On 6/2/10 9:06 AM, Joel Schalit wrote:
> The Americans enabled Israel to act out, essentially, where Israel's
> leadership wanted to take the country anyway, following the 1967 war. Without
> the Americans, obviously, the Occupation would not have lasted to the degree
> that it has. The US paid for it. However, Israel initiated it, and it ought
> to be held responsible for it, along with the US. That the Occupation
> coincided with American geopolitical interests at the time, and was
> ideologically defended by the US, is still a huge problem.
>
> Clearly, if America had not seen Israel as instrumental to its foreign policy
> goals for so many years, Israel would not be where it is today. The problem
> is that Israel's leadership sold Israel out to the Americans, in exchange for
> its support of the Occupation. That's where the "Israel as a tool" of US
> interests thesis is valid. The issue is that it is a sacrifice Israel's
> political echelon self-consciously made in the 1960s, and the US willingly
> took advantage of that. Just ask Kissinger.