Douglas E. Schoen and Joshua Schoen
The Arab Israeli peace talks are on the verge of being restarted after three years. This raises questions as to what the United States’ broader strategic interests are and what role Middle Eastern states will be looking for us to play as we move forward.
Put simply, this is not the time for the US in any way to withdraw, either politically or financially, from our commitment to peace and democratization. Vital American interests are at stake whether in Iran, Egypt or in Syria.
And while the Arab Israeli crisis is probably not front and center as it once was, it would be a profound mistake for us to relax our commitment to supporting Israel’s strength and security. We must also continue to do anything possible to restrain and minimize the impact of Arab extreme groups like Hamas and Hezbollah in the region and abroad.
Accordingly, we must make good on our pledge to give the Palestinians the $500 million in aid that has been appropriated for them even though we know that some of this money will, unfortunately, go to terror organizations.
Hopefully this will not be the case, but the US cannot let forces of extremism that are dedicated to Israel’s destruction and undermining our interests come to ascendancy and this aid will certainly do more good than harm. Making good on our commitment is the only way that we will have leverage to push for peace and a two state solution.
And the same logic goes for Egypt where, quite simply, we have to maintain our influence with the Egyptian military and to do everything possible to avoid a conflagration. There is ample evidence of polarization between the former military, reformers and the Muslim Brotherhood. The possibility of a wider conflict there has ominous implications for our position there.
We’ve already seen the impact of indecision in Syria where by waiting over a year to decide to get involved has allowed forces associated with the al-Nusra Al Qaeda affiliated group begin to persist amongst the Syrian opposition, only emboldening the interests of the Iranians and by extension the Russians.
Indeed, the broader goals of pressuring a hopefully newly open Iranian government to negotiate over their nuclear program will only be facilitated by a strong, robust American presence in the region. The key to maintaining our influence is to make sure that we provide the $500 million we have appropriated to the Palestinians as well as the more than $1 billion that we have pledged in military aid to the Egyptian government.
There are no easy solutions in the Middle East. But any signs of withdrawal can only have the worst possible implications for our position in the region and, indeed, around the world.
