American Sponsored Israeli-Palestinian Peace
It has been recommended that America help broker a deal that would bring a lasting end to Israeli-Palestinian hostilities in the Middle East as a precursor to ending the Iraq war. The point was made by the Baker-Hamilton Committee that the beginning of a resolution to this decades old conflict was vital to overall peace in the region. Of course, this argument has been made before, in other times and in other contexts. Yet nothing has changed.
The reason, of course, is that the United States has no valid reason to want peace in the Mid-East. Current conditions keep oil prices high, which satisfies American business. When business is happy, politicians are happy; it means money for the campaign trail. It also keeps AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby happy, for unlike the average Israeli citizen, these activists are against peace. Instead, they are all about expansion, much like the Israeli leadership.
Last week’s AIPAC policy summit illustrates why America will never be the agent of peace in this unsettled dispute.
The conference was attended by nearly every US senator and almost half of the members of the House of Representatives, both Republican and Democrat. Current and would-be leaders were there, including Dick Cheney–who got a rousing ovation, Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and other presidential contenders.
Evangelical Christians also made an impressive showing at the mostly Jewish conference, with pastor John Hagee as their keynote speaker. He received a zealous welcome.
Announcing that, “the sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awoken!” and calling the United Nations a “political brothel,” Hagee went on to proclaim that “Israel must never give up land.” The crowd pounded on tables and shouted in support.
With the support of both political parties, virtually all presidential contenders, the current leadership, and the American people, not to mention the largest and most powerful political action committee in the country, Israel is guaranteed of going into any peace talks with the Palestinians holding the whip hand so long as the United States is behind the litigation.
Any attempt to help bring a lasting settlement to this conflict is doomed to failure because of the hypocrisy involved. Israel is America’s Mid-East proxy, and will therefore get every advantage. The Palestinians are a fringe group, Muslims to be hated and feared. Possibly a part of the “Axis of Evil.” They will get crapped on at every turn. That is the political reality. The reality of Palestinian suffering is unimportant, and will continue to be distorted by the lens of pro-Israeli American news organizations.
The whole insincere process is both hopeless and useless, and it sickens me that we continue to play along as though we gave a damn.
Christian Zionism?
