By FREDERIC S. MABBATT
The often-heated exchange of conflicting views heard recently in our valley over the Israeli-Palestinian issue misses the point, in my view.
As Americans, our concern should be focused on our own foreign policy objectives and national security interests in the Middle East, and not exclusively on those of either the Palestinians or the Israelis. The arguments and accusations being thrown back and forth are the same tired diatribes we have been hearing for decades, even back during my tour as a Foreign Service officer in Jordan from 1965 to 1968. Both sides have plenty of grievances to throw at the other, and doing so only contributes to the anger and mistrust that poison the chances for a peaceful settlement, a settlement that is considered vital to our own national security.
Gen. David Petraeus highlighted our vital interest in the region in his testimony before Congress last March when he argued that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is harming America's national security:
"The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR [Central Command's "area of responsibility"]. ... The conflict foments anti-American sentiment due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnership with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world."
Because the U.S. position in the Middle East and indeed throughout the Arab and Muslim world is undermined by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. administrations for years have devoted considerable effort to brokering a peaceful settlement based on the formula that all sides and parties to these efforts recognize as the only viable solution, i.e. the two-state solution. As our Special Envoy George Mitchell said last Aug. 10: "It's the establishment of a Palestinian state, as part of the two-state solution, which we believe is the only realistic alternative. We hope very much that goal, which we believe to be in the interests of the Palestinian people, the people of Israel and all of the people of the region, as well as in the national interest of the United States, we hope that goal will be within reach, and we are continuing our efforts despite the difficulties and the obstacles that we have faced in the past and which we know we will face in the future."
While moderates on both sides of the conflict desire peace and recognize the necessity of the two-state solution to that end, extremists on both sides have managed to sabotage every attempt at a peaceful settlement. 0n the Israeli side, it is the proliferation of settlements on the West Bank that has sabotaged prospects for peace by making a Swiss cheese out of the land that would become Palestine. It is estimated that nearly 10 percent of Israel's Jewish popu1ation lives in the West Bank and Jerusalem, in lands constituting 42 percent of the occupied territories.
The obstacles to peace thrown up by the Palestinian side are equally obvious—terrorist tactics that have killed and threatened Israeli citizens, the refusal of Hamas (the governing party in Gaza) to even recognize Israel's right to exist, and the weak and fractured Palestinian governing authorities, which make for a questionable negotiating partner.
As long as both sides allow the extremists to sabotage peace, our own national security will be jeopardized as the jihadists are given a fruitful recruiting story to tell throughout the Muslim world. In concert with our partners, in the "quartet" (the U.N., the European Union and Russia) to promote a Middle East peace treaty, we must put both sides on notice that their extremist elements are creating a situation that plays into the hands of Muslim extremists, are detrimental to the security and prosperity of both sides in the conflict and are jeopardizing the security of the United States and our allies.
What goes on between the Palestinians and Israelis is no longer just their affair, for our own national security is at stake as well. It's time to sit both sides down, bang heads together and use whatever pressure is necessary to bring about the agreement that everyone knows is in their own best interest.
Sun Valley resident Frederic Mabbatt is a retired senior Foreign Service officer.
