At the same time, critics on the opposite end of the political spectrum argue that while aid to Israel may be tied to the best of intentions, it does more harm than good to the Jewish State by propping up a big and inefficient government and making Israel dependent upon the U.
These second set of critics are correct in the long-run, but for the time being continued U. As the only democracy and ideological ally of the U. Moreover, Israel is a vital ally in the U. In Israel, the current war with the Palestinians ensures that any possible damage U. While self-reliance for the Jewish State is an important goal and should indeed be the long-term aim of policymakers in both Israel and the U. When American policymakers began seeing aid to Israel as a long-term investment that was part of U.
Cold War strategy, the amount of aid they provided skyrocketed. In numerical terms, the increase is staggering. As a result, U. Kissinger based his strategy on the assumption that in attacking Israel, Egypt and Syria were principally interested in regaining territory—the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights—lost in during the Six-Day War.
Arab leaders insisted as a precondition to peace that Israel withdraw from territory conquered in Israel, for whom this territory was a valuable buffer against its neighbors, was reluctant to return it without a security guarantee. Kissinger believed that American military aid could provide the assurance Israel wanted and thereby make the concessions needed for peace possible. Peace, in turn, would diminish Soviet influence over Arab states.
Each time Israel has considered making a territorial concession, it has looked to U. Now that the U. Yet the flow of American aid to Israel continue uninterrupted. Even without a Soviet presence, the Middle East remains important to the U.
Israel also remains a valuable part of American post-Cold War strategy. According to Marvin Feuer, the director of defense and strategic issues of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: The end of the Cold War meant the end of one set of strategic calculuses.
But it also allowed us to focus on areas like missile defense More generally, Israel has been a loyal ally to the U. Operating on the principle that Israel is here to stay and should stay, U. By creating a regional imbalance of power favoring Israel, aid has curbed Arab military aggression and prevented situations—namely full-blown war between Israel and its neighbors—in which the U. For these reasons, the military assistance Israel has received is most appropriately judged in light of U.
While Israel was a strategic asset to the U. September 11 drew the U. In addition, Israel has happily shared its intelligence on terrorists and their organizations with the U. In fact, according to Danielle Pletka, vice-president for foreign and defense studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based public policy research center, these particulars of U.
Development of U. Aid Policies to Israel The increasing levels of U. The increasingly favorable terms on which Israel receives American aid also reflects the development of this partnership. Seeking to avert an arms race that would involve the Soviet Union, the U. Kennedy lifted it with missile sales to Israel. Yet even with the embargo lifted, the U.
Where will they go now? But Palestinian advocacy groups say that they are witnessing a changing discourse around Israel-Palestine in the US, and that public opinion is shifting among Democratic Party voters — even if that shift has yet to reach the leaders of the party establishment.
Nevertheless, progressive Democratic Party members are increasingly outspoken in their criticism of the military aid. Send it to us instead. For Palestinian-American activists, such signs are an encouraging indication that their years of organising are starting to bear fruit. Blog Olive Oil of Hope.
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