Bush Mideast Doctrine Seen As 'Disaster' For Israel
Emerging critique from pro-Israel analysts hits administration for helping Islamists to power via elections.
Larry Cohler-Esses - Editor At Large
The Jewish Week
Israel?s security interests have suffered under Bush administration?s broader Middle East policies, critics say.
President Bush, in the view of many Jews, is the most pro-Israel president ever, and the reasons why are not hard to grasp.
Bush is, after all, the president who allowed Israel free rein to imprison and isolate the late Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, and to pursue terrorists throughout the West Bank with few restraints. Breaking with some 40 years of American diplomacy, he lent U.S. support for Israel to retain major West Bank settlements in a final agreement with the Palestinians. He protected Israel from international pressures on innumerable occasions. And he led the fight to isolate the Hamas government elected by the Palestinians earlier this year.
Most recently, of course, Bush also backed Israel in its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon despite a rising chorus of international protest over the resulting widespread destruction. He even rushed Israel precision guided missiles for the conflict upon request.
Despite all this, there is a sharp, newly emerging critique of Bush in some pro-Israel quarters.
The critics ? none of whom fault Bush?s intentions ? deplore the Bush administration?s broader Middle East policies as a catastrophe for Israel?s security interests in the region. In particular, Bush?s drive to ?democratize? the Middle East, from Iraq to Palestine and Egypt to Lebanon, say these critics, has empowered Iran and Sunni Islamists as never before, leaving Israel gravely endangered on multiple fronts from foes opposed not to its policies but to its existence.
?Bush?s democratic reform program for the Middle East has been a disaster for Israel and for moderate forces in the region,? declared ex-Mossad analyst Yossi Alpher, one of the boldest of these critics.
Alpher, who also headed the Jaffe Center of Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, cited the Bush administration?s insistence on parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority last January, and the inclusion of Hamas in those elections despite Israel?s pleas ? and despite Hamas? refusal to disarm its militia. Bush also strongly backed the Lebanon elections of spring 2005 that brought the radical Shiite group Hezbollah into government for the first time despite its refusal to disarm as well, Alpher noted.
As a result, he said, ?We?ve ended up with militant Islamists on two fronts.?
(There's more -- format errors in the original.)
Larry Cohler-Esses - Editor At Large
The Jewish Week
Israel?s security interests have suffered under Bush administration?s broader Middle East policies, critics say.
President Bush, in the view of many Jews, is the most pro-Israel president ever, and the reasons why are not hard to grasp.
Bush is, after all, the president who allowed Israel free rein to imprison and isolate the late Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, and to pursue terrorists throughout the West Bank with few restraints. Breaking with some 40 years of American diplomacy, he lent U.S. support for Israel to retain major West Bank settlements in a final agreement with the Palestinians. He protected Israel from international pressures on innumerable occasions. And he led the fight to isolate the Hamas government elected by the Palestinians earlier this year.
Most recently, of course, Bush also backed Israel in its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon despite a rising chorus of international protest over the resulting widespread destruction. He even rushed Israel precision guided missiles for the conflict upon request.
Despite all this, there is a sharp, newly emerging critique of Bush in some pro-Israel quarters.
The critics ? none of whom fault Bush?s intentions ? deplore the Bush administration?s broader Middle East policies as a catastrophe for Israel?s security interests in the region. In particular, Bush?s drive to ?democratize? the Middle East, from Iraq to Palestine and Egypt to Lebanon, say these critics, has empowered Iran and Sunni Islamists as never before, leaving Israel gravely endangered on multiple fronts from foes opposed not to its policies but to its existence.
?Bush?s democratic reform program for the Middle East has been a disaster for Israel and for moderate forces in the region,? declared ex-Mossad analyst Yossi Alpher, one of the boldest of these critics.
Alpher, who also headed the Jaffe Center of Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, cited the Bush administration?s insistence on parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority last January, and the inclusion of Hamas in those elections despite Israel?s pleas ? and despite Hamas? refusal to disarm its militia. Bush also strongly backed the Lebanon elections of spring 2005 that brought the radical Shiite group Hezbollah into government for the first time despite its refusal to disarm as well, Alpher noted.
As a result, he said, ?We?ve ended up with militant Islamists on two fronts.?
(There's more -- format errors in the original.)
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