Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Dershowitz: The conflict must end

http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/04/the-conflict-between-the-us-and-israel-must-end-now.php
The apparently escalating conflict between the US and Israel did not 
have to occur. It must be resolved now, before it does irreparable harm 
to prospects for peace.
The conflict was largely contrived by people with agendas. The initial 
impetus for the brouhaha was an ill-timed announcement that permits had 
been issued for building 1,600 additional residences in a part of 
Jerusalem that had been captured by Israel in the 1967 war. The 
Netanyahu government had been praised by President Obama for agreeing to 
a freeze on building permits on the West Bank, despite the fact that the 
freeze did not extend to any part of Jerusalem. Thus the announcement of 
new building permits did not violate any agreement by Israel. 
Nonetheless, the timing of the announcement embarrassed Vice President 
Joe Biden who was in Israel at the time. The timing was neither an 
accident nor was it purposely done by Prime Minister Netanyahu to 
embarrass Biden. Many believe that the announcement was purposely timed 
by opponents of the peace process in order to embarrass Netanyahu. 
Whatever the motivation, the announcement deserved a rebuke from Vice 
President Biden. It also warranted an apology and explanation from the 
Israeli government, which immediately came from Netanyahu. That should 
have ended the contretemps. But some in the Obama Administration 
apparently decided that they too had an agenda beyond responding to the 
ill-timed announcement, and they decided to take advantage of Israel’s 
gaff. They began to pile on and on and on. Instead of it being a one day 
story, the controversy continues to escalate and harden positions on all 
sides to this day and perhaps beyond. The real victim is the peace 
process and the winners are those--like Iran, Hamas and extremist 
Israelis--who oppose the two-state solution.
The building permits themselves were for residences not in East 
Jerusalem, but rather in North Jerusalem, and not in an Arab section, 
but rather in an entirely Jewish neighborhood. This neighborhood, Ramat 
Shlomo, is part of the area that everybody acknowledges should and will 
remain part of Israel even if an agreement for a two state solution and 
the division of Jerusalem is eventually reached. In that respect, it is 
much like the ancient Jewish quarter of Jerusalem, which was illegally 
captured from the Jewish residents by the Jordanian army in the 1948 
war. The Jordanians then desecrated Jewish holy places during its 
illegal occupation, and the Israelis legally recaptured it during the 
defensive war of 1967. No one in their right mind believes that Israel 
has any obligation to give up the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem, including 
the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish site in the world, despite the fact 
that it was recaptured during the 1967 war.
Because the Palestinians understand and acknowledge that these entirely 
Jewish areas of Jerusalem will remain part of the Jewish state even 
after an agreement, the ill-timed announcement of building permits 
during the Biden visit generated a relatively mild and routine 
complaint, rather than a bellicose response, from the Palestinian 
Authority leadership. The bellicose response came from the American 
leadership, which refused to let the issue go. Once this piling on 
occurred, the Palestinian leadership had no choice but to join the 
chorus of condemnation, lest they be perceived as being less Palestinian 
than the Obama Administration.
Now positions have hardened on both sides, due largely to the public and 
persistent nature of the American condemnation. This rebuke culminated 
in the very public dissing of Prime Minister Netanyahu by President 
Obama during their recent White House meeting. Obama treated Netanyahu 
far worse than he treated Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is corrupt 
to the core and who had invited Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to 
deliver an anti-American tirade inside Afghanistan’s presidential 
palace. According to a high ranking Afghan source, Karzai “invited 
Ahmadinejad to spite the Americans.” Nonetheless, President Obama flew 
to Afghanistan and had a very public dinner with Karzai, according him 
the red carpet treatment, thus granting him legitimacy following his 
fraudulent re-election.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, on the other hand, has been treated with 
disrespect in what many Israelis see as an effort to delegitimize him in 
the eyes of Israeli voters who know how important the US-Israeli 
relationship is in the Jewish state.
The shabby treatment accorded Israel’s duly elected leader has also 
stimulated an ugly campaign by some of Israel’s enemies to delegitimize 
the US-Israeli strategic relationship, and indeed the Jewish nation 
itself, in the eyes of American voters. The newest, and most dangerous, 
argument being offered by those who seek to damage the US-Israel 
alliance is that Israeli actions, such as issuing building permits in 
Jerusalem, endanger the lives of American troops fighting in Iraq and 
Afghanistan.
This phony argument--originally attributed to Vice President Biden and 
General David Petraeus but categorically denied by both of them--has now 
taken on a life of its own in the media. A CNN headline on the Rick 
Sanchez Show blared “Israel a danger to US Troops.” Other headlines 
conveyed a similar message: “US Tells Israel: ‘You’re undermining 
America, endangering troops.’” Variations on this dangerous and false 
argument have been picked up by commentators such as Joe Klein in Time 
Magazine, Roger Cohen in The New York Times, DeWayne Wickham in USA 
Today and not surprisingly, Patrick Buchanan and Professors Stephen Walt 
and John Mearsheimer.
It is a dangerous and false argument. It is dangerous because its goal 
is to reduce support for Israel among mainstream Americans who 
understandably worry about our troops fighting abroad. This is ironic 
since the major pillar of Israel’s policy with regard to US troops is 
that Israel never wants to endanger our troops. That’s why it has never 
asked US soldiers to fight for Israel, as other allies have asked our 
soldiers to fight for them. By seeking to scapegoat Israel for the death 
of American troops at the hands of Islamic terrorists, this argument 
blames those who love America for deaths caused by those who hate America.
Most of all, it is an entirely false argument. There is absolutely no 
correlation between Israeli actions and the safety of American troops--none.
No one has ever shown any relationship between what Israel does and the 
rate of American casualties, because there is no such relationship--none
Consider two significant time periods. The first is the end of 2000 and 
the beginning of 2001, when Israel offered the Palestinians virtually 
everything they could have wanted: a state on 100% of the Gaza and 97% 
of the West Bank, a capital in a divided Jerusalem and a $35 billion 
reparation package for refugees. Virtually the entire Arab world urged 
Arafat to accept this generous offer, but he declined it. During the 
very months that Israel was doing everything possible to promote peace 
with the Palestinians, Al Queda was planning its devastating attack on 
the World Trade Center. No correlation between Israeli actions and 
American casualties.
Then consider the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 when Israel was 
engaged in Operation Cast Lead, which caused significant Palestinian 
casualties. During that difficult period, there was no increase in 
American casualties. Again, no correlation.
Those offering up this phony empirical argument have an obligation to 
present evidence in support of this fallacious correlation, or else to 
stop making this bigoted argument.
The reason there is no correlation is because extremist Muslims who kill 
American troops are not outraged at what Israel does, but rather at what 
Israel is--a secular Jewish, democratic state. As long as Israel exists, 
there will be Islamic extremists who regard that fact as a provocation. 
The same is true of the United States: as long we continue to exist as a 
secular democracy with equal rights for women, Christians and Jews, the 
Osama Bin Laden’s of the world will seek our destruction. Certainly as 
long as American troops remain in any part of the Arab world--whether it 
be Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Afghanistan--Muslim fanatics will try 
to kill our soldiers. Blame for the murder of American troops should be 
placed on those who kill them, rather than on those who stand for the 
same values of democracy and equality as America does.
In considering the relationship between the United states and Israel, 
several points must be kept in mind. First and foremost, the US and 
Israel are on the same side in the continuing struggle against Islamic 
extremists who endanger the lives of American troops and American 
civilians. Second, Israel is one of America’s most important strategic 
allies, providing us with essential intelligence, research and 
developments and other important assets. Third, there is nothing that 
Israel or the United States can do that will turn these extremist 
enemies into friends. It is what we are, rather than what we do, that 
enrages those who wish to turn the entire world into an Islamic 
caliphate and subject us all to Islamic Sharia law. Fourth, any 
weakening of the alliance between the United States and Israel will make 
it far less likely that Israelis--who get to vote on these matters--will 
take significant risks for peace. Fifth, the Obama Administration’s 
public attacks on Israel will harden Palestinian demand and make it less 
likely that they will accept a compromise peace. Sixth, if Israel’s 
enemies were to lay down their arms and stop terrorist and rocket 
attacks against Israel, there would be peace. Seventh, if Israel were to 
lay down its arms, there would be genocide. And eighth, when the 
Palestinian leadership and population want their own state more than 
they want there not to be a Jewish state, there will be a two-state 
solution.
It is in the best interest of the United States, of the peace process 
and of Israel for disagreements between allies to be resolved quietly 
and constructively, so that progress can be made toward achieving a 
two-state solution that assures Israel’s security and Palestinian statehood.

 to prospects for peace.
ma non c'era nessun conflitto, a sentire certi pirla.