Mathew Tuchow: Support for Israel is Proper and Well Deserved
The United States' support for Israel is proper and well deserved. Last month a column in the Richmond ReView suggested that support for Israel might not be in our best interest. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are all deeply troubled by the violence and the bloodshed in the Middle East. But, Israel wants peace. It realizes that the only way to assure its survival is to live in peace with its Arab neighbors.
To this end, a little more than one year ago, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak took courageous steps, ultimately sacrificing his political career to try to reach a lasting peace with the Palestinians.
Despite vociferous internal opposition within Israel, he offered the Palestinians their own homeland consisting of the entire Gaza strip and approximately 95 percent of the West Bank (agreeing to forcibly evacuate Jewish settlements if required), unlimited right of return for all Palestinians to this homeland, monetary compensation and land from Israel proper for the small percent of the West Bank not returned, and a division of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinian state.
President Clinton spent his last days in office working round the clock to help promote such a fair peace treaty at that historic juncture. But tragically, despite all the hope and optimism on both sides, Palestinian leader Arafat rejected outright this far-reaching offer.
The Palestinian people, 98 percent of whom are under the Palestinian Authority's direct control, were betrayed by Arafat. A peace on those terms would have been a true victory for his people. Lives could have been saved and a substantial increase in the standard of living for his people would likely have resulted from such a peace.
On the Israeli side, Arafat's rejection of such a generous offer seemed proof to many that Palestinians, or at least Arafat, did not really want peace. They feared the Palestinians wanted to use such a peace treaty to wipe Israel into the sea, long the ambition of the Palestinian movement.
This mistrust is rational given that Israel is a tiny nation, at one point only nine miles wide with hostile Arab neighbors all around it. It is also rational given that twice before, its Arab neighbors attacked it with the desire to do just that: in 1967 and in 1973. Then again, during the Gulf War, the Iraqis fired SCUD missiles at Israel. When a postage-stamp-sized country like Israel offers land for peace, such a gesture is significant.
One year ago when public sentiment had turned decisively against the Palestinians, Arafat, an expert at public relations, used the occasion of a visit by Israeli leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount as a pretext for beginning the violence that has continued unabated to this day. Evidence has now come out in the Arab press from Arafat's closest advisors that the violence was premeditated, not spontaneous.
Tragically, Arafat used Palestinian childrens' and teenagers' lives in his bloody public relations games. As innocent children were encouraged to become martyrs and to attack the "infidel Israelis" with flaming bottles and stones, others with guns often began shooting at Israeli troops protecting the borders of Israeli residential neighborhoods. As children were killed in the cross-fire, Arafat began winning the international public relations game - but, at what expense? Arafat has now radicalized a whole generation of Palestinian teenagers who could have lived and thrived in the prosperity of peace which he failed to deliver.
Given this recent historical background, it is most appropriate for the U.S. to support Israel. But it is also important to support Israel because it represents the only true democracy in the region - the only country that permits freedom of press, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. As much as some would criticize Israel, it is a testament to Israeli democracy that they can do so openly in Israel. The Israeli press represents a lively range of opinions, including those of vociferous critics. Such critics are free to speak and publish their opinions without fear of death or punishment.
All religions are free to worship publicly in Israel, including Jews, Moslems and Christians - and they do. All Israelis can vote, including Israeli Arabs - and they do. Israeli Arabs can serve in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset - and they do. Israeli women have equal rights guaranteed by law.
All of these freedoms and civil liberties are in stark contrast to Israel's neighboring Arab states, where such rights are prohibited or restricted. Because Israel upholds the Democratic values we cherish, and none of its neighbors do, Israel deserves to remain America's strongest ally in the region.
Some incorrectly argue that if the U.S. stops supporting Israel, Bin Laden would stop targeting the U.S. for terrorism. Nothing could be further from the truth.
First, Bin Laden did not give a penny of his immense fortune to the Palestinians. He obviously did not put "his money where his mouth is." Second, Bin Laden and other terrorists dislike the U.S. and Israel because they are both democracies that allow women equal rights, protect the rights of non-Moslems to worship and believe in freedom of speech. Abandoning Israel will make the U.S. less secure, not more.
Israel wants peace. It wants the violence to end. There will only be peace when both Palestinians and Israelis recognize the right of each other to live in peace without violence. I, as most Americans, wholeheartedly support Israel's right to exist and therefore to respond to terrorism. I pray that we will live to see a time when the violence ends and peace prevails in that tiny, holy piece of land in the Middle East that both the Israelis and Palestinians call home.
Matt Tuchow is an attorney and member of the American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC).