President Bush stated in his news conference on thursday that Israel has
no
better friend than the United States and he favors a Palestinian State
as
long as the Palestinians show respect for Israel. What he failed to
mention
is his speech was his definition of respect.
Does he mean for the Palestinians to welcome with open arms the Israeli
bulldoziers that come to demolish Palestinian homes? Amnesty
International's
latest annual report on Israel and the Occupied Territories states that
"Since 1987 the Israeli authorities have demolished at least 2,650
Palestinian homes in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. As a
result
16,700 Palestinians (including 7,300 children ) have lost their homes."
Does President Bush's definition of respect mean that Palestinians
should
cheerfully hand over their property deeds to the Israelis when their
land is
illegally confiscated in order to build more Jewish settlements?
Does President Bush's definition of respect mean that Palestinians
should
watch in glee the onslaught of innocent Palestinian men, women, and
children
by Israeli troops using F-16 and Apache helicopters and other
American-made
weapons? During the past year the Israelis have killed over 700
Palestinians, most of them under the age of 18.
Does President's Bush's definition of respect mean that Palestinians
should
commend and applaud the Israeli assassins who have killed over 60
Palestinian
officials within the past year? Is this what President Bush describes
as
respect?
When Palestinians, trying to defend their lives and property, retaliate
against Israeli aggression, terrorism, and human rights violations, they
are
labeled murderers and accused of being lawless terrorists. If defending
yourself against brutal Israeli aggression is considered by President
Bush as
showing no respect, then there will never be a lasting peace, let alone
a
Palestinian state. President Bush must break the 50-year storm of
paranoia
swirling about Israel that has locked American policy makers into
granting
Israel the right to be an exception to almost every rule.
Israel is one of the wealthiest nations in the world yet receives close
to
one-fourth of all U.S. foreign aid, totaling about $5 billion a year.
We
let Israel get away with everything from murder and torture to violating
international laws to betraying our national security by selling U.S.
military secrets to third world nations. In short, we let Israel act as
the
spoiled child of the Middle East whose behavior only gets worse because
we
are too afraid to punish her. We are the only nation in the world that
gives
Israel everything it demands unconditionally while at the same time
ignoring
how Israel uses U.S. tax money to support oppression and to break
international law.
If it's respect for Israel that President Bush demands from the
Palestinians
then there may never be a Palestinian State. Respect is something
earned,
not something
demanded. As long as Israel continues to violate human rights and
international law while the U.S. continues its blind-eye, green-light
policy,
then there will never be respect, let alone peace in the Middle East.
James J. David is a retired Brigadier General, and a graduate of the
U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College, and the National Security
Course, National Defense University, Washington DC. He served nearly 3 years of Army active duty in and around the
Middle East from 1967-1969.
