Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Israel's Crucial Security Needs In Any Peace Settlement
People who have never been to Israel have no idea how small the area is that we're talking about, how vulnerable Israel is to attack from hostile neighbors or what the facts on the ground actually look like. This video, from the Jerusalem Center gives you an excellent idea of these factors and what Israel's security needs actually are to ensure any kind of viable and lasting peace.
(Hat tip, Carl)
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This has always been the fundamental problem with reaching any kind of peace agreement. The needs of Israel either aren't considered at all or they are given only superficial consideration.
Supposedly we want to prevent a nuclear war. At least this is what our leaders tell us. Presumably Israel has a "tipping point" at which they would use nuclear weapons to defend their country. If you weaken Israel by giving land to the enemies of the state, you make it much harder for Israel to defend its self and the tipping point where Israel would need to use nuclear weapons would be reached much sooner. If Israel uses nuclear weapons, others would probably join in as well and a major military confrontation would be much more likely to ensue. It also makes it much more likely that we would be pulled in somehow.
In other words, the current peace proposals actually make peace less likely instead of more likely. At a time when the US faces massive national debt, a struggling economy, and worn down over stretched military it seems insane to push policies that would make another military confrontation more likely but our leaders are doing it.
Now contrast America's situation with the situation Russia currently faces. Russia's primary source of revenue is oil sales. A new war in the Middle East drives up the price of oil. For them a new military confrontation in the Middle East makes perfect sense. By pushing the current peace proposals we only play into the hands of more capable adversary. I'm pretty sure they would the proceeds from the increase price of oil to continue upgrading the conventional and nuclear forces.
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