The Linkers and the Thinkers": Is Americas Support For Israel Hurting America (1)

Israel's decision to continue building homes for Jews in East Jerusalem has raised the ire of the Obama administration. Some have argued that the anger was fostered by the timing of the Israeli foreign ministries announcement to build 1,600 homes -Vice President Biden was in Israel pushing to renew the peace initiative. However it is likely that the Obama administration is following through on its promise to place the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on top of its agenda.

There are a number of interesting developments that affirm this latter perspective.

CENTCOM Chief David Petraeus testified in front of a Senate Armed Service Committee that Israels decision to build in West-Jerusalem is weakening Americas military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hillary Clinton continued this trend of thought when she addressed AIPAC and warned Israel against building, what this administration has termed, settlements. While debka.com reports that America has gone so far as to threaten to place American military installations in the West bank, which is tantamount to America giving the Palestinians an American security shield. This shield would effectively undermine Israeli deterrence in a future conflict with West-bank terrorism . Indeed these policies seem to be driven by more then mere timing issues. It is more likely that they reflect an underlying ideology translated into a Middle-East policy.

This ideology is known as "linkage". Linkage is not a new concept, on the contrary it is a reoccurring philosophy that was most prevalent amongst American policy makers in the Carter administration. Linkage proposes:
1.that the stability of the entire Middle-East is subject to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
2. if America supports Israel that is not at peace with its Arab neighbors then America suffers politically and strategically.
3. most if not all of the conflicts in the so called larger middle-east (Pakistan, Afghanistan etc.) are spurred on and exasperated by the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Opponents of the Linkage argument, most notably Dennis Ross, argue that the conflict between al-Qaida and America, Yemen's war with its Houthi rebels, or Iran's drive for Nuclear weapons would occur regardless of Israels existence or its conflict with some of its neighbors.

The implications of linkage are clear. America will suffer strategically as long as Israel has not made peace with its Arab neighbors. Israels Arab neighbors will not make peace with Israel as long as the Palestinians are unhappy. Thus it is in Americas SUPREME interest to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

To be clear ALL agree that it is in Americas interest, as well the Israelis for that matter, to resolve the conflict. However the "Linkers" see it as the most pressing issue in the Middle-East that must be resolved at all costs -even forcing Israel into submitting to International dictates of where Israelis can live in Israel.

To many in America and Israel, that I term the "Thinkers" (because their arguments are very theoretical), the Linkers argument is the result of the realization that on the moral battle-ground it is nearly impossible to defeat supporters of Israel. So they created a strategic reason to pressure Israel. Moreover the linkers are undermined by the fact that they would never, (and have never argued) that American ties with China are a moral or strategic liability. I.e. that by supporting China America loses strategic sway on the weaker nations around china (including Japan, India, and Taiwan).

The Linkers respond that the bottom line is that Al-Qaida, Palestinian, and a plethora of other terrorist groups have pointed to Americas support for Israel as the reason for their attacks. The only reason America supports Israel is because of the nefarious Israeli lobby which stifles criticisms of Israel.

Whatever your opinion on this issue it is important to familiar with the perspectives that surround it, if only to be able to refute misinformation.

Part two of this discussion will analyze the "Linkers" arguments.
Part three will look at the "Thinkers" arguments.