Israel should not have attacked Syrian land because of the
actions of a terrorist group, especially unilaterally and without
warning.
This past Saturday’s suicide bombing in northern Israel,
killing 19, was abhorrent. The people and government of Israel are
justifiably tired and angry. But Israel’s retaliatory strike
on Syria was unjustified and will only serve to increase tensions
in a volatile climate. Adding to the frenzy is the fact that Israel
acted unilaterally and without explicit agreement from its chief
ally, the United States. This only further dampens the chance of
finding a viable road to peace in the Middle East.
Syria has been accused of being a sponsor of terrorism by
high-ranking U.S. officials such as Donald Rumsfeld, and an
organized air strike from one sovereign nation against another
still constitutes an act of war under international law. As the
popular bumper sticker says, “War is not the answer.”
Just as when much of the world opposed this type of action taken by
the United States in Iraq, Israel should and will undoubtedly face
a huge international backlash for its actions in Syria.
No effort was made to engage Syria on a diplomatic level. Israel
never warned Syria that an attack was imminent if Syria did not
clamp down on this terrorist camp. And perhaps most importantly,
the Israeli government gave no proof of any direct connection
between the recent suicide bombing and Saturday’s
airstrike.
Only in the aftermath did Israeli officials provide
“undated footage” taken from Iranian television,
showing military officers touring the now destroyed facility.
Israel commits an offensive military campaign in foreign
airspace and all it offers is footage from Iranian television?
Again, I reiterate that Israel and the Jewish people have
endured countless atrocities and are justified in their anger, but
the government should have at least made an attempt to convince the
world that military actions against a sovereign nation were
warranted.
Ariel Sharon and his advisers should have learned from the U.S.
campaign in Iraq. They should have seen that it’s unwise to
provoke war without international support. This is even more
important to Israel because all of its neighbors perceive it as an
aggressor.
In Washington, Bush’s approval ratings are dropping like
mad. We’re losing an average of one soldier a day in Iraq.
The occupation is costing us millions, and we don’t seem to
be making any solid progress in the war against terrorism. Many
people have become very hostile to American international policy.
This action by Israel does not help its cause ““ or ours. By
using some of the $3 billion in annual aid Israel receives from the
United States to initiate what seems to be an unprovoked, secret
air strike, Israel appears to be a minion of the Bush
administration in the eyes of the Arab world.
To be fair, Syria probably is guilty of sponsoring terrorism
against Israel. The nation, which is still controlled by the
military dictator Assad, who along with Egypt provoked the 1973
Arab-Israeli war, is probably still fuming over the loss of its
Golan territories to Israel. However, a surprise raid against Syria
was inappropriate. Even if the facility in question was a terrorist
camp, Israel should have made its case before the international
community, demanding that the facility be investigated and
closed.
What still boggles my mind is the insistence of both sides of
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on employing violence in order to
achieve their security goals. Neither the Israeli nor the
Palestinian leadership can see that this centuries-old conflict,
recently reignited, is predicated upon dogmatism and irrational
hatred. Furthermore, neither side seems to understand that violence
begets violence.
We can only hope that this doesn’t escalate into the
“whirlwind of violence” predicted (or threatened?) by
the Arab League.
Dang is a third-year political science student. E-mail him
at ndang@media.ucla.edu.