US is impediment to peace in Middle East

Blessed assurance for Israel, renewed military threats for Iran and indifferent ambiguity laced with guesswork for the oppressed people of Palestine – that, by all accounts, seems the total summation of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent whirlwind nine-nation tour of North Africa and the Middle East.

During her 24-hour diplomatic fancy footwork in Jerusalem, where she met with top officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Clinton said nothing new or surprising.

Iran, the long-time subject of military threats by Washington, was left in no doubt about the beckoning “shock and awe” of the US military if Tehran does not halt its ambition to develop nuclear capability. Said Clinton: “We will use all elements of American power to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.” The US strong lady said her country was working very closely with Israel to thrash out the best strategy to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat.

Granted, Iran, situated at a shouting distance from Israel, is a hostile neighbour to the Jewish state. But in attempting to bring about a harmonious co-existence between two ideologically opposed neighbours, the US would do itself a great favour by doing all in its power to be seen by the entire international community as an “honest broker”.

The unashamed slant toward Israel, the US’s traditional ally, creates more stumbling blocks than it provides building blocks toward a sustainable peace deal in the Middle East.

As for the people of Palestine, they must be wondering what their sin is. No matter how hard the Palestinian leader, Mahmud Abbas, tries to extend the olive branch, or fit the Western mould, Israel never seems to play back fairly. And the US stands by idly. The continuing illegal erection of Jewish settlements on Palestinian soil is a case in point of a belligerent regime hellbent on the middle-finger attitude toward weaker and stronger opponents alike, knowing full well that it is insulated from harm by Big Brother, the US.

Instead of exerting more pressure on the exceedingly powerful state of Israel to do more toward attaining peace with the oppressed and occupied state of Palestine, Washington is viewed as a problem rather than a solution-provider by detractors of its foreign policy.

The benign approach of the US to the re-ignition of the stalled Palestinian-Israeli talks is deeply regrettable. As she left Jerusalem, Clinton told the media that it was up to both countries to “work harder”. This is not the same approach that the US is applying in the Iran-Israel tension.

Amid this hurly-burly of diplomatic artwork, the obvious beneficiary of the power and might of the world’s only super-power, the US, is Israel. On the US and Israel’s attitude toward Iran, Clinton noted: “I think it is fair to say we are on the same page at this moment, trying to figure our way forward to have the maximum impact on affecting the decisions that Iran makes.” On the evidence of such pronouncements, any country in conflict with Israel need not be left in any shadow of doubt about which side Big Brother would side with. This is sad indeed. Sad, because too many countries around the world hold the US in high esteem for its democratic political culture and enormous free entrepreneurial traditions which inspire innovation by individuals and groups alike, all “living the dream”.

I’ve lived and worked in the US – from Atlanta to Washington DC, and New York, and I was privileged to undergo mid-career journalism training in the state of Florida. America, oh America – the beautiful. Even the people are beautiful. It is from this standpoint that I sometimes feel like shedding a tear for the US for the flurry of missed opportunities to have a meaningful impact on others. George W Bush, he of the Iraq invasion infamy, was a reputed war-monger who once prompted his predecessor, Bill Clinton, to warn him matter-of-factly: “You can’t kill all your enemies.”

The power to persuade is generally more amenable than the power to coerce. In this light, sporadic military threats against Iran by the US and Israel, are a recipe for the Third World War.

My biggest fear is of efforts by the US to squeeze smaller countries like SA into toeing the US line, such as Washington’s unilateral imposition of sanctions against Tehran which, all of a sudden, Pretoria must abide by.

Such bully tactics need to be resisted. The recent calls by Washington that SA’s bilateral relations with Iran must be downgraded from top-notch economic ties to basic conviviality of no consequence are an affront to SA’s sovereignty. Iran is responsible for 30 percent of our imported oil. We are not at war with Iran and we have cordial one-on-one relations of high economic importance with Tehran. If Washington declares war on any of her enemies, surely the Zuma administration should not be dragged along unwillingly. I mean, that, in short, is what democracy is all about – the fundamental right to exercise freedoms of choice, speech, association and other liberties.

Clinton’s visit to Cairo, where she met the newly elected President Mohamed Mursi was sound only if Washington recognises the rights of Egyptian citizens to security and prosperity as it does for Israel. The three-decade-old peace treaty between Egypt and Israel will only hold further if it is based on the will of the people on either side.

Otherwise, with Mubarak languishing in prison, Washington will have to redouble efforts to convince not only Mursi, (as was the case with dictator Mubarak) but ordinary Egyptians that their civil liberties are not being sacrificed beneath the US’s enormous investments in Cairo in order to ensure peace next door – in Israel.

l Makoe is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Royal News Services.