An American license to kill [Archives:2006/965/Opinion]

From what can be discerned from the position of the United States on the Gaza situation and now the newly erupted clash in Lebanon is that the Zionist agenda in the region has been tagged to Washington's foreign policy agenda. This is notwithstanding the obvious negative repercussions that this would have on American interests, world peace and regional stability.

One is almost led to believe that all sense of logic and rationality have been removed from American foreign policy as well as the lack of humanitarian concerns that such a foreign policy entails. The fact is that the United States could have done a lot to contain much of the violence that is now spinning out of control and God only knows where it will lead to.

It could have even prevented the new escalation in Lebanon by simply acting more responsibly in restraining its Spartan ally in Israel and reminding it that not all problems can be solved by the barrel of the gun. It is no secret that Israel would not carry out the mass punishment on the Palestinians for choosing their newly elected Hamas government, which negates the previous US policy of supporting democratic elections in the Palestinian territories.

This only projects the idea that if democratic elections do not lead to what Israel likes than the US will be ready to let Israel do all it needs to do to topple the resulting government. Setting aside the political ramifications, one is inclined to believe that the US has absolutely no human concerns when it doggedly pursues a policy that only reflects the wishes and aspirations of its Zionist ally. No one is counting on Israel to pursue any civilized policy in the region, because the whole existence of the Zionist state is based on a mixture of deception and “might makes right” approaches that defy logic and comprehension.

Surely a state created at the expense of the indigenous population of the country is not expected to follow any moral traits as it seeks to further expand its reaches at the further expense of such a population.

But why the United States should provide the license for such wanton killing as we see in Gaza and now Lebanon defies logical explanation. Both ensuing conflicts are the result of military engagements that Israeli forces and resistance forces of Hamas and Hezbollah may have initiated.

But it is easy to find rational explanations for this initiation, which can all be tracked to Israeli arrogance and the ongoing policy of literally strangling the population of Gaza and the West Bank. Perhaps Hezbollah may have acted in the sentimental manner that is expected to come from any Arab, who possesses the wherewithal to come to the aid of their brethren in Palestine and this may have been a daring move indeed on the part of Hezbollah.

But, the fact is that Israel continues to intimidate and provoke in its hostile attitude towards the Palestinians and the fact is that the majority of the Arabs “in the street” continue to feel sympathy for the Palestinians, and have a strong suspicion of anything that Israel does, notwithstanding the submission of many of the Arab regimes to the “realities of the times”, realities in themselves that are imposed upon by the sheer power of the gun rather than a fervent desire to live in peace.

While the recent escalation in the violence may have led to the uncertain aura we are now seeing in the future prospects for the region, but surely Hezbollah may have rightly sensed that most Arabs in the Arab world would have no second thoughts about judging that indeed there was no other way to break the impasse that the violence in Gaza was coming to.

Since American nods of approval to Israeli intransigence was only leading to one tragedy after another in the Holy Land there was an apparent need for “something to happen” that would hopefully bring relief to the Arabs of Palestine and challenge the apathy of the international community (and especially the Arab regimes) to the ongoing massacre of the civilian population of Gaza.

The American anti-terrorism rhetoric is simply not being received with open hearts in the region and is being viewed more as a language of hate that is used to corroborate Israeli “legitimized terror” by sheer American blind support of such terror. That is how it is seen on the Arab street and Hezbollah knows this very well. In the end that is where public support lies and counts.

Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years.
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