''The long term strategy of Israel and how it affects the U.S.''

YellowTimes.org) – Often times, while reading the headlines or watching the news, one has to ask, "What could the Israelis be thinking?" What could possibly be the point of the seemingly indiscriminate carnage and destruction? Rooting out the terrorists or revenge is often the official explanation. But tiny babies are not terrorists yet they are killed by the dozens. Olive trees are not terrorists yet they are uprooted by the hundreds. Homes are not terrorists but they are destroyed by the thousands. Buildings and factories are labeled bomb factories and are shelled into oblivion. One need only examine these actions to discern the overall strategy of the country that is behind them.

The Israelis have always lusted for land acquisition. For evidence of this you may note that as far back as 1973, Ariel Sharon himself enunciated the settlement policy for the West Bank. He said his aim was to create facts on the ground, facts that would not be able to be undone 25 years hence, and 200,000 odd settlers later this is exactly what has happened.

The initial invasion of U.N. mandated Palestinian areas in 1948, the Sinai invasion in 1956, the 1967 war and the 1983 Lebanese incursion manifest a strategy that is expressly meant to expand Israeli borders and acquire resources. The only time Israelis were forced to give up territory was after the original Sinai invasion in 1956, subsequently reoccupied in 1967, and the 22 yearlong occupation of South Lebanon. It is not in their plans to give up either the Golan Heights or the West Bank, or to settle for just those territories. Their foot-dragging approach to the farcical peace negotiations bears witness to their real objectives.

The current onslaught in the West Bank is meant to do one thing: make life so miserable for the indigenous inhabitants that they will have no choice but to leave. Palestinians are made homeless by the thousands. Curfews restrict movement for even the most basic necessities: work, food and health care. How long can people exist under such conditions, especially given the seeming indifference of the rest of the world?

The controlling Likud Party has announced plans to immigrate one million more Jews, and the consequent need for water resources to support these immigrants has as its sub-mandate the conquest and annexation of additional land. Hence, no matter how many negotiations are started or abandoned, there will be no Palestinian State.

What of the United States' role in all this? An examination of its moves since the infamous September 11th attack shows that George W. and Company are surely making it up as they go along. In the aftermath of the World Trade Center destruction, and after Bush and Cheney emerged from hiding, the president announced that he supported a Palestinian State. This statement was prompted by the initial belief that the lack of progress in Middle East peace talks was the root cause for the attack.

The Israeli lobby saw the WTC incident as an opportunity to justify its strategic designs, and sprang into action launching a frenetic public relations' action. Arafat was labeled Israel's bin Laden, and Palestinian resistance organizations were accused of being in cahoots with al Qaeda and a threat to the U.S. It didn't take long before the administration backpedaled from its initial statements while Israel opted into "the war on terrorism."

The U.S. began smoking out bin Laden and his terrorist band, a notion that appealed to the resurgent patriotic fervor that gripped the nation. The Taliban provided an opportunity for tangible results, something the folks back home could appreciate on the nightly news: you know, precision bombing and all that. The elusive bin Laden was not good sound bite material. Now that the Taliban have been dispatched, a perpetual "war on terrorism" has expanded into the next best thing: Saddam Hussein and Hezbollah. Many experts believe that a dramatic military action will take place before the November elections to keep the war momentum going and the poll numbers high.

A cursory look at the product of Israeli lobbying effort reveals a foreign policy strategy that is designed to isolate the U.S. from all countries in the Middle East. Banging the drum for an Iraqi invasion, resolutions condemning Syria and Iran, labeling Hezbollah as one of the foremost terrorist organizations in the world, the vilification of Arafat and the P.L.O. and the public relations campaign against Saudi Arabia are all examples of furtherance of this long-term strategy.

Controlling oil supplies is of course the linchpin in any U.S. strategy it cobbles together. So, it is not far fetched to see that the long-term contingency plan for Israel, along with the American presence already there, is to invade the Saudi oil fields when the time is ripe. The Saudis control half of the spare production capacity of O.P.E.C., and they've gone on record to say that shutting off oil is not in the cards this time around. The destabilization of their regime would be a prima facie cause for military intervention.

Without the projected oil pipeline through Afghanistan and the continued oil supply from the Arab States, America would have a hard time justifying its adventures in the Middle East. For the Israelis, however, their long-term expansion is driving their strategy and it has co-opted U.S. policy to insure success. As this strategy goes forward, one has to wonder what the economic and political reverberations throughout the rest of the world will be.

[Raff Ellis lives in the U.S. and is a retired former strategic planner and computer industry executive. He has had an abiding and active interest in the Middle East since early adulthood and has traveled to the region many times over the last 30 years.]