Subj: Iraq in Israel's Grand Strategy
Date: 4/7/04 7:15:09 PM Pacific Daylight Time
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Friends,
Iraq in Israel’s Grand Strategy
As this article points out, the US attack on Iraq fits into a Zionist grand
strategy of weakening Arab neighbors, which was conceived long before the
independence of Israel in 1948. To me this appears like a very logical foreign
policy for the Jewish state to hold, though it doesn’t help the US to advance
this goal.
The neocon aim for attacking Iraq is now revealed quite openly in the major
media--that Bush neocons were targeting Iraq for an attack prior to September
11 and that the terrorist attacks provided the pretext to implement their
plans. What is still taboo is the neocon connection with Israel. But the
neocons have been closely tied to the Israeli right. The original flagship of
the neoconservative movement was _Commentary Magazine_, sponsored by the
American Jewish Committee, which has as its stated purpose the protection of
Jews and Israel. Neocons Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and David Wurmser even
advised then Prime Minister Netanyahu to attack Iraq in 1996 in their "A Clean
Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" policy paper.
[http://www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm ]
In Israel, a military attack on Iraq had been discussed by Oded Yinon in a 1982
policy paper entitled, "A Strategy for Israel in the 1980s," which proposed a
plan for the destabilization and fragmentation of Israel’s Middle East
enemies.
[http://www.theunjustmedia.com/the%20zionist_plan_for_the_middle_east.htm]
As the following article points out, the idea of weakening and dissolving
Israel’s Middle East neighbors was not just a Likudnik idea but has been a
central Zionist goal from a much earlier period, being promoted by David Ben
Gurion himself. "It is against this backdrop that Israel has supported
secessionist movements in Sudan, Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon and any secessionist
movements in the Arab world which Israel considers an enemy. Yet the concern
for Iraq and its attempts to weaken or prevent it from developing its strengths
has always been a central Zionist objective. At times, Israel succeeded in
gaining a foothold in Iraq by forging secret yet strong relationships with
leaders from the Kurdish movement."
Zionist support for the Kurdish effort to weaken Iraq actually began in the
1930s, before the state of Israel existed, and blossomed in the 1950s and
1960s. "By the end of the 1950s and the early 1960s, Israel became the primary
source of arms and military training for the Kurds in their fight against the
Iraqi central government. While full details have yet to be revealed, thousands
of Mossad agents and Israeli military personnel were located throughout
northern Iraq under different covers (military advisors, agricultural experts,
trainers, and doctors); Israeli support for the Kurds peaked during the second
Gulf War after the Kurdish takeover of strategically important and oil rich
Kirkuk. The secessionist movement, however, quickly collapsed after heavy
military blows from the Iraqi army before the United States imposed changes
that ended control of the centralised government and established an area of
Kurdish sovereignty."
Israel’s goal has been not simply to weaken external enemies but to weaken
the position of the Palestinians—the internal demographic threat that poses
the greatest danger to the Jewish supremacist state. The reason for this is
that the Arab states provide spiritual and material aid to the Palestinian
cause. Without outside aid the Palestinians would give up hope. The author
writes: "Sequential wars with the Arab world have given Israel opportunities to
exhaust the Arab world, as well as tipping the demographic and political
situation against Palestinians. Even regional wars which Israel has not
participated in have benefited Israel and weakened the Palestinian national
movement The first and second Gulf War are a few examples." Of course, some of
Israel’s wars have involved the expulsion of Palestinians and the occupation
of Palestinian lands. Even the US war on Iraq in 1991 had this effect, although
Israel was not involved. "Finally, the second Gulf War of 1991 resulted in the
expulsion of the Palestinian community from Kuwait, which formed one of the
primary arteries of Palestinian income and power in the occupied territories."
With Israel grand strategy in mind, it is apparent that the current war on Iraq
has already significantly weakened Israel’s external enemies as well as the
Palestinians, even if the US is unable to establish a puppet regime in Iraq.
_____________________________________
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/print/2003/634/op2.htm
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 17 - 23 April 2003 (Issue No. 634)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/634/op2.htm
Israel: the ultimate winner
Saleh Abdel-Jawwad* examines, why Israel wanted the war against Iraq
An important question which continues to surface in the war against Iraq
relates to Israel and the effort by the Zionist lobby to push the war option on
the American administration as well as the American public. In other words,
what are the goals that Israel seeks to achieve from the war in Iraq and how
will it impact the Palestinian file?
First, Israel regards any strike against the Arabs, and particularly a chief
enemy like Iraq, a major blow to the Arab order as well as weakening the
position of the Palestinians. After the Camp David Accords in 1979, Egypt
operationally removed itself (and continued to do so until present) from the
'Arab/Israeli' conflict, while intertwining its interests with the United
States. Since then Israel has shifted its attention to Iraq, given its status
as the sole remaining Arab country to have a powerful mix of resources
unavailable to other Arab regimes: petrol, financial assets, plentiful water
supplies, significant fertile soil, a sufficiently large population, a clear
nationalist political agenda, and military, industrial and scientific
infrastructure.
Second, war against Iraq will likely lead to dissolution of the country, even
if this is not an immediate American plan. Such dissolution would be in
accordance with Israel's vision of the region, and would greatly enhance
Israel's power. This regional vision is based on a 19th and 20th century
orientalist perspective of the Middle East. According to this view the region
is seen as a mosaic composed of many ethnic groups, cultures and nationalities.
Furthermore, Iraqi residents are also divided along Sunni, Shi'ite, Kurd, and
Christian lines. Likewise there are powerful regional, denominational, and
tribal allegiances concentrated around economic and politically important
cities such as Baghdad, Tikrit, Basra, and Mosul. A mosaic perspective of Iraq
would reject Arab national ideology and the relationship of Palestine to the
Arabs. It would also legitimise Zionism, based on the idea of Jewish
nationalism and power for the weak.
Abba Eban succinctly described Israeli Zionist ideology in this respect, in his
collection of writings entitled The Voice of Israel. Eban contests the
assumption that the Middle East represents a cultural unit, and that it is
incumbent upon Israel to integrate within this unit. Instead he 'clarifies'
that the Arabs always lived disparately and that the short periods of unity
only took place under the power of the sword. He continues by describing how
political divisions were not introduced by Western colonialism, and stresses
that the cultural and traditional ties which unite Arab countries are
insufficient to form the base upon which political unity can be achieved.
For this reason, successive Israeli governments have adopted policies based on
the principle of supporting non-Arab ethnic minorities such as the Kurds in
Iraq or the Maronites in Lebanon. Literature on the Zionist movement --
particularly those published at the end of the 1930s and the beginning of the
Arabisation of the Palestinian question -- indicate that the Zionist leaders in
general, and yeshiva leaders in particular, placed their hopes and concerns on
establishing relationships with every minority within the Arab world and
neighbouring non-Arab countries.
Since the end of the 1930s, Ben Gurion articulated some principles which would
become indisputable Zionist tenets:
1.The Arabs are the primary enemy of the Zionist movement. To confront this
chief enemy, it is necessary for Zionism to search for allies in the East to
stand with its allies in the West. These are needed to act as a counter force
and support the power of the Zionist project when faced with this (primary)
confrontation. At the end of the day it is a 'bloody struggle between us and
them'. Therefore, any group or sect which opposes Arab nationalism -- "the
primary enemy of the Jewish people"-- or is prepared to fight against it, is an
ally which helps Zionism implement its settlement and state-driven policies.
2.The Jewish people, who have been subjected to the terrorism and oppression of
various governments, and particularly those who lived in Arab countries,
perceive all minorities and groups "oppressed" by the Arabs or Muslims as
allies and partners. Thus the need to free oneself from this oppression is felt
and in common to both.
The two principles above form the basis of what is known as the 'Theory of
Allying the Periphery.'
3.After the establishment of the state of Israel, Ben Gurion hoped to develop
this theory further and create a ring of adversaries around the Arab countries.
He focused his on attention on building strategic relationships with Turkey,
Iran and Ethiopia (Encirclement Theory). He also aimed to expand the links of
this encirclement against the Arab world by expanding Israel's relationships
with other Asian and African countries. The most recent phase of this policy
focuses on India -- largely as a result of Pakistan's possession of nuclear
weapons, the emergence of Hindu revisionism in India, and the desire to
penetrate India's enormous market.
Ben Gurion's ideas (the Theory of allying the periphery and the Theory of
encirclement) which were formulated with other Zionist leaders, have provided
the basis for interacting with allies in regards to the Arab world.
It is against this backdrop that Israel has supported secessionist movements in
Sudan, Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon and any secessionist movements in the Arab world
which Israel considers an enemy. Yet the concern for Iraq and its attempts to
weaken or prevent it from developing its strengths has always been a central
Zionist objective. At times, Israel succeeded in gaining a foothold in Iraq by
forging secret yet strong relationships with leaders from the Kurdish movement.
In sharp contrast it failed to gain allies amongst the Coptic community in
Egypt primarily because of the historical continuity of the Egyptian state.
Communications with the Kurds began at the end of the 1930s. The responsibility
of establishing contacts with the Kurds fell to the infamous Zionist
intelligence operative Rubin Shiluah -- one of the important planners and
thinkers of the strategy of "allying the periphery".
Shiluah, who at the time was living as a spy in Iraq -- under the guise of
studying at a Jewish school in Baghdad -- would take trips to the mountainous
Kurdish region in northern Iraq. The relationships he formed there towards the
end of the 1940s were primarily with Kurds who were willing to help Iraqi Jews
reach Palestine through Turkey.
By the end of the 1950s and the early 1960s, Israel became the primary source
of arms and military training for the Kurds in their fight against the Iraqi
central government. While full details have yet to be revealed, thousands of
Mossad agents and Israeli military personnel were located throughout northern
Iraq under different covers (military advisors, agricultural experts, trainers,
and doctors); Israeli support for the Kurds peaked during the second Gulf War
after the Kurdish takeover of strategically important and oil rich Kirkuk. The
secessionist movement, however, quickly collapsed after heavy military blows
from the Iraqi army before the United States imposed changes that ended control
of the centralised government and established an area of Kurdish sovereignty.
Similarly, Israel supported the Shah of Iran in its struggle against Baghdad.
The beginning of Israel's relationship with the Shah was formed when the
Mossad, acting in accord with British (MI6) and American (CIA) intelligence,
worked to bring about the collapse of the democratically elected Iranian leader
Mossadeq in 1953. Their role remains a secret to this day. The relationship
forged with the Shah enabled Iran to be the primary importer of Israeli
products until the rise of Khomeni. Israel also played a role in training the
SAVAK, the infamous and brutal intelligence service which protected the Shah.
Likewise, Israel has worked closely to monitor Iraq, and has done everything in
its power to prevent it from developing nuclear capabilities. In this context,
Israel destroyed the Iraqi reactor during its assembly in France in 1977. It
also assassinated scientists who worked in the Iraqi nuclear programme -- most
notably the Egyptian scientist Yehya El-Mashd who was assassinated in Paris.
They also assassinated the brainchild of the Super Canon in Brussels, and
destroyed the Usaris Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. At the same time Israel
provided arms to Iran during the first Gulf War.
Israeli enmity towards Iraq precedes the Saddam Hussein regime -- originating
after Iraq participated in the 1948 War. At the time, Iraq was the sole country
participating in the war which refused to participate in the negotiations
leading up to the Rhodes Armistice agreement in 1949. Likewise, Iraq sent
reinforcements to the Jordanian front in 1967. In addition, Iraq continues to
refuse to acknowledge UN Resolution 242 and was actively engaged in the defense
of Damascus in 1973.
Third, war as an end in and of itself, is an ever- present Israeli objective.
Sequential wars with the Arab world have given Israel opportunities to exhaust
the Arab world, as well as tipping the demographic and political situation
against Palestinians. Even regional wars which Israel has not participated in
have benefited Israel and weakened the Palestinian national movement The first
and second Gulf War are a few examples.
The War of 1948 resulted in the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians, representing
87 per cent of the population to come under Zionist control. The War of 1956,
according to declassified Israeli documents, relating to the Kufr Qasem
Massacre, sought to facilitate a new wave of expulsions and to bring about the
occupation of the West Bank. The expulsion of 400,000 Palestinians during the
1967 War, and the subsequent occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
further facilitated Israel's ambitions as a regional powerhouse. The Israeli
invasion of Lebanon in 1982 also resulted in dangerous demographic changes for
Palestinian refugees. Of the 450,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon in 1982, no
more than 250,000 remain today. (Had the war not taken place, the number of
Palestinians in Lebanon would have reached at least 650,000). Not to mention
the social, morale and political subjugation the Palestinians in Lebanon faced
as a result of that war.
The first Gulf War between Iraq and Iran also disempowered the Palestinian
cause: the Arab world was split into two camps, Arab resources were squandered,
oil income was depleted, and Arab attention was taken away from the Palestinian
question. This all negatively impacted the Palestinian position.
Finally, the second Gulf War of 1991 resulted in the expulsion of the
Palestinian community from Kuwait, which formed one of the primary arteries of
Palestinian income and power in the occupied territories. In my opinion,
Yitshak Shamir sought, through the implementation of the 1990 Massacre, to
exploit these events by creating a dynamic that would result in the expulsion
of West Bank residents. The massacre took place within the Haram Al-Sharif
compound three months before the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War. Israeli forces
opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators, killing twenty. Yet at the time, the
American administration which hoped to preserve the Arab alliance in the war
against Iraq, was one of the main reasons which prevented Shamir from realising
his plans.
* The writer is a professor at Beir Zeit University.
Also, see the 'War Conceived in Israel' article which is linked under the map
of 'greater Israel' after scrolling down to it on the left at
http://www.nowarforisrael.com
NO US/UK SOLDIERS SHOULD HAVE TO DIE IN IRAQ FOR ISRAEL TO GET OIL:
http://www.nogw.com/warforisrael.html
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