Thanks Alan for your effort of answering my question. I may or may not respond to your opinion.
Minoru ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan Siegrist" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 10:22 AM Subject: RE: napalm ... or something > > Minoru Mochizuki writes: > >> Alan, I still don't have your answer on the reason why US is supporting >> Israel in the relation between Palestine and Israel. I realize the >> possibility that you don't have the answer. > > I am very sorry about being remiss in answering your question. To be > frank, > it is not an easy question and so I had to think about it. Naturally, I do > not make US foreign policy so I cannot surmise the exact reasons for all > US > policy decisions. I think it is an overstatement and an oversimplification > to say that the US supports only the Israeli side in relations between > Israel and the Palestinians. As far as I know, the US has provided nearly > the same amount of foreign aid to both sides and has tried to remain a > position as a neutral broker to the conflict. > > But this was mostly when Arafat's Fatah faction was in charge. The > situation > changed when Hamas was elected in Gaza and began to solidify their rule > over > Gaza by killing many Fatah leaders, actually throwing many of them to > their > deaths off of buildings. > > I believe that the US cut off foreign aid to Hamas, in disgust at this > barbaric behavior, but continued to provide aid to the Palestinian > Authority > led by Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. > > I believe the specific reason for the US giving a "green light" to Israel > for their current offensive against Hamas in Gaza was because of this > behavior by the Hamas leaders, their smuggling of arms and their rocket > attacks against civilians in Israel. > > Now getting back to your original question: > >> John M. in the meanwhile stated that it's >> because US's interest in oil that's behind its support to Israel > > I tend to agree with John M. in that oil is probably the main US national > interest in the Middle East, and a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian > conflict will help assure a continued, uninterrupted supply of oil and > continued economic prosperity in the US and other Western economies that > are > dependent on oil. > > Now this is very general, and the connection between the oil interests and > the current conflict is probably not very direct. But my guess is that the > US government probably considers Hamas to be a destabilizing influence in > the region, and thought that direct military action by Israel against the > Hamas leadership and its fighters may permit the less-extremist Fatah > faction to regain control over Gaza as well as the West Bank. Presumably > it > will be easier to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and a unified > Palestinian Authority governing all of the Palestinian territories, rather > than trying to broker negotiations with two separate "Palestines." > > But it remains to be seen whether the current conflict will make the > situation better or worse. > > Regards, > > Alan Siegrist > Orinda, CA, USA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Persons posting messages to not_honyaku assume all responsibility for their messages. The list owner does not review messages prior to posting, and accepts no responsibility for the content of messages posted. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
