Richard Melson

-------- Original Message --------

Haaretz (Israel)

17/03/2006

Study: U.S. Middle East policy motivated by pro-Israel lobby

By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Middle East policy is not in America's national
interest and is motivated primarily by the country's pro-Israel lobby,
according to a study published Thursday by researchers from Harvard
University and the University of Chicago.

Observers in Washington said Thursday that the study was liable to stir up a
tempest and spur renewed debate about the function of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee lobby. The Fatah office in Washington distributed
the article to an extensive mailing list.

"No lobby has managed to divert U.S. foreign policy as far from what the
American national interest would otherwise suggest, while simultaneously
convincing Americans that U.S. and Israeli interests are essentially
identical," write the authors of the study.

John J. Mearsheimer from the University of Chicago's political science
department and Stephen M. Walt from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government do not present new facts. They rely mainly on an analysis of
Israeli and American newspaper reports and studies, along with the findings
of the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

The study also documents accusations that American supporters of Israel
pushed the United States into war with Iraq. It lists senior Bush
administration officials who supported the war and are also known to support
Israel, such as Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith and David Wurmser. The authors
say the influence of the pro-Israel lobby is a source of serious concern and
write that it has even caused damage to Israel by preventing it from
reaching a compromise with its neighbors.

2006 Haaretz.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/695495.html

(To read the full text of the study, see the attachment)

Attachment: IsraelLobbyandUSForeignPolicy.pdf (1.39 MB)