Monday, March 22, 2010

Isreal announces controversial construction plan

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/22/us.israel/index.html

Isreali Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced a plan to build housing units on land still claimed by both Isreal and the Palestinians. This announcement, which happened to occur during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Isreal, upset the US government, for it jeopardized Isreali and Palestinian negotiations.
While the US has held an interest in supporting Isreal through the negotiations with Palestinians, this article does point out that a major motive for supporting Isreal lies in their partnership in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. I wonder whether these interests will outweigh those regarding negotiations. The question is then raised, is US involvement with Isreal based on humanitarian and social reasons, or purely for the purpose of self-interest?
I believe that the US stance behind Isreal is for personal reasons rather than for the benefit of either Isreal of Palestine. The nuclear weapon situation in Iran is merely an example of the US's foreign involvement to preserve power at home.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that our policy towards Israel are mostly based on personal reasons. We view Israel as our main allies in the middle-eastern region, and important in efforts to monitor Iran. If we were more concerned with humanitarian and social reasons we would put more pressure on Israel to create a lasting peace with Palestinians. By supporting only one side of this conflict we make peace harder to obtain. Also, violence used by Israelis against Palestinians is more likely to be overlooked than violence by Hamas, when Israeli war crimes are as equally bad or worse.

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