The American–Israeli Crisis Was Long Overdue

Yesterday, Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff wrote in these pages that “Israeli Settlements Aren’t Worth the Fight” between the U.S.A. and Israel. Today, SPD politician Niels Annen responds.

Since Israeli Minister for Internal Affairs Eli Yishai announced the building of new settlements in East Jerusalem — doing so during United States Vice-President Joe Biden’s visit — relations between the U.S. and Israel haven’t been this bad in years. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the announcement “an insult” to the U.S. In a “Zeit” Online commentary, author Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff called the disagreement “the wrong fight at the wrong time” and not worth risking the good relations between Israel and the U.S. Today, Social Democratic politician Niels Annen responds:

Israeli settlement policy is a central point in the Middle East peace process. Whoever chooses to ignore that fact can’t make much progress in the region. The Israeli policy of inventing “facts” not only endangers the weakened leadership of the Palestinian Authority, it threatens the existence of the Palestinian Authority as a whole.

It’s not only radical Palestinians who now discuss whether it might not be better in the long run to abandon the two-state solution in favor of supporting just one state because, demographically speaking, time works in favor of the Palestinians and against Israel. According to ex-President Jimmy Carter, in order to defend the Jewish nature of the country the Israeli government may be perceived as practicing apartheid policies against the Palestinians. That alone should be enough to show that the Israeli settlement policy isn’t worth defending.

And Prime Minister Netanyahu’s attempts to smooth things over with Washington are also questionable. He has repeatedly apologized by telephone for the unfortunate timing. He regrets snubbing the U.S. vice-president. But what’s truly regrettable is what Netanyahu hasn’t apologized for: settlement expansion. Instead, he wants a commission appointed to investigate “the unfortunate timing of events.” The commission’s conclusions, however, will be totally irrelevant to the peace process. Netanyahu’s proposals are only sleight-of-hand maneuvers. The fact is that U.S. and European governments have been avoiding addressing the issue for years, in the vague hope of future concessions in Israeli settlement policy.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, described the current rift between the U.S. and Israel as “the worst since 1975.” But this crisis was long overdue. From the Oslo Accords to the Clinton plans for Jerusalem, every facet of a solution to the peace process has long since been worked out. Just as the Palestinian leadership knows that there will be no right of return for Palestinian exiles, every Israeli politician also knows that a prerequisite to peace means surrendering a large portion of the current settlements back to the Palestinians. Why are they belaboring these central issues? Time is running out for both parties to the conflict.

But the disagreement between Washington and Jerusalem may mark a turning point in America’s view of the Middle East. The American journal “Foreign Policy” recently reported on a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. Representatives of General David Petraeus, Commander of CENTCOM, gave an exhaustive report concerning the decreasing confidence among allied Arab nations that the U.S. was capable of influencing Israeli policy. Their conclusion was that the close relationship between Israel and the U.S. was causing a loss of American influence in the Muslim world because of Israeli intransigence. If the Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” is right, Vice-President Biden broached this subject with Prime Minister Netanyahu in a meeting, reportedly telling him, “This is starting to get dangerous for us. What you’re doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.” A Biden disclaimer is just as elusive as Netanyahu’s answer.

General Petraeus’ sober analysis was right to the point, regarding America’s security concerns. It’s no longer all about Israeli security; America’s credibility and its long-term strategic interests are now at stake. No one should doubt America’s determination to bring peace to the Middle East. And that, despite Joe Biden’s failed trip, should be good news for Israel.