Potential Explanations Paper

The role of the Middle East has been very crucial to the United States, especially after WWII. The U.S. had three strategic goals in the Middle East and consistently followed them throughout various events that unfolded in the region. First, with the emergence of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.S., policymakers began to recognize the importance of the Middle East as a strategic area in containing Soviet influence. This also coincides with the U.S. becoming increasingly wary of Arab nationalism and the threat it posed to U.S. influence. Secondly, the emergence of the new Israeli state in 1948 further deepened U.S. policy and involvement in the region while also creating friction between the U.S. and Arab states which were

In the beginning, the State of Israel’s contributions to world development was considered great; however due to social and political factors that ended in war the current aid is only a fraction of what it used to be.

Since his presidency did not begin with Israel becoming a state, his focus was greatly adjusted and at first there was a noticeable decline in aid and care for Israel’s wellbeing. Israel was also rather vulnerable during this time, due to the fact that there more Jewish refugees entering Israel from surrounding Arab states. President Eisenhower convincingly proved that America had the ability to influence Israel in a good way, although his presidency ended with the Middle East still in a state of war. During Eisenhower’s administration, there were two successful incidents of U.S. management of Israel and in both circumstances, Eisenhower avoided the political compulsions of America’s attachment to Israel and instead forced the Israelis to act upon principle. Unfortunately, his presidency was the last to give Israel undivided focus, for the ones to follow were absorbed in other affairs and did not provide the same constructive support.

Shapiro claim that United States foreign aid to Israel increases stability and peace in the Middle East. This has been proving false in recent years. According to Princeton professor Steven Strauss, our goals no longer align with Israel. They do not want to maintain diplomatic relationships with Palestine. He states that “In exchange for $3 billion dollars/year in aid to Israel, the least the U.S. should expect is that the Israeli government be serious about negotiating peace with the Palestinians." Israel has been using U.S. money to annex more and more Palestinian land to their country. If the billions America spends on foreign aid is going to stop the creation of a stable Middle East then we must stop right

and U.N. This causes these entities to impose sanctions and restrictions on these countries which in turn creates a more hostile environment to the global community (Bruno, 2011). While the U.S. combines efforts with Israel to gain intelligence on the support and aid of terrorist sponsoring states such as Iran and Syria, it gives the U.S. leverage in its other efforts against these states; such as Iran attempting to enrich Uranium causing further NATO sanctions. Additionally it could provide the U.S. insight on what other terrorist organizations Iran is sponsoring internationally, which would provide benefit to U.S. intelligence collections at home and abroad. Looking forward Israel will remain one of the U.S. largest assets in the region and due to its large military presence and the partnership of trade and intelligence in the region will greatly benefit the U.S. intelligence efforts in the Middle

Officials in D.C. are reportedly negotiating with Israel. Israel has insisted that the aid they have been getting from America is not enough. Many people have stated that the reason America would rather give out money to a foreign country instead of helping its own citizens is because Israel has donated millions to America's political

The impact of variety of lobbying groups on the US foreign policy has been an issue for debate for a long period. Since US foreign policy inevitably shapes the entire globe, numerous lobbying groups recognize its power and tend to shape their agendas in favorable manner. Despite variety of interest groups in US, particularly focused on Washington DC, Jewish lobby is deemed as the most successful. In the context of the foreign policy, the US presence in the Middle East and democracy-oriented reforms recently define the attempts and goals of the Israel lobby. Since the Middle East has been critical and strategically important, lobby’s task is to influence not only the US government but also the public perception on the invisibility of interests. In addition, Israel’s strategic position during the Cold War or alliance in the War on Terror may be justifiable reasons for further mutual cooperation between two countries. Due to the Israel’s isolation in the Middle East and constant perceived threats from Arab countries, US has been its greatest ally as well as diplomatic and material supporter. Moreover, direct causal relationship between US and Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria or Iran has developed mostly due to close ties with Israel as their direct enemy. Therefore, the US policy on terrorism issues, nuclear development or similar issues in the region is

Ackerman, W. (2000). The Americanization of Israeli Education. Israel Studies, 5(1), 228-243. Retrieved from http://www.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/30245536

The purpose of this paper is to provide an informative comparison between the constitution of the United States and that of Israel. Although Israel does not have an official constitution in place, there are sets of basic laws and rules that will be used to draw conclusions about how they address human rights, government power and structure, and how this may affect the allied relationship with the United states. There is a rather controversial debate regarding the importance of such an ally which brings into question the benefits of large sums of financial aid sent to Israel on a yearly basis. While the United States continues the quest for worldwide democracy, many argue that funding Israel is essential for maintaining a positive

This work is made possible by financial support from the members of AIPAC, through participation in AIPAC's clubs, investing with the AIPAC Tomorrow campaign, and being politically engaged with members of Congress. The supporters of AIPAC in the U.S. number upwards of 100,000 individuals. AIPAC is not a political action committee, neither does it rate or endorse political candidates. Their main purpose is to develop relationships with their members of Congress and educate them about the inportance of U.S.-Israel

The Arab-Israeli conflict, initiated over one-hundred years ago and still continuing, has confounded both policy-makers and citizens; despite the best efforts of foreign leaders, only one substantial accord has materialized in the decades of negotiations: the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979. Before one undertakes to understand such a complex topic as the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, however, a broad knowledge of the historical background of the two countries involved is essential to understanding the motivations and aspirations of both parties, which in turn will shed light on the peace treaty itself. Foreign policy can’t be viewed in a vacuum; rather, each country must be viewed as a nation with legitimate historical and political

For the America, maintaining the “special relationship” with Israel is in line with its interests. First, due to the special geography, Israel can serve as an important backing for the U.S. to preserve its dominance in the Middle East. Second, a powerful Israel with strong military capacity can help the U.S. fight against Islamic extremists and terrorists. Third, supporting Israel is in accord with the broadest conception of the American national interest --- supporting like-minded societies, because US-Israel relationship is based on moral obligation, shared cultural and political values and common strategic interests. Therefore, Israel constitutes “the most enduring and the most immediate interest” (Pollock

Mearsheimer describes several key facets of realism: a necessary balance of power among states, the idea that national interest takes precedence over personal morality, the belief that the possibility of cooperation among states is limited, and above all, that “survival is a state’s most important goal.” This lens is easily applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since each feels that the existence of the opposing nation is a threat to their existence. To compensate, each is attempting to increase their power, exemplifying Mearsheimer’s concept of pursuit of power. Israel has been powerful in the Middle East due to strength in two main areas: military and economy. In 1948, the Israeli government established the Israeli Defense Force as an essential component of survival, possessing a number of surrounding enemies since before its establishment. In addition to impressive military strength that has grown exponentially in the past sixty years, Israel’s economy has boomed, largely due to billions of dollars in financial support every year from the US. His concept of a balance of power is also demonstrated through this international issue because neither Israel nor Palestine possess complete knowledge of the other’s abilities, leading to concern on both sides about the others’ intentions. From the realist perspective, they have no choice but to strive to be more powerful, because that is how they will ensure

Prospect theory is an important alternative descriptive theory for decision-making under unreliable situation (Kahneman and Tversky 1979), which includes real life selection and psychological analysis between choices that involve risk. Prospect theory, which efforts to explain individual make decisions between risky replacements based on the value of potential gains and losses (Wakker 2010), advanced from expected utility theory, which explains that investors want to maximize expected utility of wealth when unclearly situations (Blavatskyy 2007). According to Kahneman and Tversky (1992), more recent researches perceived nonlinear preferences in choices that do not involve definite events in prospective theory. The concept of framing effect refers description invariances (Kahneman and Tversky 1992). To be specific, individual always makes the same decision in identical choice conditions. Also, decision makers have tendency to

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been an issue that definitely defined The U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Israel is an ally of the U.S. that receives a lot of foreign aid from the states. It’s a priority for the U.S. to protect Israel so it’s obvious where its’ loyalty lies. Israel also has good relations with Egypt; Egypt is crucial to the security of Israel, so that makes them an automatic ally that receives quite a bit of funds as well. It’s an on-going issue that makes pointing out allies clear as well as seeing who the top