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Where First Strikes Are Far From the Last Resort

(Washington Post) Aluf Benn - The Bush administration has embraced Israel's broader strategic approach of preemption. The administration has shown a willingness to hunt down terrorists, attack nascent programs to develop weapons of mass destruction in other countries, and even invade nations to change their governments and deny safe havens to terrorists and other enemies, much as Israel has done for over 50 years. Foreign Minister (and former prime minister) Binyamin Netanyahu and cabinet member Natan Sharansky have argued for years that Arab democracy is the best guarantor of peace. Turning Iraq into a model Arab state, run by a pro-Western regime, would create a positive domino effect, as autocratic regimes throughout the Middle East would have to fight for their survival, and thus have less energy to confront Israel. Many Israeli officials believe that after taking Baghdad, the United States would try harder to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and even revive the Syrian track. The compensation that Washington's Saudi and Egyptian allies will demand will be pushing Israel out of the territories according to the "road map" that Bush has already laid out for Palestinian statehood and a final-status agreement by 2005. Most analysts in Israel recall how the elder Bush forced Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's government into the peace process following the Gulf War. A minority opinion, held by foreign ministry officials, holds that after Iraq, the younger Bush will turn to his reelection in 2004. To avoid alienating American Jews and their Christian right allies, the president will refrain from pressuring Israel to compromise.
2002-11-14 00:00:00
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