Why US Sees Israeli-Palestinian Conflict As A Security Threat -- Christian Science Monitor
A growing roster of US officials is arguing that a failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict fuels Islamic extremism, thus creating a security threat for the US.
As the United States and Israel navigate one of their most serious contretemps in years, a growing roster of American officials is making the argument that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict poses a national-security threat to the US.
Prominent figures – ranging from Gen. David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, to presidential adviser David Axelrod – have recently espoused the theory that a failure to resolve the decades-old crisis fuels Islamic extremism and Iranian designs in the region. Moreover, the thinking goes, the US appears weak and open to disregard when an ally such as Israel openly challenges American diplomatic efforts. America has been widely viewed in the region as the sole power able to force the two sides in the conflict to take actions toward peace.
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My Comment: If there is one thing that I have learned from the Israeli - Palestinian conflict ... it is not the establishment of settlements, the building of a wall, or the slow pace of "peace negotiations" that grates on the minds of Islamic radicals .... what galvanizes them more than anything else is the existence of a place like Tel Aviv. Everyday that this city (a symbol of a modern Israel) exists .... helps to galvanize and fuel that sentiment of Islamic extremism.
Unfortunately .... the US administration has a different point of view and a different policy .... a policy that will probably only add more fuel to this conflict and a growing sense (for both Israelis and Palestinians) of being alienated from everyone else.