Role of US in the Arab-Israel Conflict - Essay Example

Role of US in the Arab-Israel conflict Introduction Having an independent like all other countries is a dream for the Palestinians for a long period. They strongly believe that they have every right to have a free state, but Israel on the other hand thinks that a free Palestine state may be harmful to their political interests. Jerusalem is a sacred place for the Jews, Muslims and the Christians. In fact there may not be any other place in the world which is equally important for all these three religions and beliefs. Arab – Israel conflict is one of the main threats for the world peace because of the multi dimensional aspects it covers. Lot of people around the world believed that the current trends of terrorism have its roots in the Arab – Israel conflict. The US foreign policy towards this issue is questions by many because of the soft corner it keeps towards Israel. Though US tried immensely to convince the world that it has taken a neutral policy on this issue, nobody takes this claim seriously. US foreign policy towards Arab – Israel conflict “There are several lenses through which one can interpret US policies aimed at the Arab-Israeli conflict like, contrasting national interests, special relationship politics with Israel, bureaucratic politics and individual beliefs.” (Shannon, p. 3) Because of these multi dimensional aspects of the conflict the reaching of a compromise is extremely difficult. The conflict is filled with regional, religious, political, cultural and communal aspects. It is not easy to address each problem separately. Avineri Shlomo, in his article, A Realistic U.S. Role in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, wrote that in the post-September 11 context, Israelis hope that the United States-now a victim of massive domestic terrorism-will have more sympathy for them while Palestinians hope that the United States will revive peace talks, and thus solidify Arab support for the war on terrorism. (Avineri) The September 11 attack on the trade centre has in fact turned out to be a blessing for Israel. It is only after this attack the communal dimensions of terrorism has come to exist. The Israelis succeeded in convincing US that the seeds of terrorism are planted in the Arab world and hence they should be treated differently. US have started its war on terror only after the September 11 attack. Till that incident though US has been accused of political bias towards Israel, they never came out publicly against the Arabs as seen currently in Iraq and Afghan border. Arab people believed that the September 11 attack may force US to revive the peace talks about the Arab – Israel conflict to gather the Arab’s support. They were proved to be wrong as we have seen the silent stand taken by the US, in the recent occupation and bloody activities done by Israel against the Hamas and the Palestinians. Avineri, in his article argued that to prepare both sides for negotiations, U.S. policy should shift from conflict resolution to conflict management and also the Palestinians should educate their people for peace, to ease current tensions.” (Avineri) The current US policy towards the Arab – Israel conflict is definitely biased towards the Israel. It is a curse since such a bias has divided the world communally. The Arab Muslims strongly believe that the US has no respect towards them and it is only because of the communal similarities the US is more aligned towards the Israelis rather than anything else. Such a belief will be extremely dangerous for the peace efforts exercised by some neutral agencies like the United Nations. The US attitude towards this issue must be focused on solving the issue rather than utilizing it for own advantages. On the other hand the Palestinians must realize that violence is not the best way to achieve freedom. They must take lessons from the great Indian freedom fight in which the father of Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi has led the non violent agitations against the British. Violence will deepen the conflict and if gone out of control it can attain fearful propositions. United States Institute of Peace has suggested a foreign policy for US towards the conflict, consisting of five major points; Educating the policy community, Assessing the dynamics of the conflict, Promoting understanding of "the other", Cultivating relationships and Understanding the religious dimensions of the conflict. (United States Institute of Peace) Both the Arab and the Jews community must be educated well about the consequences of the problem and they should be made aware that how dangerous the current conflict for the peace and growth of the world. The current globalization policies have opened the doors widely open for even the economically poorer countries to grow. The essential thing required for such a collective growth through globalization is peace. The arguments and claims of all the groups involved in the crisis must be evaluated dynamically and an amicable solution must be reached between the two parties and the US must take the initiative for bringing both the parties around a table. Another important thing which must be addressed is promoting mutual confidence. Both the parties must feel that the US stands are neutral in this issue and one party should never exploit the other party on the basis of negotiation processes. US must take steps to improve the relationships between Israel and the Arab world. The religious dimensions of the conflict must be addressed properly. Both the parties must feel that their beliefs were conserved and they lost nothing out of the negotiation processes. Both the parties must develop an attitude of respecting each other and should respect other’s religion and beliefs. If we analyze the approaches taken by various former presidents of America, we can see lot of differences in their approaches and perception of the issue. ‘Former US President Roosevelt refused to endorse Israel’s claims and he assured, Arabs that he would not take any action that would prove hostile to their interests. Another president, Harry S. Truman showed greater sympathy towards the demands for a Jewish state. Bill Clinton has messed up the conflicts and asked Yasser Arafat (Former Palestine leader) to accept the terms put forward by the Israelis. Though he had considered Palestinian demands for a sovereign state, his pronouncements lacked attention to the necessary details for establishing that state (i.e., boundaries and dimensions or powers of the state). George Bush on the other hand kept a silent mode initially towards the issue saying that the conflict must be settled mutually by the Israelis and the Palestinians and which encouraged Israel to exploit the situation more in their favor. Finally Bush has realized his mistake and started to focus on the issue more. Bush proved more aligned with Palestinian demands than Clinton by insisting upon an eighty-five percent return of occupied territories to the Palestinians’ (Fernandez) Conclusions Because of the multi facets of the conflict, the compromise for the Arab – Israel conflict seems to be a distant dream. Even the various administrations in US have different opinions about the conflict and we can safely say that US foreign policy has made a mess of the current crisis. Analyzing the different stands taken by different administrations in US, we can conclude that US do not have a fixed policy towards the Arab-Israel conflict. The interpretations of the conflict are different based on the individual differences and the political differences. One can hope that the slogan “Change” raised by the current President Obama may be helpful in solving the Israel-Arab conflict and thereby improve the world peace efforts. Works Cited 1. Avineri Shlomo, 2001, A Realistic U.S. Role in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Retrieved on March 29, 2009 from http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=866 2. United States Institute of Peace, Arab-Israeli Relations, Retrieved on March 29, 2009 from http://www.usip.org/arab_israeli/ 3. Fernandez Erwin S. The United States and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Forging Future Peace, Retrieved on March 29 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IMR/is_1- 2_80/ai_n15966206/pg_2?tag=content;col1 4. Shannon Vaughn P. Balancing Act: Us Foreign Policy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Us Foreign Policy and Conflict in the Islamic World) Ashgate Publishing (August 2003) http://www.amazon.com/Balancing-Act-Foreign-Arab-Israeli-Conflict/dp/0754635910/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238286507&sr=8-1 Read More