Manama: A top US general has said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was fomenting anti-American sentiment and limiting America's strategic partnerships with Arab governments due to a perception of US favouritism towards Israel, US and Israeli media have said.
The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbours present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests, General David Petraeus said in a written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the [Middle East] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world, said Petraeus, commander of the US military's Central Command, a zone that ranges from Egypt to Pakistan, but excludes Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Petraeus added that the conflict also helps Al Qaida and other terrorist groups exploit that anger to mobilise support, and gives Iran influence.
Credible effort
A credible US effort on Arab-Israeli issues that provides regional governments and populations a way to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the disputes would undercut Iran's policy of militant resistance, he said.
The statement by Petraeus, a uniformed general regarded well in Washington for turning around insurgency in Iraq, is a landmark in the US where judgments on essentially political issues have traditionally been voiced by American political leaders and policy makers, Jerusalem Post reported.
Israel has fought off similar attempts to place the Palestinian issue at the centre of America's challenges with Arab countries and the wider Muslim world, particularly the notion that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the key to resolving the region's woes, the newspaper said. The Israeli embassy declined to comment on his statements.
According to an article in Foreign Policy, Admiral Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, was in January briefed about a growing perception among Arab leaders that the US was incapable of standing up to Israel, that Centcom's mostly Arab constituency was losing faith in American promises, and that Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardising US standing in the region.
The briefing, prepared by a team of senior military officers from the US Central Command, was based on conclusions from a December 2009 tour of the region where, on Petraeus' instructions, they spoke to senior Arab leaders.
"Everywhere they went, the message was pretty humbling," a Pentagon officer familiar with the briefing said.
"America was not only viewed as weak, but its military posture in the region was eroding."
According to the article, the Mullen briefing hit the White House like a bombshell and the Obama administration decided it would redouble its efforts in pressing Israel once again on the colonies issue.
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