The Right to Exist
Upon returning from her visit to the West Bank last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked, ““For Israel to get the kind of strong support it is looking for vis-à-vis Iran, it can’t stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and the peace efforts. They go hand in hand.”
Clinton’s visit to the West Bank may have helped shape this statement, and may help shape the policy of the United States toward Israel and Palestine under the Obama administration. Is this in fact a sign that the US will once again take a balanced role in peace negotiations? After eight years of unilateral support for Israel, it is time to reevaluate whether that support is actually doing more harm than good. With a possible Iranian conflict looming on the horizon, important steps toward diplomatic resolutions need to be taken.
There are many good reasons to support Israel, of course, and given our current national interest in the Middle East, support for Israel certainly makes sense. It is a democracy in a sea of totalitarianism; a generally secular nation hedged in by theocracies. In its short time as a modern state, the Israelis have proven time and time again that they are a country of innovators. They have breathed life into the desert by developing remarkable irrigation technologies, and have built up an impressive tech industry. Of course, their basic right to exist stems from none of these things. Whatever one’s feelings regarding the division of the British Mandate, Israel is now an autonomous state and has a right to its security and continued existence. [Read more →]
April 29, 2009 65 Comments
