Our Friends
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have resumed being a primarily bilateral affair. Whether this produces a secure modus vivendi for Israel or not, it is best that the United States let the parties discover the boundaries of THEIR relationship by themselves. Just as we should consider the boundaries of OUR relationship to both parties.
On the one hand, the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship requires little explanation here. On the other, we do not have a long or healthy relationship with the Palestinians. Little binds us together except… well, actually we don’t know what.
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have resumed being a primarily bilateral affair. Whether this produces a secure modus vivendi for Israel or not, it is best that the United States let the parties discover the boundaries of THEIR relationship by themselves. Just as we should consider the boundaries of OUR relationship to both parties.
On the one hand, the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship requires little explanation here. On the other, we do not have a long or healthy relationship with the Palestinians. Little binds us together except… well, actually we don’t know what. Consider:
Israel’s Yediot Acharonot reports that, “the Palestinians have established a naval offensive commando unit,” two of whose members were killed practicing to attach explosives to ships, using equipment apparently smuggled into Gaza via underground tunnels from Egypt. The Oslo Accords permit a Palestinian Coast Guard, but prohibit offensive activity such as a commando unit… MK Yuval Steinitz said on Arutz-7 radio, “Palestinian (terrorist) infrastructure and development receives a blind eye, encouragement, and even active support from the PA.”
About those tunnels – according to the IDF another (how many now?) one running between the Palestinian and Egyptian sections of a Gaza border town has been discovered. In the tunnel (approx. 45 by 95cm wide, and 6.5m underground) were digging tools, ropes, and other devices, apparently to bring in arms and explosives to the autonomous areas. According to a radio report, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not cooperating in finding the tunnels – all of which were begun on the Palestinian side – or taking any steps to prevent them.
At the same time, the CIA is providing the PA with advanced intelligence capabilities, ostensibly against terrorists, but Israeli Military Intelligence says the capabilities are being used against Israel. In Yediot, a senior member of the Israeli defense establishment said the CIA connection hurts. “‘Every course advances them, raises their level, helps them to become more professional… They get fantastic equipment… The problem is that they also use the equipment against us… So, for example, in the area of surveillance, they have a surveillance unit that monitors Israeli targets. And if you have advanced equipment, there is no problem monitoring military communications networks, intelligence networks or cellular telephones.”‘
Yediot reports criticism of the Americans. “‘The Americans see the Palestinians as partners who have to be strengthened,’ said the senior source… ‘According to the American thesis, the better Palestinian intelligence is, the more terrorists they capture and the stabler (sic) the peace. This is a naive assumption that ignores the conflict between us and the Palestinians… They don’t see that Arafat and Hamas are on the same side against Israel.'”
And, which side does Arafat think we are on? According to the (North) Korean Central News Agency, 27 Arab political parties and organizations including the Palestine National Liberation Movement (FATAH, Arafat’s guys), the PFLP, two communist parties from Syria and one from Iraq, released a statement on July 4 noting that “the U.S. continues to pursue a war against the DPRK. It said that the recent armed conflict at sea caused by South Korean battleships against the North Korean ones, escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, was part of the U.S. new war provocation moves to destroy the system in North Korea.”
Helpful, huh?