From Josh Rogin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s excellent \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cable\u00e2\u20ac\u009d blog at foreignpolicy.com today:<\/p>\n
Dennis Ross links Middle East peace to Iran
\nPosted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, May 5, 2010 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 6:16 PM<\/p>\n
The National Security Council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dennis Ross is the latest U.S. official to link the Obama administration\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drive to secure peace between Israelis and Arabs to the overall goal of bringing greater stability to the region and combating the threat from Iran.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In this region, pursuing peace is instrumental to shaping a new regional context,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ross said in remarks Monday evening. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pursuing peace is not a substitute for dealing with the other challenges \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 It is also not a panacea. But especially as it relates to resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, if one could do that, it would deny state and non-state actors a tool they use to exploit anger and grievances.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Ross was speaking at the closing dinner for the Anti-Defamation League annual conference, where attendees also heard from the NSC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Daniel Shapiro, the State Department\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coordinator for counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin, special envoy for monitoring anti-Semitism Hannah Rosenthal, Israeli Amb. Michael Oren, and others.<\/p>\n
Ross, whose exact portfolio at the NSC has been the subject of much speculation outside the administration, noted that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the greatest challenge for peace, for security in the Middle East, lies in Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and tied the Israeli-Arab conflict to the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Clearly one way that Iran is increasing its influence in the region is by exploiting the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ross said, echoing statements made by U.S. Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus in a report (pdf) submitted to Congress back in March.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Petraeus wrote. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Conservative hard-liners ripped Petraeus for the statement, linking the report to a story on Foreign Policy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Middle East Channel (some elements of which are in dispute). The National Review\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Andrew McCarthy even accused the general of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153echoing the narrative peddled incessantly by leftists in the government he serves and by Islamists in the countries where he works.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But Ross, who is not often accused of being too hard on Israel, made similar comments Monday. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The continuation of the conflict strengthens Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rejectionist partners and also Hezbollah. Iran deliberately uses the conflict to expose even the moderates in the region by stoking the fears of its populations and playing the worst most anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist prejudices,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is quite a remarkable statement and should no doubt create some consternation at AIPAC, among other right-wing Israel Lobby institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Josh Rogin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s excellent \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cable\u00e2\u20ac\u009d blog at foreignpolicy.com today: Dennis Ross links Middle East peace to Iran Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, May 5, 2010 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 6:16 PM The National Security Council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dennis Ross is the latest U.S. official to link the Obama administration\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drive to secure peace between Israelis and Arabs to the overall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7048,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047\/revisions\/7048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7047"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}