In a bold move, the American Conservative has put itself forward as the leading critical American journal of the Gaza war. It has printed pieces by Avi Shlaim, Glenn Greenwald, Daniel Levy, and John Mearsheimer. It is hard to call any one of these men conservatives, though Mearsheimer is a realist. Greenwald's a lefty like me. Shlaim is a leftwing hackademic, as he has put it. Here at last, though, is an emphatic denunciation of Israel's attack to rank with the LRB forum that came out the other day. At a time when our politics are in flux, and when so many writers don't know what to think or are afraid to say what is before their eyes, the American Conservative is announcing the new coalition: of leftwingers and realists. It's an exciting time to be thinking!
Mearsheimer's piece is very dark. Almost as dark as the news from Gaza. It reflects his own progress, and that, inevitably, of the American center, too:
The
actual purpose [of the Gaza war] is connected to Israel’s long-term vision of how it
intends to live with millions of Palestinians in its midst. It is part
of a broader strategic goal: the creation of a “Greater Israel.”
Specifically, Israel’s leaders remain determined to control all of what
used to be known as Mandate Palestine, which includes Gaza and the West
Bank. The Palestinians would have limited autonomy in a handful of
disconnected and economically crippled enclaves, one of which is Gaza.
Israel would control the borders around them, movement between them,
the air above and the water below them.
The key to achieving this is to inflict massive pain on the
Palestinians so that they come to accept the fact that they are a
defeated people and that Israel will be largely responsible for
controlling their future. This strategy, which was first articulated by
Ze’ev Jabotinsky in the 1920s and has heavily influenced Israeli policy
since 1948, is commonly referred to as the “Iron Wall.”
What has been happening in Gaza is fully consistent with this strategy…
[D]iscourse about this longstanding conflict has undergone a sea change
in the West in recent years, and many of us who were once wholly
sympathetic to Israel now see that the Israelis are the victimizers and
the Palestinians are the victims. What is happening in Gaza will
accelerate that changing picture of the conflict and long be seen as a
dark stain on Israel’s reputation.
I remember my first interview with Mearsheimer. He told me how many times he had visited, probably half a dozen, and how impressed he had always been by its military machine.
