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| Volume XVI, Fall 2009, Number 3 |
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EXCERPT
Interview: Israeli New Historian Avi Shlaim
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| Avi Shlaim |
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Dr. Shlaim is a fellow of St. Antony’s College and a professor of
international relations at Oxford University. Born in Baghdad and reared
in Israel, Professor Shlaim is numbered among Israel’s New Historians,
who have challenged traditional assumptions about Israeli history. He is
the author of Lion of Jordan: King Hussein’s Life in War and Peace (2007)
and Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement
and the Partition of Palestine (1988). He was interviewed for Middle East
Policy on June 15 in his office at the Middle East Centre of St. Antony’s by
Roger Gaess (AQABA9@aol.com), a freelance journalist.
MEP (Gaess): What is the mood of the
Jewish Israeli public now in terms of prospects
for peace with the Palestinians?
SHLAIM: The mood of Israelis today is
one of very great uncertainty. For the last
eight years, under the Bush administration,
Israel had a completely free hand to
do whatever it wanted. It was America’s
close ally in the “War on Terror.” Even the
offensive in Gaza didn’t meet with a single
word of criticism from the Bush administration.
But now there is a new American
administration that seems to have very
definite views on the urgency of the settlement
between Israel and the Palestinians.
The speech that President Obama delivered
in Cairo on June 4 was a landmark. It outlined
a way forward. The foreign policy of
his Republican predecessors was lopsided,
tilting heavily toward Israel. Obama
redressed the balance and articulated an
even-handed policy. He focused not just
on Israel and its needs but equally on the
Palestinians — on their plight, on their history,
on the Nakba, on their national rights
and on the need for justice. He spoke not
only about a Palestinian state but used
the word “Palestine.” Consequently,
the mood in Israel is one of uncertainty
and concern because all Israelis, whatever
their political affiliation, know that
America is the only friend they have in the
world, and that they can no longer count
on automatic American support.
American support means everything to
Israel: economic support, military support
and diplomatic support, including the use
of the veto in the Security Council of the
United Nations. That’s the most crucial
relationship for Israel in world politics.
And because of the nature of the American
commitment to Israel, the Israelis could ignore
what everyone else said. They could
ignore UN resolutions, they could ignore
the European Union and its preferences
and advice, they could ignore the Quartet.
They completely ignored the Quartet’s
roadmap because America was behind
them. Now they are not so sure that
America will continue to back them in the
same unquestioning manner, and they are
worried. There are already Israeli voices
saying Netanyahu has mismanaged the relationship with America, that the special
relationship between Israel and America is
in danger because of Netanyahu, and that’s
the context in which he made his speech
on June 14.
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