SINCE Ariel Sharon marched upon the Temple Mount with an army of Israeli troops behind him 20 months ago, the Middle East has witnessed a humanitarian nightmare. Israel, in response to repeated suicide bombings against it, has responded with a full frontal assault on the Palestinian population. The reason why the people of the United States should care more about this siutation more than other humanitarian crises is that U.S. taxpayer money funds this war.
Gone are the days when an Arab-Israeli peace seemed just around the corner. Tit for tat violence has replaced negotiations. A lone suicide bomber detonates himself or herself in a crowded shopping mall or a Passover celebration. Israel responds with a massive attack upon Palestinian towns and refugee camps. The United States needs to seriously reconsider its financial aid to Israel.
Every year, the United States provides approximately $2 billion in military grants and $1 billion in economic grants to the state of Israel. This massive amount of aid has enabled Israel to build an enormous military proportional to other militaries in the area. While the United States occasionally advises Israel to back down, it does not do so particularly often or strongly. The United States has an obligation to ensure that its money is not going to fund a humanitarian catastrophe.
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There are several reasons why the United States should reconsider its funding to Israel. The actions of the Israeli Defense Force have gone far past self-defense. Palestinian militants reside in civilian areas and do not wear uniforms. This has given the IDF an excuse to target the civilian population. If it is expected that a suicide bomber has come from a specific refugee camp, Israeli tanks roll in and treat the entire population with contempt. The IDF continually ignores the Fourth Geneva Convention, which explicitly prohibits the indiscriminate use of force. Examples of violations can be found in a study by the Human Rights Watch on the Hebron District of the West Bank (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel/hebron-v2.pdf).
If the United States wants to appear as a human rights advocate across the globe, it must condemn all human rights violators. If the United States continues to funnel military aid to Israel, it cannot have any legitimacy in the eyes of countries such as China when it pushes for human rights reforms. The United States has supported regimes engaging in wholesale slaughter of its civilians in the past, such as El Salvador in the 1980s and pre-Ayatollah Iran. It is time for the United States to stand up against all violators of human rights.
Supporting Israel through military funding would endanger the success of America's war on Iraq. If the current crisis is still raging, and the United States appears complicit with Israel's war on Palestinians, it will be difficult to form a coalition involving Arab states. The United States will look like it is waging war against Arabs across the region. Support may actually throw traditional U.S. allies to the side of Iraq. Imagine if Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia coalesced into a pan-Arab coaltion with the purpose of defeating a perceived U.S. anti-Arab position. A third world war is not in the best interest of anyone.
Proponents of continued funding cite several reasons for their beliefs. The United States has had a long history of supporting Israel. The United States cannot vindicate a terrorist organization by pulling its aid from Israel. Terrorists don't simply want to push Israel out of the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. They want to drive Israel into the sea. Those who support funding insist the United States must defend its democratic ally whose only wish is to maintain its existence.
The United States shouldn't completely abandon Israel, or deny Israel's right to defend itself. It has a perfect right to do so. Israel should do its best to stop suicide bombers, but that should not include attacking a civilian population. The best self-defense for Israel would be to stop humiliating and oppressing an entire population. While there are extremist elements that want Israel destroyed, their popularity will increasingly diminish if Israeli troops begin respecting the Palestinian population.
The United States shouldn't permanently revoke aid to Israel, either. It has been a strong ally to the United States. A partial pullback of aid would simply send the message to Israel that it cannot continue its current tactics in the Occupied Territories.
Some might say that a change in funding will be unfair to Israel. The Palestinians are committing atrocities as well. The difference is that U.S. taxpayer money is not going to sponsor Palestinian suicide bombings. If it were, that money should be cut off as well.
The Arab-Israeli situation is getting worse by the hour. Unless something is done fast, it will turn into an all-out war. The United States can bring about de-escalation by reconsidering the billions of dollars of military aid to Israel. Our national security depends on it.
(Joe McMurray is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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