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Issam Makhoul

In the service of foreigners

Reported Syria operation just another American-made adventure

The real question isn't about the details of the provocative attack staged by Israeli jets in Syria about two weeks ago, according to foreign sources. The question is this: Into what kind of mess is the Olmert-Barak government leading Israelis and regional nations this time? The heavy veil of ambiguity on the part of the government makes matters worse, by hiding the adventure from the Israeli public of all people.

 

There is agreement among Israel's defense, political and media establishments that Syria has no interest in initiating a military confrontation with Israel. In fact, in recent months Syria reiterated its call for negotiations aimed at ending the occupation of the Golan Heights in peaceful ways. These proposals disrupted America's regional war plans, which see the Olmert-Barak government playing a major role.

 

We all remember full well how the US secretary of state forbade Israel to even consider Syria's proposals for diplomatic talks. The Israeli defense and political establishment gave rise to an industry of excuses aimed at explaining "why Israel has no interest in renewing negotiations with Syria."

 

Retired Major-General Giora Eiland, the former head of the National Security Agency, outdid them all when he included the following among the reasons for Israel's refusal to negotiate: "The United States has no interest at this time in bringing about a peace agreement between Israel and Syria…"

 

If there was indeed an Israeli strike, it was carried out in the framework of integrating Israel into a "new regional order" based on President Bush's doctrine, aimed at entangling Syria and Iran in war, in an effort to win the war in Iraq. On the other hand, the American entanglement in the Iraqi mire and the Israeli failure in the Second Lebanon War postponed the implementation of the plan to subjugate Syria and Iran to American control.

 

Grand provocation

The ambiguity among leadership circles in Israel also enables the American administration to spread false propaganda regarding a nuclear threat seemingly posed by Syria. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her aides recently spoke in length about a nuclear device that Syria apparently received from North Korea, and about chemical missiles and weapons from Iran that were seemingly sent to Syria.

 

However, we already saw this before, when the Bush administration attempted to justify the Iraqi war with the false pretense regarding nuclear weapons' stockpiles, which were never found.

 

The deafening silence of Arab regimes is also a product of their own integration into the regional American plan. Turkey's reaction to reports that Israeli jets used its air space was hypocritical and suspicious. Ankara is a solid strategic ally of both the US and Israel.

 

In this context, the focal point of the apparent Israeli provocation in Syria is unrelated to the Israeli-Syrian conflict. If it indeed happened, it is yet another adventurous operation in the framework of the American hegemonic strategy in the region. While the Bush administration cultivates a "moderate" camp in the face of the "radical" camp, and a "Sunni axis" vis-à-vis a "Shiite axis," Israel may have carried out a grand provocation, which must concern us all.

 

The provocative policy of the Olmert-Barak government in the service of foreign interests is a genuine strategic threat to the welfare of the Israeli public and its future. While the Israeli public attempts to digest the lessons of the last war in Lebanon and awaits the publication of the complete Winograd report, our war captains have already taken off.

 

Now, they are pushing the Middle East into a war that would be disastrous to all the people of the region, including those living in Israel.

 

The writer is a former Hadash Knesset member

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.21.07, 07:24
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