The United States recently found itself in a predicament that has become quite familiar over the past five years: violence in the Middle East, a United Nations Security Council working against the American agenda and an unpopular foreign policy adding record notches to its belt. Sounds a bit like the lead-up to the Iraq invasion of ’03, don’t you think? Truth is, I imagine you’ve already got a feeling of where I would be going with this — I am referring to the conflict between Israel and Hamas along and around the Gaza Strip, a conflict which hit its stride over our winter break, and one of such magnitude that policymakers around the world are required to make clear their stance on the larger Arab-Israeli conflict, one which can traced back to ancient times.
While many efforts have been made to end the conflict in recent years — an example being the one taken on Jan. 9, when the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza leading to a full Israeli withdrawal” — none have resulted in a sustainable peace. The Jan. 9 attempt was nothing more than a terrific publicity stunt for the members of the U.N. Council, although it failed to put a halt to the violence that continues to plague Gaza. Upon closer inspection, however, a simple solution can be found for this failure: the United Nations Security Council, in which 14 out of 15 members voted for a ceasefire, needs its one abstaining member, the United States, to vote for the halt as well. It is no secret that the United Nations often tends to work in ways beneficial to the United States. Whether administrators at the U.N. would like to admit it or not, a resolution passed by the Security Council has significantly less worth to it without American backing than it would have with it — especially when the resolution pertains to Israel.
Abstaining from important votes like that one only reinforces an image held by many U.S. policy observers around the world that the United States practices favoritism toward Israel. When such a belief is held, the blame for every Palestinian civilian killed by an Israeli bomb becomes not only the fault of Israel, but of the United States as well. With approximately 1,300 Palestinians dead contrasted with the 13 Israeli deaths, this “war” looks more like a slaughter. Amid such statistics it is not surprising that the world’s public opinion is shifting against Israel and the United States.
No one could have expected Hamas, or any group in Gaza, to be able to stand up against such a strong Israeli military. Air raids on the first day of Israeli bombing killed upwards of 225 Gaza residents and photographs out of the area hint at a bombing strategy akin to the “shock-and-awe” strategy employed by the United States in the early days of the Iraq War.
For Israel to carry out bombing campaigns in such a manner raises serious questions about the civility of their government. Although it is a well-known fact that Hamas, like a virus, hides itself among the innocent citizens of Gaza, the bombing tactics Israel had utilized throughout its campaign in Gaza did little to bring support to the Israeli cause. By responding to randomized rocket strikes launched by Hamas with seemingly random missile strikes of their own, Israel became proponents of terror to the same degree as the organization was fighting. If the Israelis were looking for support from the civilized world at any point throughout this conflict, they should have handled the situation in a manner that a civilized nation would: with a sincere aim to minimize civilian casualties.
While the incoming Obama administration may have ambitious hopes for the Middle East, our new president had best put a fix to the favoring of Tel-Aviv in U.S. policy if he hopes to see his plans through. Just as all Israelis deserve to feel safe when going to sleep at night, the Palestinian people deserve that right, too. There is only one way to give both these people what they deserve, and that is to win the hearts and minds of the Palestinians. It is a road that starts at step one by assuring them protection from Israeli warplanes and missile attacks; making sure that another disastrous invasion, such as this one into Gaza or Israel’s last one into Lebanon, does not happen again. Step two is sticking to our assurances until the Palestinian people feel they no longer have a need for Hamas, thereby pressuring them to dismiss the terror organization that has plagued the Israelis for so long.