The former Governor of Alaska just returned from her low key trip to Israel with her husband. Last night, she gave an interview to Greta Van Susteren on Fox News when she said the following about Israel:
“President Obama was inappropriate to intervene in a zoning issue in Israel,” she said, referring to settlement building on the West Bank. “Let Israel decide their zoning issues themselves.”
Her understanding of foreign policy does not run very deep I see. Last week, during Palin’s trip to India, some were trying to find a coherent doctrine in her thinking. That “zoning issue” happens to be the settlement expansion that Israel has on and off frozen for the last few years. It is the biggest impediment towards getting a two state solution because every time the U.S. tries to negotiate with Israel, they decide to expand settlements the West Bank or Gaza Strip, or they decide to lift the current freeze they have on settlements. This is not just something the U.S. demands of Israel. Rather, the Palestinian leaders call for this when they want to negotiate. So, naturally, if a peace process started again, the settlements would be up for discussion.
My other problem with this statement, other than her ignorance of Middle Eastern politics, is the inconsistency Palin has in regards to sovereignty. On the one hand, she wants to the U.S. to criticize China for human rights abuses and supports both the nation building exercises in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other hand, when it comes to our allies, we should just not tell them what to do because, in the case of Israel, these are local issues. This is highly contradictory in my opinion. If she wants to be serious in the foreign policy realm, she must work harder at understanding these complex topics and not contradict herself.
Photo Credit: Washington Post
