Sunday, 1 October 2006

Iran, Israel, Palestine and the Nuclear Weapons Issue

This was written in response to an article by Niall Ferguson (entitled ‘The Origins of the Great War of 2007 ... And How it Could have Been Prevented’) published in the Irish Independent's Weekend Review section of 21st January 2006 and in The Sunday Telegraph of 15th January 2006.

There is one very obvious reason why Iran is unlikely to use its (as yet non-existent) nuclear capability to achieve some goal of 'wiping Israel off the map'. However Niall Ferguson in his article The Origins of the Great War of 2007 ... And How it Could have Been Prevented appears to have completely missed it. The reason is that it is impossible for Iran to do so, using the nuclear option, without wiping Palestine off the map as well!

Some years ago it was reported that Israeli military 'scientists' were trying to develop biological weapons, which would be lethal only against people of Palestinian ethnicity. I don't know how far they ever progressed in this. What we all know about nuclear weapons is that they are neither so sophisticated nor discriminating. Indeed if you study closely the comments of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad he gives no indication that 'wiping Israel off the map' is something Iran itself proposes to undertake. Rather he seems to be urging Palestinians in this direction. Don't get me wrong. I believe comments like these from the Iranian leadership, even if only rhetorical, are harmful, dangerous and wrong. The international community, particularly those countries (Ireland included) that have persecuted Jewish people in the past, should rally to prevail upon Iran to step down from positions like these.

It may only represent a hair's breadth of a difference but it would appear that the Iranian policy is guided, not so much by anti-Israeli sentiment, as it is pro-Palestinian. And this presents a glimmer of hope. Because what genuine defender of the rights of the Palestinian people would seriously even consider, let alone undertake, an act that would devastate their homeland! So by the same token the long-term security and viability of Israel depends on Israeli people's willingness to reach accommodation with their neighbours, leading ultimately towards a shared homeland. Shower them with love; invite them into your homes! Naive and simplistic, perhaps! But it could just be crazy enough to work. Particularly if Palestinians can be persuaded to desist from undertaking acts of revenge. They should also emphasise to their allies in the region that attacks on Israel are not in Palestinian interests. In Ireland we only have to look over our shoulder to see that achieving such settlements are realistic, even if problematic. Peace is the only sustainable roadmap.

If the historian Niall Ferguson believes that all that is required is a couple of pre-emptive military strikes, (which he appears to advocate) and then we can all go back to sleep, he really is poorly taught. It would mean that WE IN THE WEST are truly acting like the appeasers of the 1930's. This is because short-termism and procrastination would have become the overriding policy of the day, at the expense of international justice.

21st January, 2006

A version of this post was published as a 'Letter to the Editor' in Daily Ireland of 26th January, 2006.

Copyright © Oscar Ó Dúgáin, 2006

1 comment:

Thinker22 said...

>> There is one very obvious reason why Iran is unlikely to use its (as yet non-existent) nuclear capability to achieve some goal of 'wiping Israel off the map'. However Niall Ferguson in his article The Origins of the Great War of 2007 ... And How it Could have Been Prevented appears to have completely missed it. The reason is that it is impossible for Iran to do so, using the nuclear option, without wiping Palestine off the map as well!

Someone must remind the author of this article that the Iranians are Shia Persians and the Palestinians are Suni Arabs. The Shia Persians love Sunni Arabs no more than they love Israeli Jews.

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