No more blind eyes: Is full time approaching for Israel's belligerent foreign policy?

For most people who have any knowledge of the Jewish state of Israel's rather short, but nevertheless eventful history, this week's revelations in the Guardian newspaper that there is now documentary evidence to prove that Israel had been providing nuclear weapons to the South African apartheid regime during the seventies and eighties may not have come as the greatest shock. The records of discussions, where both sides talked of their shared love of freedom (unless you're black or Arab that is), are ironic as they are disturbing. I particularly enjoyed the South African government's expression of brotherly feelings with Israel, saying that they were both "situated in a predominantly hostile world inhabited by dark peoples." Typical fascists to bring skin colour into everything.

The question, however, is how much longer can Israel hope to defy the UN, and now even the United States over their handling, of not only affairs in Gaza and the West Bank but also their actions elsewhere across the globe? Barack Obama has set himself the task of bringing some form of peace settlement and a step on the road to reconciliation between Israel what is left of the Palestinian state. But Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its siege on Gaza is not a problem which only effects these two nations. It has worldwide significance, especially for the US, which is right now struggling to prevent Iran from acquiring the nuclear weapons it feels it needs to compete with Israel's power in the Middle East. The hostility between these nations makes it obvious that arming both with nuclear weapons would bode ill for the region and for global security.

So when President Obama seeks to prevent Iran arming itself with weapons of mass destruction, he must surely see that it is tied in with the issue of Israeli belligerence. Snubbed by the Israeli prime minister and now greeted with evidence that Israel was happy to arm a white supremacist regime with atomic bombs, Mr. Obama's patience may be wearing thin. Despite the massive lobbyist influence in the US, which prevents America from exerting any real pressure on the Jewish state, Israel has done too much to think that it can continue to defy the world's greatest superpower. Israel's crimes are great and many, and they are well known as well. They do not measure up to the crimes committed by others over the last hundred years, but as a liberal democracy it is disturbing to observe how seemingly unrepentantly they bomb and shoot children and civilians.

Mossad's use of fake British passports in its latest killing is another good example of how the state has tried Western patience in recent years. If America hopes to disarm Iran, it must first look to controlling Israel, which too often threatens and attacks its neighbours. Also, American support of the Jewish state even when it is being accused of war crimes by the United Nations is an important fuelling element in the growth of terrorism by militant Muslims against the West. To bring about lasting peace in Israel and Palestine, Mr. Obama must appear not to take sides, and his recent agreements for nuclear disarmament with Russia should be used as an example to show that the US does not condone the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Israel must pledge itself to a peaceful resolution of their conflict with the Palestinians and put an end to their growing enmity against Iran, else risk being isolated by an international community which is starting to frown ever more deeply upon its actions. It should take note of the apartheid regime's fall if it does not wish to share its fate in one way or another. Marginalising the extremists is the key to ending the conflict in the Middle East. Israel must marginalise its own extremists and we must all act to end the killing and oppression of Palestinians if we are to stem the hate against the West.

Bringing freedom to Palestine will dampen the fires of extremism more than invading Iraq and Afghanistan ever did, in fact those actions perhaps only helped to exacerbate the problem. The Middle Eastern conflict is the greatest test that western civilisation has faced since the Second World War, if we do not find a peaceful and lasting solution, the world's newly emerging superpowers may spell the end to the west's dominance and pose a threat to the survival of liberal democracy. It falls to America to bring its promise of freedom where it's needed, else it risks becoming like the imperialists it so proudly overthrew. Perhaps this apartheid revelation might spur Obama on to sort this out once an for all. One things for sure, if Israel carries on like it has done, the consequences may be as devastating for Britain as for anyone else. We must, in the end, put our trust in the United States to find the solution, and thus perhaps we should all be worried.