By Pramod Raj Sedhain.
The most trusted strategic partners – the US and Israel’s troubled relation reflected during Israeli Defense Minister’s recent visit to Washington DC. Israeli hard-liner Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon did not get a cordial gesture from the Obama administration. US officials neither gave him a genial or a red-carpet welcome in the State Department and the Oval Office to him. Requests to meet with key officials and authorities were also denied (Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice).
Defense relationship between the two nations still enjoys excellent level. US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel met with Ya’alon in the recently “failed” visit . America, known as Israel’s big brother and true friend has not given due priority to Israel in recent times. Israeli authority has at times publicly debated and criticized the Obama Administration. This has had a negative impact on the relationship between the two countries. Israeli authority even does not show common respect to the US authority while Israeli media continue to make personal attacks on US Secretary of State John Kerry and Middle East policy.
Temporary discontentment of an ally or a key strategic backer can lead to serious crisis. US-Israel odd relation is still in the boundary of political level. Without Israel’s apology in public and acceptance of its arrogance might deteriorate the situation further leading to a critical level of relationship between the two countries. Israel has no more option at the time sooner or later it needs to support the US. US’s proposal of “peace between Israel and the Palestinians” and “nuclear negotiations with Iran” led to the current diplomatic crisis.
But Israel’s hardliner policy toward greater Middle East engagement can easily create a wide range of crisis or even war. Without war and casualty, US can gain important strategic goal to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons through diplomatic source. Syria declared it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile without single shot but Israel had insisted bombardment and regime change. Similarly, Israeli authority wants aerial bombardment in the Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has reiterated on its reform-minded diplomatic solution through table talks (P5+1) on it’s nuclear program but Israel has been insisting on military operations.
Despite the US pressure, Israel is engaged in large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip, which is sure to backfire. Despite US continued efforts to try to stop military operations, Israel continued with its Operation Protective Edge. Without changing its perspective, Israel continued to criticize the Obama administration. Nearly shipment Hellfire missiles ($25,000-$65,000 per missile cost) for Israel’s Apache helicopters held by White House in the cause of Gaza operation and unaccepted the US peace proposal.
That came as a surprise since the beginning of defense relation history and US sent clear message to Israel to right track. It should be recalled that US President Barack Obama gave a gift worth $205 million for the Iron Dome project to Israel for protect missile defense from other nations beyond the military aid in May 2010. Additional support was also provided before Israeli operation against Gaza.
US Congressional Research report 2014 shows that since 1962, US has provided nearly $100 billion military aid to Israel. Since the last decade, Israel has been annually received aid of about $3 billion and the recent years focused on more defense aid. Pentagon has been deep suspicious and concerned considering that Israeli aircraft might start the biggest gambling to attack Iran’s nuclear facility. Such a move, the US thinks would be destructive. But without US Central Command’s green-single, Israel’s possible unilateral aerial operation against Iran would be a blunder. Any major steps without American approval could lead to biggest and costliest war in the Middle East.
The US continues to face challenge with its most closest, credible and powerful EU (28 nations) concerning Israel’s issue. The latest US peace proposals include Israeli pullout from the West Bank indicates a positive change . The current odd relation with the US is not new. In the past, the Israeli authority had sought public apology before the US. Israel has not changed its strategic relationship with the US but behavioral change has been evident. This will damage Israel’s national interest not only in the Middle East but also with the US.
US-Middle East doctrines
Almost five decades of limited relationship with Middle East nations, the U.S. totally replaced traditional British influence and security patrons role in the Middle East after World War II. Since 1960s to 1970s, anti-American regime almost changed and it gained major diplomacy, economy to security across the Middle East. Despite different democratic concerns and political pressure to its Middle East ally to change democratic reform in the Middle East, the US continues to widen its strategic relationship on the basis of their core interest.
US excellent broad policy in the Middle East focus on counter-terrorism matters since the last decade. Sudden change in the Middle East is due to the new crisis and threats the US vital interests, its role and vision in the region. Political turmoil in Middle East threatens stability. New wave of conflicts, crisis and unprecedented instability shadows US priority and policy. US strategic thinkers have great concern to its strategic interest, which are under threat in the changed context. The US swiftly insists that stability, prosperity, economy and political reform approach in the changing scenario has almost all regional influence in the Middle East. But the current unrest has resulted to a huge loss of state power and control in sensitive in the Middle East.
The post Gaddafi-Libyan conflict spread throughout Africa to Middle East. Egypt division and violation, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syrian civil war, and dramatically emerging terrorist threat from Iraq, growing power-vacuum and jihadism, and Iran uprising is the prime concern of US-Middle East security. Political solution of the conflict and back to democratic track and inclusive government of its ally is still not successful. Different confrontation in the region have deep rooted domestic causes and cannot be easily resolve through military boots on the ground. The US new approach shows that the US doctrine is gradually changing in the Middle East through balance-of-power policy.
The US policy is to avoid its engagement in war in the Middle East. The former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Kerry renounced the anti-War campaign of Vietnam Veterans against the War. Kerry’s appointment as state secretary on February 1, 2013 signifies that the Obama administration’s diplomatic policy is more powerful than military policy in the Middle East.
US has been in a complex relationship with its Middle East ally since the Arab Spring began, with different partner countries raising dissatisfaction and disagreeing on it’s new approach towards Middle East. Middle East nations have deep differences as well as rivalries in terms of philosophy, religion, ethnic lines to fulfill their aspirations and regional hegemony tactics. Israel tensions with US-initiated peace policy with Palestine, NATO ally Turkey wants US to attack Syrian regime resulting to souring of the relationship, Saudi Arabia wanting to handle the entire regional role and want to block Iran, Qatar’s seeking a big role to fulfill its ambition, Iran wanting to join hands with the US to break the regional isolation, among others.
The US has also several interests to improve relations with Iran to achieve its goal in the Middle East. Iran intense link with different militia is the problem of US policy achievement in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and Palestine. Some countries can’t decide their national interest because of deep political division with ethnic and religious line and Middle East powers play the big game.
US policy is on difficult lines but still trying to draw the right one with different engagements and tactics. The political formula is the vital priority than military measures at the moment. Despite the criticism and views to gain their interest and strategy to block another rival, US foreign and defense policy strategists are busy to formulate their own idea based on to broad-based engagements. The U.S. is shifting its new priorities to economically vibrant and strategically threat Asia-Pacific but it does not forget the Middle East and give the ground for its global rivals. The world’s most sophisticated military, technology and economic powerhouse US will not halt the key strategic location and most potential economy.
