Dina Al-Hayek makes a good point when she writes in April 29th’s “Israel ‘occupied’ in mess,” that “it is yet again [the American] responsibility to clean up [Israel’s] mess.” American willingness to help Israel out of political and military crises, brought about by Israeli behavior, is an important reason for perpetuation of the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic status quo. This American role is the only one factor helping to maintain and entrench the status quo, but it is an important one.
The question is whether the United States, determined to work for sustainable Israeli-Palestinian peace, should refuse to play this role. This would make political life harder for the Israelis and strain the U.S.-Israeli alliance. On the other hand, the U.S. could use that possibility to gain more leverage than it now has on Israeli behavior. The U.S. already has leverage over Israel with respect to war making, but the question is whether it could also affect Israeli domestic initiatives such as housing programs.
For its part, Israel could counter that leverage by concerting even more closely with the U.S. over its policies in the occupied territories. The more it can influence the U.S. to accept its domestic initiatives as not subject to interference — as they are with most countries — the more complicit the U.S. becomes in those initiatives and the more likely the U.S. is to back them up no matter how controversial they become.
-Barry H. Steiner
CSULB political science professor
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