Why does the US take Israel's side and not bring peace to both sides?

Answer 1

Answer 1 I'm no expert, but from what I read in the papers, the US has been quite active in several attempts to bring peace to both sides, and has even suggested a few simple steps that might help achieve it. Among the ideas has been the suggestion that the Palestinian people and their leaders simply agree that Israel has a right to exist as a nation, agree to back off from the elementary school lessons that teach Muslim children that Jews are apes and pigs, agree to discourage the launching of rockets into Israel, and agree to avoid future armed military invasions of Israel. I have to tell you that as much as those suggestions may grind your gears or stick in your craw, they really don't sound like a lot to ask of your neighbors when you're discussing peace. Over the years, I've watched Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon, return the Sinai to Egypt as part of a peace treaty, and force all of its settlers out of Gaza and hand the strip over to Fatah, but the only result seems to be that those places turn into launching pads for more rockets, and none of the 'neighbors' seems any more willing to allow Israel to live in peace. I'm beginning to believe it when I hear people say that if the Palestinians put down their weapons, they would get what Israel wants: peace, and prosperity along with economic and social and educational development, and if Israel put down their weapons, they would get what the Palestinians want: no more Israel and piles of dead Jews.

Answer 2

The question asserts two flawed premises as fact. The first is that the United States "takes Israel's side" and the second is that the United States can "bring peace".

As to the first, the United States has strong relations with a number of Middle Eastern regimes. In addition to supporting Israel, the United States gives billions annually to Egypt, is the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority of any country, has a strong alliance (primarily diplomatic) with the Kingdom of Jordan, and maintains strong economic ties with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE. Most Arabs and their sympathizers like to point at the US-Israel relationship as the only or primary Middle Eastern relationship. It is merely one of many. More US diplomatic cables are annually sent to Jordan than to Israel because of Jordan's key role in facilitating Arab-Israeli negotiations. Jordan also has a much better grasp on the situations in Syria and Iraq than Israel does. The United States has met with Palestinian leaders and provided grants for the building of schools and roads in Palestine as well as providing training for the Palestinian police. On the Israeli side, the US and Israel have strong trade relations and exchange military technologies. Since Israel is a developed country, it is not surprising that US-Israel trade is quite large relative to the Israeli population, but it is dwarfed numerically by US-Saudi or US-Turkish trade.

As to the second, peace can only be achieved when both governments are willing to be conciliatory and peaceful. At this point in time, it appears that the Palestinian Authority is more conciliatory at a facial level than the Israeli government. However, as Answer 1 notes, the Palestinian populace is much less willing to dignify the Israeli position than their leaders. The Israeli population, for the moment, is tired of concerning themselves with the Palestinians and is now focusing on domestic issues such as welfare reform and housing prices. Since neither the governments nor the people are really pursuing peace, there is nothing much that the US government can do to bring peace to them.