In the context of rising tensions between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government about Jewish settlements in the West Bank, it is appropriate to look at some details. They may not convince Obama enthusiasts to question whether the president is on the right track. They will not overturn the view held by many that the settlements represent all that is short-sighted and wrong-headed about the Israeli regime. Facts are only one of the things considered by partisans. Nonetheless, they are worth something.
They indicate that Israel has been more successful than the United States in dealing with its security, at less cost to the people who consider themselves enemies of Israel.
One estimate of civilians killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since American and coalition operations began after 9-11-2001 is above 700,000. http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html. An estimate admittedly low and partial counts more than 44,000 civilians killed in Iraq alone, only since 2006. http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx
About 4,600 Palestinians defined as "civilians" have been killed since the onset of the most recent intifada in September, 2000. The same source counts 731 Israeli civilians killed.
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html
That makes the ratio of Palestinian to Israeli civilians killed at 6 to 1. The ratio of Iraqi and Afghans civilians killed to the Americans killed on 9-11 is in the range of 233 to 1, or 17 to 1, depending on whether high or low estimates are employed.
Israel is a long way from declaring victory in its war against Arab terror, but the picture is one of relative quiet since the IDF entered and left Lebanon in 2006, entered and left Gaza earlier this year.
The record shows nine Israeli civilians killed in the most recent 12 months. http://www.jr.co.il/terror/israel/index2.htm Twenty-four Israeli civilians died by terror in 2008. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Victims+of+Palestinian+Violence+and+Terrorism+sinc.htm
This compares with an annual average of almost 300 Israeli deaths from terror during the peak intifada years of 2001-03.
The United States is further from accomplishing its aims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Casualties have dropped in Iraq over the last 12 months, but still accounted for about 200 US military deaths and (from the more conservative source) almost Iraqi 3,300 civilian deaths. In the same time frame there have been 316 US military deaths in Afghanistan.
Recent items in the New York Times suggest dismal failure in Afghanistan.
"It isn't just Taliban violence that Afghans need shielding from. Errant American fire has taken an unacceptably high toll, especially from the airstrikes that American commanders came to rely on . . . One particularly deadly episode last month killed dozens of civilians (the Pentagon says 20 to 30; the Afghan government says 140)." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/opinion/08mon1.html?hpw
With respect to American efforts to improve Afghan security forces:
"Among the Afghans, mass illiteracy, equipment loss, crime and corruption . . . have blunted readiness. Immaturity and ill discipline bedevil many units. Illicit drug use persists, and some American officers worry about loyalty and intelligence leaks." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/world/asia/08afghan.html?hp
Against this record of greater Israeli than American success, we should ask why the Obama administration is pressing Israel to change course in relation to its dealings with the Palestinians. Charles Krauthammer finds it especially disturbing that the administration is making a point of engaging several prominent antagonists in dialogue, but that it is dictating to Israel.
"America will henceforth 'start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating.' An admirable sentiment. It applies to everyone -- Iran, Russia, Cuba, Syria, even Venezuela. Except Israel. Israel is ordered to freeze all settlement activity. As Secretary of State Clinton imperiously explained the diktat: 'a stop to settlements -- not some settlements, not outposts, not natural-growth exceptions.' " http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/06/05/the_settlements_canard
Over the years, Israel has also provided a better life for the minority within its borders than has the United States. The Obama family and other minorities who have moved into the economic, social, and political elites during the most recent 40 years should make Americans proud. However, the incidence of American minorities in poverty, incarcerated, with poorer than average health and shorter than average life spans makes the United States an outlier among western democracies, and less admirable than comparable statistics from Israel.
A useful summary measure is life expectancy. Israeli statistics show that it is 79.5 years for Jewish males and 75.3 for Arab males. Comparable American figures show it to be 73.6 years for white males (less than for Israeli Arab males), and 68.9 years for minority males. For Palestinians in the West Bank the life expectancy of males is 71.7 years, and in Gaza 70.7 years. Figures for all races and both sexes in Egypt are 63.3 years and in Syria 68.5 years.
All this helps to explain the responses to a popular internet poll that asked for Israeli responses to the President's Cairo speech. Of the more than 46,000 answers, 7 percent thought the speech inspiring and 11 percent said that only Obama would bring peace. However, 14 percent judged the speech was more favorable to Arabs than to Israel, and 58 percent responded that Israel must look after itself because it could not rely on the United States. (www.walla.co.il, June 8, 2009)
I welcome comments sent to my e-mail address, below.
Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus)
Department of Political Science
Hebrew University
Jerusalem, Israel
Tel: +972-2-532-2725
email: msira@mscc.huji.ac.il