Lots of ink has been devoted to the formal negotiations that commenced in midsummer between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. An arguably more important undertaking, however, has been led by recently retired four-star Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, to come up with a made-in-America solution to Israel’s security needs on its “eastern front” — across the Jordan River eastward to Iraq and Iran. Unlike the diplomatic track, whose failure to get out of neutral is subject to much informed and uninformed commentary, Allen’s effort has largely succeeded in maintaining a low public and political profile.
This is in inverse proportion to the issue at hand. Allen and a team drawn largely from the ranks of serving US military officers are in the broadest sense trying to define the security architecture of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, particularly as it relates to Israel’s strategic security. He is looking at how Israel’s security can be increased as part of an agreement — through redeployment of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) behind recognized borders and the creation of a third-party monitoring presence. His recommendations were passed on to Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, IDF chief of staff .
The United States has traditionally bowed to Israel’s own expansive assessments on this issue, so the very fact that US policymakers are instructing their own generals and colonels to think critically about defining and addressing Israel’s security needs is a topic of concern to many Israeli officials and politicians, who will not easily surrender their absolute control of both the negotiating agenda or its practical elements.
It is difficult to measure Allen’s effort directly. But it is possible to see evidence of the consternation it is causing in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s effort to challenge the notions at the heart of Allen’s and more broadly the Kerry-led policy to facilitate a negotiated agreement. So, for example, Netanyahu has wrapped himself in the revered mantle of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the leader most associated with Israel’s uneven reconciliation with Palestinian nationalism, in reiterating opposition to any significant change in Israel’s military presence in and control over the Jordan Valley.
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