The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians

By Noam Chomsky. Boston: South End Press, 1983. 481 pp. $10 (paperback).

Reviewed by Muhammad Hallaj

The publicized version of the Arab-Israeli conflict has little resemblance to reality. Considering the degree, variety and persistence of disinformation prevalent in the United States about the Arab-Israeli conflict, it takes a particularly resolute person to confront the endless myths and misconceptions which surround and permeate the tragic story. But that is precisely what Professor Chomsky has done in The Fateful Triangle.

The purpose of the book, as the author identifies it, is "to bring out certain elements of the 'special relationship' between the U.S. and Israel, and of their relationships to the original inhabitants" of Palestine. To trace these relationships to their origins and to place them in their historic context, the author covers a broad segment of the landscape, from the Kishinev pogrom to the Sabra and Shatila massacre. The result is a voluminous reference in which one encounters many of the events and personalities of the Arab-Israeli conflict and much of its literature.

A Curious Relationship

Chomsky attributes the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Israel to the influence of the American Jewish community over political life and public opinion and, more important, to the perception of Israel as a U.S. "strategic asset." He cautions against exaggerating the importance of domestic political considerations, because it underestimates the scope of the "support for Israel" and overestimates "the pluralism of American policy and ideology." In fact, he argues, it is the perceived Israeli geopolitical role as an instrument of U.S. interests which augments the influence of the Israeli lobby and creates a U.S.-Israeli relationship that is "a curious one in world affairs and American culture."

This "special relationship," translated into diplomatic, military, and ideological support for Israel, militated against peace because it led to the ascendance of rejectionist over accommodationist politics. As the Arabs, including the Palestinians, evolved an increasingly accommodationist policy toward Israel based on the two-state solution and compatible with the international consensus, the American alliance with Israel tipped the scales in favor of Israel's rejectionist policy which makes no allowance for Palestinian national rights. Chomsky's well-documented analysis clashes head on with the prevailing misconception that the triangular relationship is characterized by an accommodationist Israeli position frustrated by a rejectionist Arab stand, with the U.S. playing the difficult and thankless role of an honest broker.

Chomsky blames the U.S. "supporters of Israel" for this distortion of reality caused by the fact that "Israel has been granted a unique immunity from criticism in mainstream journalism and scholarship" in the U.S. He draws heavily on Israeli sources to show that nowhere else, not even in Israel itself, is Israel so sheltered from scrutiny and criticism. And because the "supporters of Israel" facilitate its persistence in a political course which is oppressive and destructive, such as on the West Bank and in Lebanon, Chomsky styles them "supporters of the moral degeneration and ultimate destruction of Israel"—the proverbial friends who make enemies unnecessary.

The extent of Israeli rejectionism is demonstrated by three little understood facts. One, it is a deeply entrenched Zionist dogma which predates the establishment of Israel. Two, it is a bipartisan policy to which both Labor and Likud are committed. And three, it is totalitarian in the sense that its denial of Palestinian national political rights is buttressed by a denial of ancillary rights, including economic, human, and cultural rights. That is why Israel's war against the Palestinians is a cruel, uncompromising war.

A Country Out of Control

The author concludes on a pessimistic note. He says Israel's ever-expanding military capability has made it virtually uncontrollable, and it is not certain that if the U.S. decides to abandon its rejectionist position it could induce Israel to do likewise. He advances the possibility that Israel would act like a "crazy state," that it would go berserk and possibly unleash a nuclear holocaust if the U. S. tries to restrain it. In that way, U.S. support of Israeli rejectionism may have put the world on "The Road to Armageddon."

Professor Chomsky's presentation is without doubt a masterful blow to what he calls "received doctrine" which the "supporters of Israel" managed to disseminate in the United States. His use of Israeli sources brings to the literature of the Arab-Israeli conflict in America unfamiliar facts highly relevant to the debate.

The Fateful Triangle, impressive as it is as a contribution to the literature, may be faulted on two points. One, it fails to inquire into the degree to which the Arab states may be responsible for Israeli-U.S. rejectionism. The Arabs, by tolerating a lopsided balance of power in the region, are indirectly responsible for making Israel's wars profitable and U.S. insensitivity to Arab grievances virtually risk-free. Secondly, the book's conclusions overestimate Israel's capacity to act independently of U.S. policy. It is not only Israel's military capability which has increased, but also its dependence on U.S. largesse.

Muhammad Hallaj is the Director of the Palestine Research and Educational Center in Washington, and editor of Palestine Perspectives.