Whether Israel'scommandos committed any criminal acts will be determined by investigation, butin the meantime it is safe to say that what happened was not only wrong butexceptionally stupid. Yet while shortsighted brutality has long been a hallmarkof Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, that tendency is now clearlyundermining the strategic interests of both Israeland its traditional friends, including the United States.
Consider theevents over the past two years that have led up to this moment. The war on Gaza, initially justifiedby Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, was grossly disproportional andresulted in war crimes against Palestinians that completely overshadowed the casus belli. Since then, the blockade ofGaza has stopped humanitarian assistance andprevented reconstructionwhich has only provoked worldwide support for Hamas'human rights complaints against Israel.
Meanwhile,that war proceeded covertly, as well, leading to the clumsiest intelligenceoperation in Israel'shistorythe murder of a Hamas official in Dubaiby agents who left behind copious evidence of connections with Mossad. Thatevidence included passports issued by friendly nations, which of coursestrained diplomatic relationships with them. Worse, the choice of Dubai as anassassination location put severe pressure on Israel's unofficial but strongrelationship with the United Arab Emiratesa powerful force for moderation andtolerance in the region and beyond.
WhateverHamas lost when Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was throttled in a Dubaihotel room, the damage to Israelwas considerably greater.
What'sIsrael'sStrategy?
Certainlythe same can be said of the latest fiasco, which has severely damaged if notruined Israel'slong-standing ties with Turkey,whose citizens were among those killed and apprehended in the flotilla attack.Until the evening of May 30, the Islamic government of Turkey was prepared to permit its army toparticipate in joint exercises with the Israel Defense Forcesa stunningdevelopment that shows just what Israel's government so casuallyrisked.
Yet PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government seem blithely unawareor uncaring in the wake of these ruinous actions. The question that Israel'sfriends must ask is the same question that sane Israelis are now openly askingthemselves: What is their government's strategy?
Indeed, whatstrategy could these tactics possibly serve to advance? How is their survival,let alone their future peace and prosperity, enhanced by behavior thatalienates every friend and potential friend, while encouraging every foe andcreating more of them?
If Israel and the United States believe that the most important security problemis Iranand that regime's possible acquisition of nuclear weapons, then the saneresponse is to build regional and global alliances in response. Iran's neighbors in the Gulf are almost asunhappy about that looming threat as Israel is. A wise policy would drawthose states into regional security arrangements and enhance connections withthem.
Of course,that kind of policy would mean refraining from such destructive acts as the Gaza blockade, the Dubaiassassination and the flotilla attack. It would require the serious pursuit ofrenewed peace negotiations with the Palestinians and the Syrians, so that Iran, not Israel, would face isolation. Andthat, in turn, would demand the end of settlement construction and theacknowledgment that Jerusalemis an international holy place that cannot be controlled by a single state.
As BillClinton bluntly reminded Israelis in Jerusalemlast winter, none of the fundamental factors that imperil the Jewish state'sdemocratic and peaceful future have changed since his own peacemaking effortsended in frustration. How unfortunateand dangerousthat the Netanyahugovernment is so determined to ignore his warning as its strategic positiondeteriorates.
© 2010 Creators.com
