Cold War Containment
Reader comment on item: Interview: ‘I watch with frustration as the Israelis don't get the point'

Submitted by elaine (United States), Jun 12, 2006 at 19:57

Very interesting interview Dr. Pipes.

I think it could be argued that Israel is in a similar situation to the U.S and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. A big part of the U.S. strategey was containment of the Soviets. Eventually, that helped lead to their collapse and our victory.

Perhaps if Israel can just prevent the Arabs from achieving victory for a long enough time, perhaps out of sheer weariness, they will cease to try to eliminate Israel. If this happens, Israel will have "won", even though their goal was never per say to force the Arabs to accept them. Their goal was simply to out last and out endure the Arabs.

Thus, I think that the Israeli position of "managing" the confilict, although not as gripping as seeking victory for themselves and the defeat of their enemies, can still lead to victory, if victory is defined as the Arabs giving up on defeating and destroying Israel.

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