all over the world, regardless of race or religion, have had their lives saved with cutting edge medical technology. In this report we interview two Palestinian families. http://www.saveachildsheart.com/home1.html Running time: 4:30 minutes (running time: 4:03)
http://www.israelupclose.org/categories/contributions.html
Once they got those video images and a few soundbites in...they were the first team to pack up and head home!
:-))))
-- Israel does not have the diplomatic prestige or capacity to marshal support for US interests or policies globally or in its own region and does not do so; on the contrary, it requires constant American defense against political condemnation and sanctions by the international community.
-- Israel does not fund aid programs in third countries to complement and support US foreign or military policy as other allies and strategic partners do.
Japan provides multiple bases and pays "host nation support" for the US presence (though that presence as well as the fact that Japan is paying for a good deal of it are growing political issues in Japan). The air base in Qatar from which the US directs air operations throughout the region (including in both Iraq and Afghanistan) was built and is maintained at host nation expense
"The Turkish Army conducted a policy of ethnic cleansing consisting of wholesale attacks and massacres of the Greek population of the territories that came under Turkish military population in an attempt to terrorise the Greek population into evacuating these areas.[2][3] The wholesale massacres carried by the Turkish army and Turkish Cypriot paramilitary groups against the Greeks of Cyprus spawned a limited number of similar attacks against Turkish civilians in the south by small groups of Greek Cypriot paramilitaries. "
What we are experiencing now are people and policies that have been rearranged under the 8 years of Bush leadership globally. It appears that we are four years too late to change how the world is looking at us. Unfortunately, Obama can't make the necessary changes because he is limited by both external and internal forces who have already determined US Policy for all presidents.
As is the case in anywhere in the world y where islamic fundamentalists acquire political power.
-- Israeli bases are not available for US use.
-- none of Israel's neighbors will facilitate overflight for military aircraft transiting Israeli territory, let alone taking off from there. Israel is useless for purposes of strategic logistics or power projection.
-- Israel is worse than irrelevant to the defense of Middle Eastern energy supplies; the US relationship with Israel has jeopardized these supplies (as in 1973), not contributed to securing them
US relations with Israel do not bolster US prestige in Middle Eastern oil-producing countries or assist the US to "dominate" them, they complicate and weaken US influence; they have at times resulted in the suspension of US relations with such countries.
-- Israel does not have the diplomatic prestige or capacity to marshal support for US interests or policies globally or in its own region and does not do so; on the contrary, it requires constant American defense against political condemnation and sanctions by the international community
Can you name a SINGLE other Middle Eastern stat with such variety of opinion? No. This is precisely why Israeli is a strong country.
Deal with it, .
You want to change the dynamics of Middle East? Why not work to help to reform Muslim societies from within? Start with the challenging "What WE are doing wrong?
Not easy, I know. Do try, And encourage other refugees from Muslims societies to to do the same.
Jewish only, remember?
Please keep in mind that the "tokenism" of even allowing an Arab party is so that Israel can "pretend" it's a democracy. You know that member of Knesset who was on the flotilla? In the Knesset soonafter, they yelled at her "ARAB!!" - as though that was a slur of some kind... Imagine if someone yelled "JEW!!" in the US Congress and you'll get my point.
Tokenism, that's all. And ask an Israeli Arab what they think of their rights. What hogwash you spin.
Btw, there are Jews, Christians and Zorastrians in Iran's parliament :-) Christians also have many seats in the parliaments of Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. And did you know that one of the highest ranking ambassadors in Bahrain is a Jewish woman? Cousin of a friend...that's how I happen to know that, though I think they had it on CNN as well. You know, to educate the many, many ignorant folks out there who think that the Mideast is uniformly Muslim, anti-Semitic andhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharmine-narwani/israel-vs-turkey-which-se_b_595583.html# the word du jour "terrorists." Mmmpft.
It's amazing how they favor these gross generalizations right up until it is used against Jews.
Then suddenly it's a different story. The most insidious of that group I believe are the evangelicals.
And what a tragicomic relationship they have. The evangelicals expect the Jews to convert or spend all eternity in hellfire, and strangely these folks, and their money and support with the US Congress, are welcomed with open arms in Israel.
Except for the ones about racial and religious equality, that is. In the 21st century, real democracies do not have racially-defined second-class citizens. Period. If you do, you're not a democracy. Israel does.
Nawaf Massalha, Muslim Israeli -, has served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, since 199
Raleb Majadele -- Palestinian Israeli Government Minister (2007)
Abdul-Aziz Zoabi--Arab Deputy minister.
Majalli Wahabi--Palestinian Parliament Speaker.
Abdulmalik Dehamshe--Palestinian Senior Parliament Speaker.
Hussniya Jabara---female Arab MP.
Tawfik Toubi-- Arab senior MP ( 41 years).
Colonel Hasson Hasson --brigadier general in IDF. Israeli president security adviser.
2 Palestinian Israelis--Ambassadors
Abd el-Amin Hajer --Lieutenant Colonel of IDF received the Order of Distinction for heroism.
2006 Haifa University poll:
62% of Arab citizens of Israel worry that Israel could transfer their communities to the jurisdiction of a future Palestinian state
Fact: Many non -Jews are democratically represented in Israeli government.
Fact: Many Palestinains serve honorably in the Israeli Army.
Fact: A Palestinian served as interim President of Israel.
Fact: Israeli Arabs rarely ever give up their Israeli citizenship. The benefits and freedoms are too good. And are unmatched anywhere in the Middle East, if not the world.
Deal with it.
Fact: Because of the Israeli system of land tenure, arab-Israelis have face enormous restrictions on where in Israel they're allowed to live.
There are more, but I won't bother to enumertate them.
Yes - because they are not prepared to surrender their land and historic Palestine. They saw what happened to those Palestinians who ran away in 1948 when the Jewish ethnic-cleansing armies came a-marching.
So, yes, I imagine they will cling to their land with everything they have.
.... to serve US interests ...
.... Turkey serves a foriegn country !!!!!!
WTF is going on here
The closure policy has “led to economic collapse in Gaza,” B’tselem charged in a 44-page report that looked at Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem during the period from January 2009 to the end of April 2010."
Gazan Palestinain who voted for hamas, supported Hamas during its coup against (marginally) more peaceful Palestinains are the enemy. And will be treated as such.