The Risks of U.S. Silence

On April 19, the United States sponsored a U.N. Security Council resolution expressing concern about “the dire humanitarian situation of the Palestinian civilian population, in particular, reports from the Jenin refugee camp of an unknown number of deaths and destruction.”

The council unanimously voted to send a fact-finding team to Jenin. Israel agreed but then objected and continued to resist even as the United Nations met the conditions it imposed--that a military expert be added, that Israeli soldiers not be prosecuted, that Israel’s complaints about terror attacks launched from the camp be investigated.

The United States was silent when it should have been speaking forcefully. When doing so serves justice, Washington should not hesitate to pressure Israel, its strongest ally in the Middle East, its fellow democracy, its largest recipient of aid at $3 billion a year. Palestinian claims of hundreds of deaths appear exaggerated. Israel puts the death toll at about 50 and says most of the fatalities were Palestinian fighters, not civilians. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers were killed. Whatever the numbers, Israel’s refusal to admit finders of fact gave the appearance of something to hide.

In these days of Arab satellite television broadcasting pictures of dead Palestinians around the clock, Israel has long lost the battle of perception concerning Jenin. Palestinians and their supporters believe that what happened at the camp constitutes a war crime. So far as is known, it does not. But a determination of how many people died under what conditions would have benefited Israel. The United States is suffering from the perception that it has given a green light to Israel to attack Palestinians at will.

The belief, no matter how mistaken, that Israeli troops conducted a wanton slaughter in Jenin will further inflame potential suicide bombers and make it harder for Arab governments to pressure Palestinian instigators. Israel continues to take the actions it believes are necessary in what it considers a fight for survival. But to survive as a robust democracy, it must adhere to certain rules even when its opponents do not.

Washington does Israel no favors by acquiescing whenever its leaders make their own rules. In the long run, U.S. weakness only delays the end of violence.