Abstract
"It is commonly argued that Israel promotes American interests in the Middle East by acting as a barrier against Soviet penetration, by maintaining regional stability through its absolute military superiority, and by ensuring the survival of pro-American Arab regimes. The result is the thesis that Israel is a "strategic asset" to the United states. There is, however, a contrary view: the existence of Israel and the policies it has pursued have made the Arabs susceptible to Soviet influence and have enabled Moscow to extend its penetration of the region. Indeed, it was in direct response to Israeli aggression that several Arab states turned to the Soviet Union for arms and forged alliances with Moscow to maximize their own security. Likewise, it is the Israeli refusal to recognize Palestinian nationalist aspirations or to deal with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the institutional expression of those aspirations (and its success in preventing the Uited States from so doing) that perpetuated the Palestinians' resort to force as a means for securing their ends and impelled them to turn to Moscow."
