Israel: US won't save Israel from itself

Haaretz

U.S. won't save Israel from hanging itself
The 'peace camp' has melted like ice after relying for years on strange mantras such as 'the Americans are opposed to the settlements,' 'the administration will initiate a peace plan,' and of course, 'the Israeli right is irritating our greatest friend in the West.'
By Yitzhak Laor

The two representatives of the region's vassal made a pilgrimage to the American capital to give President Barack Obama the two ends of the rope we're supposed to hang ourselves with - not all of us, not right away, not only us. First President Shimon Peres arrived as the representative of the "peace camp," and was followed immediately by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The "peace camp" has melted like ice after relying for years on strange mantras such as "the Americans are opposed to the settlements," "the administration will initiate a peace plan," and of course, "the Israeli right is irritating our greatest friend in the West." That was a baseless platform that eventually led to the peace camp's demise. You can't spend night and day making vain prophesies and recruiting supporters to the struggle. Peace Now, Meretz and the Labor Party relied on the best-quality hashish of "the Americans will not allow it." But the Americans gave, and how they gave! Dollars and burial stones.

Wars broke out, despite the strongest convictions of their opponents, as if the Americans were opposed, while the Israel Defense Forces, which is not an American army, heaven forbid, tried to be clever and outsmart the Americans. People believed that in the end, after the mass killings (in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip ), there would be a happy end and "the Americans would force a peace agreement on the sides" - because the Americans are a policeman on behalf of Western justice.

Now that the "peace camp" has waned and the people need the simple faith that we're the ones who decide on the agenda, Netanyahu's prestige is rising. According to the new folklore, the prime minister "dictated the Americans' agenda," as if Israel's strength weren't built by the Americans precisely for this necessity - the carrot and the stick of control in the Middle East. The stick is a direct Israeli threat, like the one against Iran. The carrot is "an Israeli withdrawal," "a comprehensive settlement" or "the United States will restrain Israel." The neighborhood thug will not attack because the U.S. will not allow him to.

This is a structure in which different forces act. The United States is a coalition of interests, sometimes even opposing interests, of those who support and those who oppose terrible wars - in the administration, in the economy and in politics. But the U.S. continues to act as it always has acted. Hans Morgenthau's doctrine dictates that they rely on the existing balance of power in regional conflicts.

There's no doubt that the United States has never been interested in the sources of the conflict with the Palestinians, but rather tries to benefit by nurturing it, fanning its flames, paying for it and "conducting negotiations" via the strong side to gain control in the region. There's no better example than the scuttling of the agreed-on solution by the two superpowers after the Yom Kippur War, in favor of a partial agreement that ensured control over the Palestinians and the extension of the settlements.

Within this structure, Israel's permanent role is to fix "an agenda," and the Americans' role is to say that "Israel has the right to defend itself" - and also to say the exact opposite.

Of course, within this structure there's great value in the "moderate camp" because the United States chooses the "moderate camp" from the strong side. That's why the visit by Peres - the statue of the "peace camp" - took place a day before Netanyahu's.

This is the rope Israel is gradually hanging itself with. Those celebrating the victory of Iran Now over Palestine Now know well that this Now - via the destructive power that the U.S. finances and which nurtures the settlements and the army - is designed to turn us into a country where it may be interesting to live but where it's also very bad to live.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/u-s-won-t-save-israel-from-hanging-itself-1.417748