Monday, May 11, 2009
Good one from Dershowitz here in the New York Post: Don't Blame Israel. He concludes with the obvious: Nuclear blackmail is not the way to solve the "occupation" problem, whether directly, by Iran, or vicariously by the Obama administration. Since Israelis have gotten the message, whether by having to come back to Jenin after years of granted autonomy, or being on the receiving end of increased rocket attacks after leaving Gaza, that territorial compromise leads directly to increased violence. It's not about what the Israelis do, it's about the Arabs (and the Persians). Iran doesn't support Hamas and Hizballah because of the "occupation," there's an occupation because of the terror groups. Making it all about Israeli concessions simply encourages Arab irridentism and Iranian meddling. We all know they consider it a 60 year occupation. They say it clearly, and their allies in the west say it clearly as well. There's no sense compromising until that changes.
... Israel has the right, indeed the obligation, to take this threat seriously and to consider it as a first priority. It will be far easier for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians if it did not have to worry about the threat of a nuclear attack or a dirty bomb. It will also be easier for Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank if Iran were not arming and inciting Hamas, Hezbollah and other enemies of Israel to terrorize Israel with rockets and suicide bombers.
In this respect, Emanuel has it exactly backwards: if there is any linkage, it goes the other way - defanging Iran will promote the end of the occupation and the two-state solution. Threatening not to help Israel in relation to Iran unless it moves toward a two-state solution first is likely to backfire...
