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Originally posted by sycamore
tw, i've asked this before, but don't remember getting an answer: Just how has the United States been supporting this current Israeli government, when if anything, the US has been the one admonishing it like a little kid over the past several months? I saw a hell of a lot more support when Barak and Rabin were prime ministers.
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The US provides most foreign aid to only five countries. Top of the list is Israel. Figures put Israel and Eygpt together at about 50% of US foreign aid. Why do we still provide so much aid to a nation now run by a racist government?
Ironically it is Powell who kepts blaming Arafat - not Sharon - for "just not getting it". Powell sees offers made during negotiations but forgets Israel's history of promising so much at the negotiation table, then slowly withdrawing bits and pieces during the process. It is those takebacks during the execution of details that Powell forgets and Arafat so remembers. Israel said details could be negotiated later - just as in the Oslo Accords that are being taken apart detail by detail after right wing Israeli extremists all but assasinated Rabin. The only reason negotiations failed during the Clinton period - Israel refused to sign onto the details even through Arafat was ready to define those details right then and there.
We still support Israel - massively. We could have forced Israel to work out the details in advance by withdrawing our own aid detail by detail. But the details for all that US aid are already defined - in detail. Ironic?
What is the EU's largest criticism of current US Middle East policy? From this week's The Economist:
""Speaking just a few hours before the attacks on New York and Washington, a sernior Eurpean Union official said that EU policymakers were in "despair at the lack of American engagement" in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis."" It is that lack of engagement that only strengthens the position of the extremist and known murder, Ariel Sharon, at the expense of moderate Palestinians such as Arafat. It is also that lack of engagement that helps Arab extremists recruit from the ranks of moderates. It is that lack of engagement that provides more support to the current Israeli right wing extremist government. It is that lack of engagement that empowers all Middle East extremists at the expense of moderates.
Those are but two reasons how the US still supports Israel.