Doomed To Succeed, by Dennis Ross, is an extraordinary book for anyone
that wants to understand how US Presidents from Truman through
Obama have reacted toward Israel, its policies, and the reasoning
behind them. Dennis Ross has been a direct participant in
shaping U.S. policy toward the Middle East, and Israel specifically,
for nearly thirty years, participating in two Republican and
two Democratic administrations. This is not a history of Arab-Israeli
peace efforts but rather a discussion of the evolution of
Israeli-American diplomatic relations.
One of the most important points to be made in the book is
that Presidents, such as Eisenhower, Nixon, Carter, Bush 41,
and Obama, were not successful when they chose to redefine
the relationship with Israel in order to gain with the Arabs.
Yet, those Presidents who cooperated with Israel did not have
the expected negative fallout with the Arab countries. Ross
emphasizes in the book, “As the scope of US strategic
and military cooperation with Israel has grown to unprecedented
levels, the US presence in a number of Arab Gulf states has
also dramatically increased.”
He directly noted, that the recent Iran Deal is the perfect
example. “What I say in the book is that the Arab leaders
are focused on their regional rivals who see it as a direct
threat to their security and survival: Egypt in the 1950s
and 1960s, Saddam and Gaddafi the 1970s and 1980s, and today
with the Iranians. Specifically the sanction relief that will
allow them more resources to cause trouble.”
He also makes an interesting premise, that the Palestinian
issue is not a priority for the Arab leaders. Unlike President
Obama, who according to Ross, “sees the Palestinians
as too weak to criticize and therefore reserves his criticism
for Israel. The problem is when you give them a pass it becomes
difficult for them to compromise because they also see themselves
as the victim. If you always give them a pass and never hold
them accountable why would they change their behavior? I remember
commenting, if they are too weak to be criticized, to weak
to be held accountable, then they are too weak to have a state.
Those in this administration that feel that there must be
a peace accord between the Palestinians and Israelis do not
understand that nothing is going to change what is happening
in Syria, or with ISIS.”
In reading this book people will learn how the different Presidents
have reacted towards the relationship with Israel. For example,
JFK was the first President to sell arms and talk about the
special relationship, Eisenhower and LBJ were preoccupied
with other events such as the Cold War and Vietnam, and that
the reason Nixon supplied Israel with arms on the eighth day
of the Yom Kippur War was because no cease fire was accepted,
the Russians were resupplying Egypt and Syria, and he did
not want it to be seen in the context as Soviet arms defeating
US arms. The chapter on Bill Clinton is also very insightful
in that Ross sees this President as the only one who “did
not see Israel as a problem and refused to have public discourse
with Israel.”
Ross explains Doomed To Succeed is an appropriate
title, “Although we may have differences from time to
time what binds us is so much stronger than what divides us.
Our relationship is rooted in shared values of being governed
by the rule of law, civil liberties, separation of powers,
freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and respect for gay
rights and women rights. There is no other country like Israel
in the Middle East. It has retained its democratic character
even with all the threats it faces.”
This book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding
the US-Israel relationship. Doomed to Succeed offers
compelling advice for how to understand the priorities of
Arab leaders, Israel, and how future administrations might
best shape U.S. policy in that light.
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