[Country Flag of Israel] ISRAEL [Country Flag of Israel]

            The major foreign policy goals of Israel are seemingly ever changing.  For the past few years, the major goal has been to create peace with the Palestinian Authority and settle the boundaries of the two conflicting countries.  Over the last couple of weeks, the goal has been to keep control of Israeli occupied territories, while maintaining good relations with Israel’s Arab neighbors.  In the face of all the turmoil, this has become increasingly difficult.  The Israeli leaders are trying to keep the peace negotiations open with an emergency summit called for earlier next week around October 16, 2000, but depending on what the Palestinians are wanting and what they are willing to give up will decide whether or not the peace talks will resume.

Another major foreign policy goal at this time is to avoid war if at all possible to spare both Israeli and Palestinian lives but there are certain things the Israeli nation will refuse to give up, such as Jerusalem.  Keeping Jerusalem is very important to the Jewish population of our country.  Considering that Jewish citizens make up 80.1% (ODCI) of our population, it is easy to see why this is so high up on our list of goals.  It is also important to Israel as a whole since it has been the recognized capital since 1950.  War would be an expense that they really don’t have the money for, considering the fact that they are still a developing third world country and that Israel has an external debt of 18.7 billion dollars.  However, if the violence continues, it may be the only option, especially in the face of statements by militant leaders like those said by Mr. Abu Abed, “With our guns, we are ready to liberate all of Palestine and our capital, holy Jerusalem” (NYT).  Obviously, there is still some conflict over who Jerusalem is the capital of and also whether or not the people of Palestine will accept any concessions by Yasser Arafat to Israel and Ehud Barak.  Whether or not Arafat will even negotiate with the Israeli prime minister is in doubt, with Arafat telling U.S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright “that he can make no new concessions to Israel” (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) when she was visiting the Middle East. So, one of our main goals at this point is to avoid war, but it seems that may not be possible.

In Israel, there are certain militia groups and parties in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) that oppose giving any concessions to the Palestinian Authority.  Young Israeli citizens have been rioting over the peace negotiations so much, and with all the violence in the past couple of weeks, the Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami is “…considering a youth curfew as a way to curb rising violence” (Jewish Telegraphic Agency).  In the Knesset, the right wing Likud Party could “topple [Barak]… when the Knesset reconvenes in October” (Makovsky) due to the fact that Baraks’ coalition is not faring well right now.  In the polls, former Prime Minister Netanyahu is leading over Barak in the polls.  This domestic problem is therefore having a great affect on how Barak negotiates with Arafat and what we are willing to give up and what we are willing to fight over.

Another domestic problem in our nation is the fact that we import over 30 billion dollars of goods that consist mainly of “military equipment, rough diamonds, fuels and consumer goods” (ODCI).  This means that they rely heavily on foreign markets, which if we went to war, could cause shortages in the country.  However, according to the ODCI, Israel “…is largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains.”  It is clear that Israel could provide for itself in extreme circumstances, at least for a while.  The heavy importing also means that if Israel went to war, they would be endangering their economic alliances with Western countries if they did not approve of Israel going to war.  So, avoiding war is a major foreign policy goal because of the domestic implications it has.

Israel relies a lot on other nations for economic and political reasons.  It is a developing country that depends on alliances with other nations to be able to grow, export their goods, and to help with defense if needed.  Israel had to file as an undeveloped country to obtain more aid and time to create laws that were acceptable by international standards.  Israel could easily have filed as a developed nation because it has one of the highest gross national products than other undeveloped countries and it’s gross domestic product is about 18,300 dollars per capita.  This is quite large compared to some of its neighboring countries.

One of the biggest supporters and friend of Israel is the United States.  The United States has a strong interest in Israel because it is fast becoming one the leading technology exporters and manufacturers (ODCI).  The United States is also a nation that Israel counts as a friend because the United States gave them over 1.1 billion dollars in economic aid in 1999.  Israel also imports military equipment from the United States to add to their military defenses.  The United States has also been a pillar of support for the Israeli’s.  The United States has set up numerous meetings, including the Camp David Talks, to help along the Middle East peace process and the country was very disappointed when the talks broke down.  During the latest outbreaks of violence between the Israeli soldiers and the Palestinian militias and citizens, President Clinton, in conjunction with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, offered to set up an emergency summit between Israel and Palestinian officials.  The offer has subsequently been taken up by both parties in an effort to create peace and end the rioting that is occurring in the West Gaza and other parts of Israel and Palestine.

Another multi-national group that has helped Israel out has been the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  They have been working with Israel to create strong global economic ties so that it may become more fiscally responsible.  NATO countries have traded with Israel, in spite of the fact that their demands that the Israeli’s crack down on “intellectual piracy” have not been met.  This has become increasingly important to the United States, which lost over 135 million dollars in pirated software last year (Newsweek). 

There are, of course, nations that can be considered enemies of Israel. Many of these countries are enemies of Israel because of their stance in the Gulf War.  Some senior security officials who have studied Israel have the theory that “the root conflict between Israel and the Arab world has never been the borders or territory…issue has always been Israel’s right to exist and prior to the establishment of the State to the very existence of Jews in what is now Israel” (Kett).  One of these countries is Syria, who even though they were on the allied side during the Gulf War, hates Israel, especially since Israeli troops occupy Golan Heights in Syria.  Syria has in its arsenal missiles capable of reaching anywhere in Israel, which is not too hard considering that Israel is smaller than New Jersey.  However, this threat has led to Israel issuing a statement that if Syria were to fire upon Israel, they would launch a nuclear attack that would also destroy Syria.  According to Shofar, a broad based Messianic Jewish organization, Syria is also detaining any Jewish citizens wishing to go back to Israel and most Jewish citizens living in Syria are living in “a small Damascus ghetto…where their situation, while never good, has deteriorated lately, with reports of kidnappings, torture, and destruction of property” (Shofar International).

Another country that could be considered an enemy of Israel is Iraq.  During the Persian Gulf War, Israel never really got too involved in the war, but was fired upon by Iraq when Iraq launched missiles against Israel’s population centers in 1991.  Relations have not been very cordial since then, and as recently as 1997, Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon warned Iraq that “Should you attack us, we will not hesitate to respond with a strong arm” (Arabic News).

Lebanon has also increasing become a nation that Israel regards as an enemy, especially since they took hostage an Israeli colonel on October 15, 2000.  The Hezbullah party in Lebanon announced this with smiles and “people took the streets of South Lebanon's areas and villages in demonstrations in which the Lebanese and national resistance flags were raised and national anthem was chanted” (Arabic News). 

As with any other country, Israel has nations that they do no consider enemies, but would not turn their backs to either.  One such nation is Egypt, who has shown full support for Palestine during the emergency summit meeting to help quell the violence of recent Palestinian-Israeli conflicts.  In President Hosni Mubarak’s opening remarks, he openly supported the Palestinians by saying “The aggressions to which the Palestinian people were subjected during the last two weeks persuaded me to convene this meeting…”(New York Times).  While the president of Egypt conceded that there was fault on both sides, he clearly put most of the blame on Israel.  Another reason that Egypt should be closely watched is the history between the two countries. After many years of an enforced truce by United Nation peacekeepers, Egypt ordered the peacekeepers out of the country. Israel, fearing that Egypt was going to attack them now that the peacekeepers were out of the way, did as they have done so many times before, attacked first.  This restarted the war and while a treaty has since been signed between the two countries, relations between the two are wary, at best. Egypt has a vested interest in seeing that Palestine and Israel keep peace, since a war between them could start another trans-Arab war. So, while the Egyptians are not considered an enemy, Israel will keep an eye on them.

The final country that is being watched incredibly carefully by Israel is Palestine. Since they have been trying until lately to sign a peace treaty, Palestine is not an enemy as yet, since the leaders have a gleaming of hope that peace negotiations will resume. If peace negotiations cannot be resumed and it is clear that a war is starting, then obviously, this will change and Palestine will be considered an enemy. They need to be watched very closely because right now there are many volatile situations just waiting to be set off. Palestinian militias and private citizens are rioting against Israeli soldiers and Israeli soldiers, while most of the time using rubber coated bullets, are defending themselves. In the meantime, there are many casualties that the public is looking for someone to blame on. Israel is the best target since Israeli soldiers occupy part of Palestine and are fighting with the Palestinian people, many of which do not agree with the decision to try and make peace by negotiating with the Israeli’s. So, Palestine must be watched very closely, especially in the weeks to come.  

            The five domestic variables of Israel play a major role in the development of the State’s foreign policy.  First, the nation’s leaders tend to represent similar idiosyncratic characteristics with more moderated and open-minded inclinations, while still placing a strong emphasis on the nations’ defense.  This emphasis on defense can be attributed rather directly to the expectations of Israeli citizens and demonstrates a constraint on the idiosyncratic characteristics of the nation’s leaders.  The governmental variable within Israeli’s domestic policies can help to shed some light on why Israel has formed alliances with the States it has.  Furthermore, the societal variable is arguably the strongest motivating factor in its foreign policy development, as Israeli’s collectively look at the past in order to better protect itself in the future.  Finally, the systemic variable of domestic policy in Israel tends to play a limited role in shaping domestic or foreign policy as views in opposition to the majority are generally shut out. 

            In order to understand Israeli policies domestically, and the effects domestic policy has on its foreign policy, it is important to understand the short history of Israel.

The United Nations and Great Britain, who had held claim to the area prior, established Israel in 1948 through the partition of Palestine.  The establishment of Israel was virtually a direct result of the holocaust of Jews in Nazi Germany.  “Among the population of Israel are hundreds of thousands immigrants, many of them survivors of Nazi persecution in Europe or victims of anti-Semitism elsewhere” (“Israel,” Encyclopedia Britannica).

Israel did not escape anti-Semitic persecution through its creation, however.  Israel’s neighboring Arab nations took offense to their Zionist establishment on “their” religious turf.  “Hostile relations between Israel and its neighboring Arab states have prevailed from the outset” (“Israel,” E.B.).  To tighten tensions even further, Arab’s account for 18 percent of the Israel population with limited access to government and a lower standard of living, creating almost an enemy within.  In Israel’s fifty-two year history they have already fought five major wars with their Arab neighbors, not including the current crisis in the Middle East. 

            Perhaps it is because of this history that Israel has elected the leaders that it has.  Israeli leaders have been from predominantly military backgrounds.  Perhaps the most popular Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, was a commando and leader of  “the elite anti-terrorist Sayeret Matcal (Border Reconnaissance) unit” (Netanyahu, E.B.).  He also strongly opposed the 1993 Israel-PLO peace accords because he felt they sacrificed too much to the Palestinians.  One Israeli student studying at the University of Arizona, Tal Gafni, explains Netanyahu’s popularity by saying, “ The Arabs are afraid of Bibi the same way that Americans are afraid of Saddam Hussein, they think he is nuts, and he is, which is good.”  Gafni goes on to say, however, that Netanyahu represents the moderate faction of Israeli government, despite Arab beliefs, as most of its Prime Ministers have. 

            Netanyahu’s predecessor, Yitzhak Rabin, more aptly defines the mold into which most Israeli leaders fit.  The former Chief of Staff of the armed forces was Prime Minister during the Peace Accords of 1993, and in fact won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.  Despite his efforts to soothe relations with the Arabs (or perhaps because of his efforts) the citizenry of Israel demanded the first Democratic vote for its Prime Minister.  It was in this election that Netanyahu defeated Shimon Peres, Rabin’s foreign minister by one percent of the total vote.  A Jewish extremist eventually assassinated Rabin for the concessions granted the Palestinians in the Peace Accord. 

            Israel’s leaders have consistently portrayed moderate views, despite differing opinions as to what should be conceded to the Palestinians.  This point is clearly illustrated in the recent events in Israel.  In fact, Netanyahu’s return to politics can be linked to the cause of the violence in the Middle East.  Netanyahu’s successor as head of the Likud political party, Ariel Sharon, has proven to be much more extreme in his views.  Newsweek reports that “the Temple Mount visit was his bid to cast himself as Jewish Jerusalem’s defender,” referring to his visit to a religious shrine held to be sacred by Jews and Palestinians alike.  Because of Sharon’s radical views, Netanyahu is considered the over-whelming favorite to regain control of the party, according to the Newsweek article. 

            The Israeli people’s role in government, however, undoubtedly limits the idiosyncrasies of its leaders.  Israel’s government is Western for the most part in its operation.  The government consists of a two-party system, a parliament elected directly by the people, and a Prime Minister elected by the people.  This governmental variable of domestic policy not only affects Israel’s foreign policy in terms of who it forms its alliances with, it also allows the people the ability to control the idiosyncrasies of its leaders.  Rabin was seen as too lenient towards the Palestinians so he was voted from office and replaced by a more defense minded Netanyahu.  Ehud Barak, Israel’s current Prime Minister overwhelmingly defeated Netanyahu amid speculations of corruption.  Now Netanyahu has begun to portray Barak as also being to lenient on the Palestinians and leads Barak in most polls 47 to 43 percent according to Newsweek.  Despite the virtual see-saw of public-opinion, there is no doubt that the people of Israel directly influence their foreign policy to a huge extent by forcing their leaders to adhere to their wishes in the fear of losing their job. 

            The aforementioned Western governmental system in Israel has undoubtedly led to alliances with Western democratic nations.  Israel is able to list as its major allies: the United States, Great Britain, and France.  These states not only help to ensure peace for Israel, but have also donated capital to assist Israel in Economic investments. 

            Social values in Israel play a huge role in its foreign policy. Israel describes its own foreign policy objectives on its official web-page as being motivated by, “memories of persecution and the devastating experience of the Holocaust and the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel’s foreign policy has been geared to advance peace by resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, while ensuring the country’s security promoting cooperation with all nations.”   Mr. Gafni responded simply to my question of what he felt the government’s objectives should be in foreign policy by saying, “subsistence, that’s it.”  Israel provides an interesting case study by having a nation of predominantly the same religious beliefs and motivating forces.  All Jews in Israel have either indirectly or indirectly felt the effects of the holocaust and Anti- Semitism.  Almost uniformly, Israelis have this motivating factor in their conflicts with the Palestinians. 

            The effects of systemic variables within Israel’s domestic policies are not as obvious in its foreign policy.  Israel’s foreign policy does not generally take into account a large Arab population living within Israel.  In light of the recent conflicts with the Palestinians, many Arabs in Israel feel betrayed by the government.  Rula Assali an Arab-Israeli remarked in a recent Newsweek article, “I’m seeing the lie the we’ve been living with for seven years,” in reference to Israel’s supposed quest for peace with the Palestinians.  In fact, most Arab-Palestinians voted for Barak and his message of peace with Arabs within Israel and abroad.  The same article goes on to say, “As a community, Israeli-Arabs set great store in Barak’s pledge to deliver some change, giving him a vast majority of their vote in last year’s election.  It is obvious that the minority interest in Israel have little say in the foreign policy of its state.” 

            It is obvious that the domestic variables of Israel play a huge role in its foreign policy through the selection of its leaders, the role the citizenry plays in limiting the idiosyncrasies of its leaders, the role it’s government plays in the process, and the alliances of social values within Israel that change foreign policy.

With an overwhelmingly defense-minded foreign policy like Israel’s, it is important that the government has access to the resources necessary to maintain strong armed forces.  

            The Israeli Defense Forces maintain air, land, and sea forces under the command of one chief of staff, the Lieutenant General.  “The IDF’s doctrine at the strategic level is defensive, while its tactics are offensive.  Given the country’s lack of territorial depth, the IDF must take initiative when deemed necessary and if attacked, to quickly transfer the battleground to the enemy’s land,” according to the official Israel web-site.  Almost all men and women must serve their country at the age of 18 with men serving three years and women serving two.  Israel’s official web-site describes their military state saying, “In essence, the society and army are one.” 

            The Defense Forces have been called to action for five major wars, proving their competency in all of them by defeating larger armies in the protection of their borders while even expanding their land mass using up to date conventional weaponry while reserving nuclear capabilities provided by American and French assistance.  Despite limited natural resources within Israel, they have established competency in manufacturing their own weapons.        

            Israel has been forced to deal with a serious lack of natural resources, however, in the upkeep of its army.  According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “the central problem of foreign trade is the large and persistent deficit resulting from the imbalance of imports over exports.  Free access to foreign markets is, therefore, vital for the further expansion of the economy.  The fact that Israel is not a member of any of the regional economic groupings represents a considerable handicap.”   Israel is forced to rely on its alliances with Western nations for trade benefits as the European Economic Community extends its benefits to Israel. 

            Despite major economic obstacles, Israel stays true to its defense policies by designating a large portion of its budget to its armed forces.  According to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Israel spends around $12.5 billion dollars on defense, or 18% of its total gross domestic product.

            On May 14, 1948 the state of Israel was established as a Jewish state.  Correspondingly, its people hold a certain Jewish ideology as a significant factor of Israel’s identity.  This ideology held by the people of Israel relates to the idea of Zionism.  The origin for this belief arose as the Jewish people were exiled from ancient Israel.  As they moved throughout the world the Jewish people maintained a belief that they would once again return to their homeland as a nation.  This belief is documented in the Jewish religion and is exemplified in many Jewish prayers.  Therefore, soon after the foundation of modern Israel “The Law of Return” gave every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. Thus, when this possibility arose the Jewish people moved back to Israel in masses.  As a result about eighty percent of the population today is Jewish, down from an all time high of Eighty-seven percent years ago. 

            The Jewish people who have come back to live in Israel consequently place great value on reestablishment of a homeland.  This is illustrated in “The Declaration Of The Establishment Of The State Of Israel” through the following passage: ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLES COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITYOF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITTISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY THE VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGHTH OF THE RESOLOTUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THYE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

            On account of Israel as a Jewish state, its faith and nationality are intertwined.  Thus, as strong nationalistic views are expressed by its people, they are largely Jewish in nature.  For example, as of recent an extremely large conflict pertaining to Israel and is neighbors in the Middle East relates to the Temple Mount, or the site where the ancient Jewish temple once stood.  Also sacred to the Muslims, this particular area has been fought over for many years in an extremely violent manner.  However, Israel feels it is rightfully entitled to the area, largely for religious reasons.  Thus, Jewish national ideals run deep through the politics of Israel. 
            As a result of Jewish ideology the state of Israel does not fare well with regional organizations or alliances in the Middle East.  However, on paper Israel looks to be in fine accord with its neighbors.  Foremost, Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and The Palestinian Authority.  Negotiations are also underway with Syria. Yet, in reality Israel has had poor relations with many countries in the Middle East. 

            To begin, although Israel has had a peace treaty with Egypt since 1979 much violence still exists between these two states.  During the twenty years the peace treaty has been in place Egypt has permitted, and even sponsored many attacks against Israel in the form of anti-Semitism.  In actuality the message that Egyptian officials are sending to the people of Egypt is that, “for many reasons we have to be in contact with Israeli’s and sign certain pieces of paper, but we still hate them, and you should too.”  Furthermore, a similar situation exists in Jordan.  Once again although a peace treaty exists between these two nations, there is little peace in reality amongst the peoples of the two states.  Despite the fact that the Jordanian government does not directly incite violence towards the people of Israel, as does Egypt, nothing has been done to successfully convince the people of Jordan to end the campaign against Israel.  In addition, seven years of peace talks with the Palestinians seem to be useless as violence continues amongst the two states.  In view of the increased violence lately between Israeli’s and Palestinians many experts agree that the current peace treaty, in the form of the Olso Accord of 1993, is dead.

            Israel does maintain allied status with many nations throughout the world.  Even in the Middle East Israel enjoys a powerful ally in Turkey.  Moreover, Israel calls many of the strongest nations in the world its ally.  In recent years Israel has maintained friendly relations with India and China.  Likewise, the United States acts as one of Israel’s greatest allies.

            In conclusion, Israel is a strong developing country that relies on economic ties with Western countries to help expand into the global market.  Ideology is incredibly important to our country, with a little over 80 percent being Jewish, which has direct implications on the peace process.  The domestic variables play a great part in Israel’s selection of leaders, foreign policies, and impact of citizens on leaders.  The major goals of Israel are affected directly by domestic problems in the country, such as rioting and disagreement by its citizens over who should concede what to whom.  Overall, Israel is a strong country and will rapidly develop into a successful country when a reasonable compromise can be found and peace negotiations with Palestine are finished.

 

MAP OF ISRAEL (New York Times)