Israeli Columnist Akiva Eldar on Nuclear Weapons in the Middle East, Iran, Military Censorship in Israel and the Influence of the Israel Lobby in the United States
http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=07/10/08/1341205
Monday, October 8th, 2007

Akiva Eldar is the chief political columnist and senior analyst for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, and he is co-author of a new book; it’s critical of Israeli settlement policy. It’s called Lords of the Land: The Settlers and the State of Israel. I interviewed Akiva Eldar last month and asked him how the so-called “Israel lobby" in the United States is perceived in Israel.

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AKIVA ELDAR: For forty years, you tell the Jewish community that Israel cannot afford to give up the territories, they are important for Israel’s security, just overnight to tell, “Sorry, we were wrong. Now, we don't need those territories,� it's probably -- I remember, you know, those groups that were taken to the Golan Heights, for instance, we didn’t mention Syria, but the Golan Heights, we told them we can't live without it, because look at the geography or topography, with us sitting there, and they were shelling the Kibbutzim down there, and now, after all this time that they spend going to Capitol Hill and using their leverage to convince the American people not to put any pressure on Israel to give up the Golan Heights, now all of a sudden the Syrians are the good guys and we can get down to business with them? It's very difficult. I think that we are paying the price for having good PR doing a very good job for many years.

AMY GOODMAN: Would you say then the American Jewish organizations are presenting an obstacle to peace?

AKIVA ELDAR: They are, I think, behind the Israeli people, and I think that the bottom line, if you measure this by their results, I don't think that the mainstream Jewish organizations -- there are others like Americans for Peace Now, IPF in America, the Israel Policy Forum, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom and other organizations who are doing a good job [ in dimininishing the FAR RIGHT WARMONGERS effectiveness ] , and I think that they are gaining more and more populous support.

AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think the -- would you say that the Israel lobby is more powerful?

AKIVA ELDAR: Because they're more committed. I think that they are very committed to the -- Israel’s security and well-being of the Israelis, and they are motivated to work and to invest.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think they're making Israel more secure?

AKIVA ELDAR: No. I think that they have good intentions, but you know sometimes where good intentions are taking people.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you about former UN Ambassador John Bolton's comments, declaring the Bush administration would support an Israeli attack on Iran. In an interview with an Israeli newspaper, Bolton said, "We're talking about a clear message to Iran. Israel has the right to self-defense, and that includes offensive operations against WMD facilities that pose a threat to Israel. The United States would justify such attacks,� he said.

AKIVA ELDAR: I’m not sure if an attack on Iran is in the cards, simply because I don't think that the United States and Israel know exactly where they're hiding the facilities. Iran is a huge country. They have a big desert, and, as far as I understand, both the Israeli and the American intelligence don't know where they're hiding this. You can do this -- what we did in --

AMY GOODMAN: That didn't stop an attack on Iraq.

AKIVA ELDAR: Exactly, but this was different. You can do this only once. What we did -- you mean Israel in ’81 attacking the unit, the Iraqi nuclear facilities in Osirak. The Iranians are not going to repeat the same mistake. They are not putting all their eggs in one basket. They have too many baskets all around. And as far as I know, from my sources, a military attack is not possible.

What is possible is to reach an agreement with Iran and with other Arab countries, because it's not going stop with Iran. I interviewed King Abdullah of Jordan six months ago, and he said, “In no time, you will see every Arab country with nuclear power, including Jordan.� Now, it starts, of course, with nuclear power for civil use. But you don't know where it ends and what will happen if there will be a coup d’etat in one of those Arab countries in a few years. So the Middle East is going to be nuclearized in no time.

And I think that the solution should be a regional agreement. I wonder why the Arab League didn't offer to add another paragraph to the initiative from -- that started in 2002 and was ratified recently, that the Middle East should be nuclear-free, including Israel. I think this has to be part of a regional agreement.

From talking to Iranians, the message that is coming out of the most liberal Iranians, not only from Ahmadinejad, is that “Why shouldn't we have what we think the Israelis have, Pakistan and India?� I think we need to offer them a ladder, where they can climb down, and this ladder, I believe, is a regional agreement.