 |
| Arab League |
As Aluf Benn testifies in his article, "once Israel was seen as a David fighting the Arab Goliath, while in recent years the image has been reversed: The Palestinians are described as a small and brave nation fighting for its liberty with stones and primitive bombs and Israel is depicted as the giant, equipped with F-16s and nuclear weapons."
Benn creates an optical illusion here, through his reversal of the "Arabs," who comprise the entire Arab world, and the "Palestinians," standing on their own.
It's true that placing the Israeli-Arab conflict in the narrow framework of a purely Israeli-Palestinian problem, as Benn does in his article, is liable to make Israel seem like Goliath in public opinion in the West and among many others, especially those who are fundamentally anti-Israel in any case; and Benn's perception even provides justification for that.
But when looking at the situation in the region, the proper framework within which to present the problem is the overall Israeli-Arab conflict, in all its facets. In other words, Israel is not confronting only the Palestinians. We must recognize the fact that Israel is still little David, fighting for its very existence against a large and hostile Arab world, rich in manpower and natural resources, and which enjoys a respectable international standing and military power that is only growing.
The Palestinians are part of the Arab world, and Israel's most important wars have been fought against Arab countries. And yet this Goliath manages to disguise itself in the global arena as a "robbed Cossack," the villain pretending to be the victim, in the guise of the unfortunate Palestinian David confronting the Israeli Goliath. This is nothing but a reversal of the real situation.
Zvi Kedar, former ambassador
Jerusalem
