Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., January 16, 2008 Shvat 9, 5768 | | Israel Time: 09:59 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Pressure from fantasy land By Moshe Arens Tags: Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu Once upon a time a president of the United States applied pressure on Israel - and brutal pressure at that. Dwight Eisenhower and his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, threatened to impose sanctions on Israel if David Ben-Gurion did not order the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw from all the territories it occupied in the 1956 Suez Campaign. Ben-Gurion was not very conversant with the American political scene and assumed that he had no choice but to obey President Eisenhower's command, and very unwillingly the IDF was withdrawn from the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip in 1957. Actually, it just might have been possible to marshal sufficient support for Israel in Congress to bring about a softening of Eisenhower's position, but it was never tried. After his retirement, Eisenhower admitted that his demand for Israel's withdrawal had been a mistake. That was the last time that Israel came under substantial pressure from the White House. The U.S.-Israel relationship has been improving steadily since the 1967 Six-Day War. There have been disagreements but no serious arm twisting. It looks like it is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. But that does not mean that managing that relationship does not constitute an important challenge for the Israeli leadership. Advertisement With Israeli prime ministers making frequent visits to the U.S., and having become welcome guests in the White House, they have also come to feel themselves to be experts on the U.S. political scene. And almost invariably, they conclude that nothing matters except the man who sits in the White House. Once they think they have established what they regard as a warm personal relationship with the president, they feel they have nothing more to learn about the U.S. Used to the Israeli political scene, where the Knesset is not much more than an ineffectual appendage to the government, they tend to disregard the U.S. Congress. Once enraptured by the man in the White House, they tend to forget that there are two political parties in the U.S., and that sooner or later another party's candidate will occupy the White House. They also tend to forget that unlike Israel, where politicians' careers seem to stretch to infinity, in the U.S. the president wields power for four, or at the most eight years, and then somebody else takes over. This focus on the president, to the exclusion of the other parts of the American political system, was a mistake committed by Yitzhak Rabin, repeated by Ehud Barak when he was prime minister, and Ehud Olmert is following in their footsteps. Nobody is going to teach Olmert anything about America. Olmert's repeated assertion that what needs to achieved in the peace process has to be achieved while George W. Bush is in the White House is not very intelligent. There is no point in antagonizing the person who will move into the White House a year from now. Nor for that matter should one antagonize the members of the Democratic Party, who now control Congress and might run the administration a year from now. The talk about the need to give in to American pressure comes straight out of fantasy land. There is no American pressure and there will be no American pressure for Israeli concessions. If unauthorized outposts in Judea and Samaria should be removed it is not because of a "commitment" Israel made to the U.S., but because these outposts are illegal under Israeli law. To paint Israel as a servile obedient servant of the U.S. who has to dance to the tune dictated in Washington is both wrong and damaging to Israel's long-term interests. Whatever "pressure" Olmert talks about is, in effect, pressure that he himself is inviting to be applied. The Annapolis conference would never have taken place had Olmert not made it clear that he was looking forward to such a conference, where he could publicly state his view that the State of Israel is finished if a Palestinian state does not come into being. The slogans "two states for two peoples" and "the occupation must end" were launched in Israel and not Washington. The tail is wagging the dog. Those Israelis eager to have Israel withdraw to the 1949 armistice lines don't mind this masquerade at all. If it helps to convince the Israeli public that Israel has no choice but to withdraw to this line, because that is what the U.S. requires of Israel, so much the better. The end justifies the means. But a government policy that is based on misconceptions and untruths is bound to founder sooner or later, even if Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu continues to provide the anchor that keeps it afloat for the time being. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Diskin's faulty math Haaretz finds the Shin Bet estimate of Palestinian civilian casualties is too low. Wooing minorities The color of Barack Obama's skin has returned as an issue to the campaign.   1.   Loan Guarantees were held up by US pres. and 14:02  |  Lemmings Hotline 15/01/08   2.   Riding the shoulders of a giant 14:34  |  Natallie Durson 15/01/08   3.   Legalise Outposts and oust Abu Olmert 14:38  |  Joseph E . 15/01/08   4.   #1`s misconceptions 14:42  |  Claire Magyar 15/01/08   5.   Arens artificially excludes the US Jewish orgs. 15:06  |  Rowan Berkeley 15/01/08   6.   TO Natallie Durson 16:20  |  Oleg 15/01/08   7.   Moshe Arens: Israelis have no one to blame for their stupidity 16:21  |  Boris 15/01/08   8.   Moshe Arens: Israelis have no one to blame for their stupidity 16:22  |  Boris 15/01/08   9.   To #3 wishful thinking 17:56  |  Arab 15/01/08   10.   Natallie #2 -- Thanks for the self-analysis and the laugh 18:09  |  bbl 15/01/08   11.   Natalie #2 20:15  |  Yitzchak 15/01/08   12.   Just Wait Until the Dems Get In - Especially Obama 20:20  |  Tod Zuckerman 15/01/08   13.   #9, thats only partially true 20:31  |  David 15/01/08   14.   #10 & #11 20:39  |  Alex 15/01/08   15.   # 9 Arab " Pals want to leave" , pals don`t want to stay 21:46  |  Joseph E . 15/01/08   16.   Brave little Israel 23:24  |  RedStarYeast 15/01/08   17.   #12 Tod Zuckerman 00:57  |  Grif 16/01/08

Today Online Gaza militants fire at least 25 Qassams at southern Israel Responses: 18 IDF troops kill Islamic Jihad's top West Bank commander Responses: 12 Rosner: PM tells U.S. Jews he wants to hear their voice on J'lem Responses: 4 Amira Hass: Israelis don't get the extent of their domination over the Palestinians Send response Alexander Yakobson: Horrors of Amona leaves gov't too scared to evacuate outposts Responses: 2 More Headlines 09:36 Gaza militants fire at least 25 Qassams at southern Israel 09:38 IDF soldiers kill Islamic Jihad's top commander in West Bank 08:13 Defense officials fear IDF raids in Gaza could threaten Shalit deal 09:58 Bush: Olmert's coalition strong, can withstand peace process 09:53 German archives' opening helps Israeli man track his father's death in Holocaust 09:44 Thai satellite company stops airing Hezbollah TV broadcasts 05:32 ANALYSIS / Despite raid, Hamas, Israel don't seek escalation 08:12 Yisrael Beitenu head Lieberman likely to leave coalition Wednesday 05:58 Haaretz's Gideon Levy wins prize for cultural dialogue 06:02 Jerusalem approves controversial Mughrabi bridge project Previous Editions Select Day 15 jan 14 jan 13 jan 11 jan 10 jan 09 jan 08 jan 07 jan 06 jan 04 jan 03 jan 02 jan

Special Offers Advertisement Dead Sea Salt Beauty and skin care from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 10% off! Teach & Study Program make a difference in Israel FAREWELL ISRAEL New Film The Coming War for Islamic Revival - View Movie Trailer Inbal Jerusalem Hotel Unbeatable rates at the Finest hotel in Jerusalem Long-term Israel programs MASA is your gateway. More programs. More grants. Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations AMERICANS CHOOSE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE U.S. citizen in Israel vote in Democrats-Abroad official global primary.

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved