We know that the Israel lobby is powerful, but do nothing concrete to counterbalance it, writes Amin Howeidi* Egypt said it wouldn't accept any strings attached to the aid it receives from the US. It wasn't the first time for Egypt to say so, or for the Americans to try to impose conditions on us, but there was something different this time. When US Congress decided to freeze $100 million in assistance to Egypt, pending the latter's compliance with certain measures, Egypt's spokesman blamed the Israel lobby for misguiding US policymakers. The Israel lobby, he said, wants to undermine Egyptian-US relations. For all our talk about the Israel lobby, we have but scant knowledge about it. We know that it is powerful, that it means us harm, and that it undermines US policy in the Middle East. The irony is that we're not the only ones who lack complete understanding of that lobby -- even the Americans don't seem to figure out exactly how it works. Those who know about the Israel lobby barely dare speak for fear of jeopardising their careers, political or otherwise. So far, only a few Americans have addressed at length the workings of the lobby. We'd do well to listen to what they had to say. Former president Jimmy Carter recently published a book entitled Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. He argues that a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is unlikely so long as Israel keeps violating UN resolutions, undermining US policy, dismissing the roadmap, occupying Arab land and persecuting the Palestinians. Coming from a former US president who's still very much active on the international scene, this is a weighty verdict, and was fiercely contested by Zionist circles in the US. Another book, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, was co- written by Harvard University Professor Stephen Walt and Chicago University Professor John Mearsheimer. The co-writers, expanding on an earlier essay, discuss in detail the way in which the lobby operates and how it affects US foreign policy. Both books were fully denounced by Zionists, as you may expect. What's odd, however, is that they went almost unnoticed in our part of the world. Sometimes you'd find someone who actually read them commenting that they come "from the horse's mouth". But so far, I cannot see anyone making use of the arguments presented by such veteran scholars and politicians about the Israel lobby. Nothing is more common in presidential election campaigns than the sight of candidates bending over backward to please the Israel lobby. If they don't, they'd be out of the race within weeks or even days, or so we are told. Admittedly, Israel was important to the US during the Cold War. But recently Israel has become a liability for US policy, especially in our region. Most US presidential candidates, for some reason, don't seem to have noticed that. The Israel lobby is not a cohesive structure. It is made up of a loosely connected network of groups and individuals dedicated to the promotion of Israel's interests. Some of them are not Jewish, but all share an anti-Arab bias. Working closely with decision-makers, they make sure that US foreign policy is good for Israel, regardless of what that does to US national security. The Israel lobby influenced President Bush's disastrous decision to wage war on Iraq. The Israel lobby prompted the US administration to support Israel in its recent war on Lebanon. Such actions fuel anti-American feelings in this region, and yet the Israel lobby remains as strong as ever. How? Now a few US writers and politicians have gathered enough courage to speak out. This should give us hope. It should also entice us to form an Arab lobby in the US; a lobby that tells the truth and stands up for our rights. In his book, Carter spoke about the danger of the Israel lobby, suggested ways of curtailing its power, and means to dry up its resources. His book is worth reading and learning from. We need an Arab lobby in the US. And we have the resources to put one together. We have billions of dollars in US banks. We have connections in the arms industry that is selling us weapons non- stop. We have millions of Arabs living all over the US. What we lack is not the will or the resources, but the knowledge and patience to go about it. We all want to get back our stolen rights. We all want to get our point across. But we haven't done our homework yet. * The writer is former defence minister and chief of General Intelligence.
