Chomsky on Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine

Israel certainly has a right to defend itself, but no state has the right to “defend” occupied territories. When the World Court condemned Israel’s “separation wall,” even a U.S. Justice, Judge Buergenthal, declared that any part of it built to defend Israeli settlements is “ipso facto in violation of international humanitarian law,” because the settlements themselves are illegal. 

The withdrawal of a few thousand illegal settlers from Gaza was publicly announced as a West Bank expansion plan. It has now been formalized by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with the support of Washington, as a program of annexation of valuable occupied lands and major resources (particularly water) and cantonization of the remaining territories, virtually separated from one another and from whatever pitiful piece of Jerusalem will be granted to Palestinians. All are to be imprisoned, since Israel is to take over the Jordan valley. Gaza, too, remains imprisoned and Israel carries out attacks there at will. 

Gaza and the West Bank are recognized to be a unit by the United States and Israel as well. Therefore, Israel still occupies Gaza and cannot claim self-defense in territories it occupies in either of the two parts of Palestine. It is Israel and the United States that are radically violating international law. They are now seeking to consummate long-standing plans to eliminate Palestinian national rights for good. 

The United States has refused to call for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that this would mean a return to the status quo, yet we are witnessing a re-occupation of parts of Lebanon and Lebanon’s rapid decline to political chaos by the current conflict. Is the U.S. policy correct? 

It is correct from the point of view of those who want to ensure that Israel, by now virtually an offshore U.S. military base and high-tech center, dominates the region, without any challenge to its rule as it proceeds to destroy Palestine. There are side advantages, such as eliminating any Lebanese-based deterrent if U.S.-Israel decide to attack Iran. They may also hope to set up a client regime in Lebanon of the kind that Ariel Sharon sought to create when he invaded Lebanon in 1982, destroying much of the country and killing some 15-20,000 people. 

What will be the likely outcome of this “two-pronged” crisis in Lebanon and the occupied territories? 

We cannot predict much. There are too many uncertainties. One very likely consequence, as the United States and Israel surely anticipated, is a significant increase in jihadistyle terrorism as anger and hatred directed against the United States, Israel, and Britain sweep the Arab and Muslim worlds. Another is that Nasrallah, whether he survives or is killed, will become an even more important symbol of resistance to U.S.-Israeli aggression. Hezbollah already has a phenomenal 87 percent support in Lebanon, and its resistance has energized popular opinion to such an extent that even the oldest and closest U.S. allies have been compelled to say that, “If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance, then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire.” That’s from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who knows better than to condemn the United States directly. 

What steps do you recommend for the current hostilities to be brought to an end and a lasting peace established? 

The basic steps are well understood: a cease-fire and exchange of prisoners; withdrawal of occupying forces; continuation of the “national dialogue” within Lebanon; and acceptance of the very broad international consensus on a two-state settlement for Israel-Palestine, which has been unilaterally blocked by the United States and Israel for 30 years. There is, as always, much more to say, but those are the essentials.  

Noam Chomsky is professor of linguistics at MIT and author of numerous books. His latest is Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy (2006). Kaveh Afrasiabi is the founder and director of Global Interfaith Peace and author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran’s Foreign Policy (Westview Press). This interview appeared on the Information Clearing House website, August 7, 2006.