United States - Israeli Strains

The thorny issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip continue to stir strong feelings within Israel and between the American and Israeli governments.

For the past two years Prime Minister Shamir vigorously pursued a policy of developing further settlements in the "occupied territories"; about 20,000 new homes were provided in the West bank alone, at a cost of some 1.75 billion dollars.

From the Israeli viewpoint this unrelenting drive for expanded housing capacity was essential to provide accommodation for the great influx of Jewish immigrants from the old Soviet Union. From the United States' viewpoint the settlements were a threat to the Middle East peace initiative because of Arab resentment against the settlements. America has therefore tried to dissuade Israel from continuing its policy, but without success.

The immense strain on Israel's economy through the cost of housing and other provision for the immigrants has made heavy borrowing inevitable. Israel has therefore asked the United States to provide loan guarantees for ten billion dollars; with United States backing more favourable loan terms are assured. But the Bush Administration proposed to make the loan guarantees conditional on Israel's agreement that no further settlements would be located in the West Bank or Gaza areas. This was obviously designed to impress Arab opinion favourably, and encourage Arab delegations to stay with the negotiations for Middle East peace.

Strong political pressure was brought to bear on President Bush in Washington, the "Jewish lobby" exerting its powerful influence; but the Administration stood firm. As a result relations between Washington and Jerusalem were said to be at an all time low. Indeed many commentators suggested that the special United States relationship with Israel, which had obtained since the founding of the Israel nation in 1948, might well be in jeopardy. Jewish political pressures in the United States had favourably influenced American policy towards Israel for over forty years. Could Israel any longer be sure of the virtually automatic help which the United States had so liberally given?

That question is deeply significant in today's rapidly changing world. The

collapse of the Soviet Union considerably reduced the threat to United States interests in the Middle East. Therefore America is less dependant on Israel as a key ally in that region. Moreover the Gulf War proved the possibility of bringing certain Arab nations into temporary coalition against an aggressor in the area. The United States is left with a wider range of policy options in the Middle East, and a sense of common interests with those Arab nations which supported the coalition. In these changed circumstances the vast scale of American aid to Israel over the past forty years may well come under review. This in turn could lead to Israel's greater isolation in the international scene.

Among Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank the Jewish settlement policy has proved highly provocative. There has been increasing use of firearms and explosives against Jewish targets - 447 such incidents during 1991. A sinister development has been the involvement of Arab residents in Israel itself, as distinct from Palestinian Arabs in the "occupied" areas. Violence of course breeds violence. Throughout the West Bank well armed Jewish settlers tend to become a law unto themselves, "stalking the countryside with guns, shooting up Arab homes and smashing cars".

Such Jewish reactions reflect the spirit described in Isaiah 28, when the Lord rebuked the scornful men who ruled Jerusalem at that time in a spirit of defiant self-sufficiency:

Ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come unto us therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a corner stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste (vv.15,16).

The Israel nation's continuing rejection of that precious foundation Stone whom God has made head of the corner must bring still further trial and struggle, whether in regard to immigrants, settlement, finance or international relations

"Until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the obedience of the peoples be" (Gen. 49:10).

unknown | Aug 1992
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