Where are the peacemakers?
Actually, they have been there most of the time. The United States is one of the western powers responsible for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Throughout Israel’s history the U.S. had been involved in on-and-off negotiations with Israel’s neighbors, Arab states, to insure peace. In recent years, the U.S. has lessened it Mideast role for numerous reasons including international and domestic politics. There are plenty of books and articles on efforts to find peace in the Middle East if you want to delve further into this topic.
As a result of the 1978 Camp David Accords and the 1979 Egypt-Israel Treaty of Peace, the U.S. provides both of these countries with the bulk of U.S. foreign aid assistance in the form of grants. For those perennial critics of overseas assistance, it is important to note that the military equipment is made in the U.S. and the services are generally provided by U.S. firms. Thus, U.S. military and economic assistance profits U.S. companies. President Eisenhower referred critically to this government-business alliance as the military industrial complex. The goal, expensive as it is, is peace in the Middle East.
In 1990, President Bill Clinton hosted Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, at Camp David too. Here the goal was to provide the Palestinians with expanded territory and secure borders. This is known as the two state solution. Permanent territories for Palestinians and Jews. As David Brooks, columnist at the New York Times, describes it, the agreement was a near miss for peace. Mistakes were made by all involved, but Brooks states that Arafat dropped the ball. He never answered “yes” or “no” to the agreement. He never progressed from freedom fighter to statesman.
The list of peace makers goes on. As mentioned, much has been written about Israeli conflicts. There is a Middle East Journal if you are looking for academic articles.
David Brooks argues that the current situation of Israel poised to invade the Gaza Strip within Palestine would not exist if peace accords, particularly the failed 1990 agreement, had been reached. The history of the Middle East shows that the peace makers have been active. But not active enough according to Palestinian scholars.
Senator Bernie Sanders is cited as a current politician who has called for greater peace efforts. Such efforts have been stymied particularly since 2007 when Hamas took political control of Palestine. Hamas has advocated war with Israel and has attacked Israel several times since it came to power.
A key question in the foreground is, how does billions of dollars in military aid to Israel and Egypt secure peace? One only needs to look at the imbalance of power wielded by the Israelis: advanced fighter jets, missiles, modern tanks, and hundreds of thousands of reservists called to active duty. The goal is Israeli security, but where is the financing of peace keeping organizations? Where is the United Nations in this? The UN’s Security Council is deadlocked on such issues due to the divide between the West and Russia and China. However, the Secretary General has called for Israeli restraint and the unopposed movement of Palestinian civilians into safe areas.
A Pentagon official calls the situation “hopeless.” There will be no restraint as Israel’s military seeks to rid Palestine of Hamas. But past incursions by Israel into Lebanon and Palestine have only led to increased militarization by Arabs, not peace. Still, revenge is an incredible motivator.
Israel is viewing the recent Hamas invasion and atrocities as their 9/11. Israeli security was caught off guard and civilians were slaughtered. Israel seeks revenge and no international power exists, outside of science fiction, to stop them.
The cycle of war and the killing of innocents continues.