Center Calls For Course Correction On Bush Middle East Policy

The Center for Security Policy today urged the Bush Administration to use the occasion of the election of a new government in Israel as an opportunity to reinforce strong U.S.-Israeli relations.

The Center’s recommendation, contained in a new analysis entitled Time to Reinvigorate the U.S.-Israeli Strategic Relationship, appears all the more timely in light of Secretary of State James Baker’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee this morning. Choosing particularly sharp words to describe Israel’s responsibility for the moribund state of the "peace process," Secretary Baker seemed to be signalling that the installation of the new Shamir government is viewed by the Administration as cause for still further strains in bilateral ties.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Center’s director said, "Continued erosion in the U.S.-Israeli relationship is not likely to promote the prospects for peace. To the contrary, it is virtually certain to embolden Israel’s enemies in the Arab world, with potentially dangerous implications for American security interests in the region and beyond."

Gaffney added, "It should be especially obvious that the terrorists of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in particular, have been emboldened by the Bush Administration’s willingness to intensify its demands that Israel negotiate with the Palestinians — even as the PLO and its factions have repeatedly engaged in wanton violence against Israeli and other civilians."

The Center’s analysis dissects the flawed premises that appear to animate the Bush Administration’s Middle East policy. Its conclusions include:

• A Palestinian "homeland" on territory now held by Israel would be a disaster for U.S. — as well as Israeli– security interests, imperiling a key regional ally and vital strategic asset, while fostering a new radical and anti-Western entity in an already too volatile region.

 

• The concept of trading "land for peace" is doomed to fail; Israel must settle for nothing less than "peace for peace." This will require peace agreements with the real threat to Israel’s security — the Arab states, not simply the PLO.

 

• It is the height of folly for the U.S. to extort Israel in order to force it to engage in negotiations that, by their very nature, are incapable of producing an outcome that will actually enhance Israeli security.

Copies of Time to Reinvigorate the U.S.-Israeli Strategic Relationship may be obtained by contacting the Center.