U.S. Interests and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Review.

• Author: Qaddoura, Raed M.I.
• Position: Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians; Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East; Israel's Colonial Project in Palestine: Brutal Pursuit; The Search for Peace in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Compendium of Documents and Analysis; Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflic

U.S. Interests and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Review

Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians

By Noam Chomsky

Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2015, 776 pages, $16.95, ISBN: 1608463990

Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East

By Rashid Khalidi

Boston: Beacon Press, 2013, 208 pages, $12.91, ISBN: 9780807033241

Israel's Colonial Project in Palestine: Brutal Pursuit

By Elia Zureik

New York: Routledge, 2015, 298 pages, $14.92, ISBN: 9780415836104

The Search for Peace in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Compendium of Documents and Analysis

Edited by Terje Rod-Larsen, Nur Laiq and Fabrice Aidan

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, 1346 pages, $60.20, ISBN: 9780199216109

Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

By Jeremy R. Hammond

New Delhi: Worldview Publications, 2016, 538 pages, $35, ISBN: 9780996105811

There is a strong relationship between American journalists and scholars. One of the features that some American journalists and scholars have in common is their pro-Zionist bias. It has long been realized that Israel has been granted a certain immunity, which is unique in nature. Israel's immunity protects it from criticism in respect to journalism as well as scholarship. Journalism and academia are unique with respect to their support for Zionism in the United States. Various examples of different instances of Israel's immunity from criticism have been explained in Chomsky's Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians. One of the most powerful instances in this respect is the silence regarding the terrorist attacks conducted against the USS Liberty, the U.S. Navy technical research ship, by Israel. In one of the attacks, in which Israel had "unmistakably identified" and attacked the USS Liberty which resulted in more than 30 American crewmembers died and over 70 were injured.

It would be unimaginable that any other country could bomb installations of the U.S. army especially when we talk about targeting a ship with a terror attack that led to killing and injuring more than 100 men with total impunity. Chomsky has debunked the attempts by staunch apologists belonging to Zionist groups for blaming those who are criticizing Israel in the U.S. media. It has been argued by Chomsky that neither there was any American media against Israel nor had there been lowered levels of professional degree biasness temporarily.

It has been noticed that since Chomsky is highly decisive for the policies as well as activities of Israel, he is not completely anti-Israel. Chomsky has supported the idea of two-state settlements, which included the redrawn borders, a reasonable way to end this historical issue, and guarantees for security for the promotion of the resolution of the conflict in a peaceful way. So, Chomsky has criticized the consistent rejectionism of Israel towards any kind of political settlement that would accommodate the rights of the Palestinian people at the national level and how the U.S. policies made Israel's rejectionism possible.

Chomsky pointed at the hypocrisy of American policies of subsidizing Israel through billions of dollars of yearly aid, as well as criticizing the Israeli policies. The aid from the U.S. has supported the purposes for which Israel uses them for the integration of Palestinian occupied territories, reducing Arab population through various ways, dispersing of scattered refugees, crushing nationalism and culture in Palestine, and imposing control over Southern Lebanon. Thus, nobody can condemn Israel for exploiting its regional power at the time it receives unlimited fund and support from the United States. Considering the continuous aids to Israel, as well as ideological support, the United States' position can be considered hypocritical as they conveniently reshape the historical facts. This helps any Israeli government to not worry for any tempered and intended criticisms against their actions either from Washington or in a newspaper editorial. Based on historical practice, Israeli leaders have come to believe that political elites or opinion-makers in the United States shall support them in their actions. Moreover, even if the reporting of the facts is accurate, as it is in most cases, the United States' elites will do their jobs and defending Israel against all these reports.

Chomsky's Fateful Triangle is a relevant contribution to the literature with respect to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It may be one of the most aspirant works which try to explain the historical issue between the Palestinian people and the Zionists especially with the involvement of the U.S. Chomsky's main aim is to show how Americans and Israelis, especially the former, are rejecting and refusing the idea of peace-solution with the Palestinians. But the...