Book summary “The fateful triangle”: summary

Introduction

You live in a world where official political discourse masks the brutal realities of imperial power. Mainstream media portrays the Middle East conflict as an endless, intractable cycle of ancient hatreds. You are led to believe that superpowers act as neutral mediators striving for peace.

U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East drive a fateful triangle of power that systematically suppresses Palestinian self-determination through regional militarism and ideological control.

This book investigates the anatomy of the alliance between the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians. You will examine how strategic military aid, ideological propaganda, and diplomatic rejectionism crush indigenous national aspirations.

• How do Washington and Tel Aviv maintain the myth of the peace process while expanding territorial control?
• What economic mechanisms and military subsidies sustain this regional hegemony?
• How do state propaganda systems invert victims and aggressors during military assaults?

1. Origins of the Special Relationship

The strategic importance of the Middle East for the United States lies primarily in vast petroleum reserves. You see that global power and massive profits derive directly from controlling them. Anglo-American rulers ensure this enormous wealth flows to the West. This wealth does not benefit the people of the region. That dynamic forms a fundamental cause of unrest and disorder.

The strategic alliance between the United States and Israel is founded on controlling Middle Eastern petroleum reserves and deploying Israel as a reliable regional proxy against indigenous radical nationalism.

Israel functions as a U.S. strategic asset by guarding regional stability. It protects existing pro-Western regimes and blocks indigenous radical nationalism or religious zealotry. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Israeli military strategists such as Shlomo Gazit explicitly viewed Israel's main task differently. They performed dirty work that the U.S. cannot undertake directly due to domestic popular opposition.

Israel continues its development and deployment of biological and chemical weapons under U.S. aegis. This echoes historical precedents set by the United States. Military analysts report that Israeli assault aircraft are equipped to carry chemical and biological weapons manufactured at a top-secret institute near Tel Aviv. This follows in the footsteps of the U.S. post-WWII absorption of Japanese biological warfare programs.

An El Al airliner crashed in Amsterdam, killing people on the ground. The aircraft was found to have been carrying nerve gas components intended for the biological institute in Nes Ziona.

2. U.S. Aid and Economic Support

U.S. military and economic aid to Israel has historically been massive. It far exceeds public figures and functions as a vital transfer covering virtually the entirety of Israel's investment. Prior to 1967, Israel received the highest per capita aid from the U.S. of any country.

Massive military and economic aid flows from Washington to Israel through concealed channels, bypassing statutory restrictions to cover the entirety of Israel's investment needs.

Public figures show that for fiscal years 1978 through 1982, Israel received 48 percent of all U.S. military aid and 35 percent of economic aid worldwide. The General Accounting Office informed Congress that the actual level of aid could be up to 60 percent higher than publicly available figures due to concealed channels.

For FY 1983, the Reagan administration requested almost $2.5 billion for Israel out of an $8.1 billion total aid budget. This package featured $500 million in outright grants and $1.2 billion in low-interest loans, complemented by proposals from Senator Alan Cranston to cover all Israeli debts.

Official statutory restrictions on how U.S. aid can be used are deliberately left unenforced through the structural design of the aid program. Development funds cannot be spent beyond pre-June 1967 borders. Weapons like cluster bombs are restricted to self-defense.

The aid program is designed so these rules cannot be enforced. The aid program to Egypt is managed by an office of 125 people supervising details. No U.S. official supervises the use of funds in Israel, permitting the indirect financing of settlements beyond the pre-June 1967 borders.

3. Rejectionism and Accommodation

A broad international consensus took shape after 1967 advocating a political settlement along pre-June 1967 borders. This international consensus included Europe, the USSR, and nonaligned nations. They initially interpreted UN Security Council Resolution 242 as requiring a political settlement with insubstantial border alterations and security guarantees. From the mid-1970s, this consensus evolved to explicitly recognize the right of Palestinians to national self-determination through a two-state settlement.

While an international consensus supports a two-state settlement, consistent U.S. and Israeli rejectionism blocks Palestinian national rights through territorial expansion and settlement construction.

While worldwide support for an accommodationist two-state settlement approaches unanimity outside of Israel and the U.S., American and Israeli policies have consistently rejected Palestinian national rights. This persistent rejectionism threatens to make a political settlement impossible by creating irreversible facts on the ground through illegal settlements. Rejectionist forces have consistently blocked the achievement of a viable and equitable comprehensive settlement.

Leaders like Nasser and Sadat offered full peace treaties, recognition, and security guarantees based on pre-1967 borders. The PLO supported UN resolutions and diplomatic statements for a two-state settlement. Israel dismissed all of these to pursue territorial expansion.

In February 1971, Anwar Sadat offered a full peace treaty on pre-June 1967 borders. Israel flatly rejected this offer on the same day it authorized new settlements around Jerusalem.

In January 1976, the U.S. vetoed a UN Security Council resolution backed by Arab states and the PLO calling for a two-state settlement.

4. Internal Control and Occupation

Over 200,000 security prisoners and detainees have passed through Israeli jails since the occupation began. This total represents about 20% of the population.

The military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza enforces totalitarian control, systematic torture, and economic subjugation through brutal administrative policies and collaborator networks.

Palestinian prisoners face horrific overcrowding and severe interrogation methods that are routinely dismissed in the West. Justice Moshe Etzioni dismissed high confession rates among Arabs as part of their nature. American liberal journals like The New Republic published explicit defenses of torture. Meanwhile, Charley Biton noted that 90% of those in military prisons originated from the Oriental Jewish community.

Trials of military personnel revealed that systematic beatings, collective punishments, and humiliating abuses were carried out under orders from top military leadership. Testimony from officers established that high-ranking officials, including Chief of Staff Eitan and Defense Minister Sharon, ordered soldiers to harass, beat, and punish civilians. Chief of Staff Eitan even proposed that 10 settlements be built for every stone-throwing incident.

During a trial of reserve officers, Major David Mofaz and other soldiers testified that they were ordered to beat Palestinian residents. They were forced into degrading acts such as barking like dogs or writing numbers on their arms on Holocaust Day.

The repression of the Intifada escalated into severe racist brutality and collective punishment. Under commanders like General Vilnai and Lieutenant-Colonel Elisha Shapira, soldiers received orders to break bones and commit excessive acts. Collective punishment was systematically applied by destroying homes under the pretext that a family member was suspected of throwing stones, leaving families homeless and barred from rebuilding.

Over 3,000 homes were destroyed under the pretext of family members suspected of crimes during the unrest. A total of 50,000 Palestinians were jailed during the Intifada. General Amram Mitzna commanded the West Bank with extreme brutality to compensate for his left-wing image, presenting a stark contrast between his televised humanist persona and the horrific injuries documented in X-rays.

5. The Lebanon War and Regional Hegemony

The primary strategic goal of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon was the political destruction of the PLO to prevent international recognition and sideline Palestinian self-determination. Leading Israeli scholars and journalists like Yehoshua Porath and Danny Rubinstein noted that Arafat's success in maintaining the cease-fire was terrifying to the Israeli government because it threatened to bring the PLO into political negotiations. A disciplined, peaceful PLO observing a cease-fire posed a catastrophic danger to Israel's rejectionist policies because it would force Israel into political negotiations leading to a Palestinian state. There were only 106 total Israelis killed in PLO cross-border actions over a 15-year period.

The 1982 invasion of Lebanon was executed under pretexts to destroy the PLO infrastructure, sideline Palestinian self-determination, and impose a new regional order.

The invasion of Lebanon and subsequent military destruction were enabled by a steady flow of advanced US weaponry and a diplomatic green light from Washington. Former US President Jimmy Carter stated that knowledgeable sources in Israel confirmed they had received a green light from Washington, while Alexander Haig confirmed that the administration was fully informed of Israel's limits of toleration. The Reagan administration provided massive surges of military supplies, including advanced precision-guided munitions, knowing full well Israel's invasion plans despite public posturing and mild presidential displeasure to manage domestic US consensus. Records show a delivery of military goods almost 50% greater in the first three months of 1982 compared to the preceding year.

The invasion involved the systematic demolition of Palestinian refugee camps and the mass internment of virtually all teenage and adult males. Palestinian camps like Rashidiyeh and Ain el-Hilweh were flattened or bulldozed into rubble by advancing forces. Male populations aged 15 to 60 were routinely rounded up, blindfolded, bound, and shipped off to concentration camps and prisons in Lebanon and Israel, while reporters were largely barred from witnessing the destruction.

David Shipler described an Israeli army officer answering why bulldozers knocked down houses with women and children inside by stating that they were all terrorists.

The Rashidiyeh camp had a population of 9,000 residents before it was reduced to rubble. Israeli forces carted off Palestinian males in the age range of 15 to 60 to prison camps like Ansar. The Red Cross gave 15,000 prisoners as a realistic estimate of those detained.

6. The Sabra and Shatila Massacres

High-ranking Israeli military and government officials knowingly facilitated and shielded Phalangist militias during the brutal massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

The Israeli Defense Forces sealed off the camps, established a staging area, marked routes for the militias, and provided lighting via flares during the night. High-ranking Israeli officers, including Chief of Staff Eitan and General Yaron, were informed by Thursday night that civilians were being killed. They praised the militias and allowed them to continue operations while IDF soldiers lounged nearby.

The total duration of the slaughter lasted 36 hours from Thursday night until Saturday morning. Newsweek correspondent Ray Wilkinson measured the distance from the Israeli command post to the camps at 250 paces.

Israeli soldiers stationed less than 100 yards away from a mass grave ignored constant gunfire and truckloads of bodies, telling journalists that nothing unusual was happening.

High-ranking Israeli military and government officials possessed immediate knowledge of the atrocities but actively concealed or ignored them until international pressure forced a response. At least 45 Israeli officers knew by Friday afternoon that a massacre was underway, according to an ABC news investigation. This finding contradicted official claims that the government only learned of it on Saturday. U.S. special envoy Morris Draper eventually pressured Israeli authorities to halt the operation, pointing out their absolute control and responsibility for the area.

Ze’ev Schiff learned of the atrocities on Friday morning and informed Minister Mordechai Zipori, who passed it to Foreign Minister Shamir, who later claimed he did not understand the message.

The United Nations General Assembly condemned the massacre by a vote of 147 to 2, with only the U.S. and Israel in opposition.

The Kahan Commission of Inquiry functioned as a political whitewash designed to protect state leadership while issuing token reprimands and preserving systemic impunity. Despite documenting that high-level officials and military commanders fully expected the Phalangists to commit massacres and knew the camps were undefended, the Commission absurdly asserted there was no intent to harm civilians.

The Kahan Commission absolved Prime Minister Begin of any duty to intervene and merely reassigned General Yaron to a higher-level manpower position after he ignored reports of women and children being killed.

7. The Oslo Process and Bantustan Model

The Oslo agreements establish a neo-colonial Bantustan model that fragments the territories into isolated cantons while preserving ultimate Israeli control over land and water.

Under the guise of autonomy, the territories are fragmented into isolated cantons where expanding bureaucracies provide jobs for a compliant elite, security is indigenized, and cheap labor is exploited without genuine independence. The situation mirrors historic South African homeland policies where Bantustans provided administrative jobs for educated locals while preserving ultimate economic and security dominance.

Under Oslo II signed on September 28, 1995, the West Bank was split into Zones A, B, C, and Jerusalem. Zone C covers about 70 percent of the West Bank and remains under total Israeli control, including all Jewish settlements and most resources. Zone B comprises scattered sectors accounting for about 30 percent where the Palestinian National Authority administers villages under overall Israeli security control. Zone A consists of a few municipal areas like Nablus and Gaza City, representing roughly 1 to 3 percent of the territory.

Zone C includes 140,000 Jews while Zones A and B contain 1.1 million Arabs, effectively leaving Israel with unilateral control over the entire West Bank. A vast array of bypass roads was constructed to link territories under Israeli control, allowing settlers to travel freely without seeing Arab villages or PA-administered municipal areas. Government-backed housing construction, financial incentives, and tax-subsidized lifestyles attracted more settlers, while strategic infrastructure projects bisected the region.

Building starts increased by 40 percent from 1993 to 1995. In Ma’ale Adumim, a bypass road was opened on October 23, 1995, with plans to erect 6,000 new housing units and 2,400 hotel rooms by the year 2005, projecting a population growth to 50,000.

Recognizing the severe limitations of external agreements, local leaders argued that society must focus on correcting internal structural flaws and organizing collective leadership. Palestinian leader Haidar Abdul Shafi outlined these views in a speech in Bethlehem on July 22, 1993, just as Arafat was bypassing local leadership to pursue secret agreements.

You can follow these principles to strengthen internal society:

• Transform Palestinian society by focusing on internal organization and development.
• Use all available strength and resources to develop collective leadership and democratic institutions.
• Correct the negative aspects and internal vulnerabilities that caused historical losses against adversaries.

10 Key Ideas

1. U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East drive a fateful triangle of power that systematically suppresses Palestinian self-determination through regional militarism and ideological control.
2. The strategic alliance between the United States and Israel is founded on controlling Middle Eastern petroleum reserves and deploying Israel as a reliable regional proxy against indigenous radical nationalism.
3. Massive military and economic aid flows from Washington to Israel through concealed channels, bypassing statutory restrictions to cover the entirety of Israel's investment needs.
4. While an international consensus supports a two-state settlement, consistent U.S. and Israeli rejectionism blocks Palestinian national rights through territorial expansion and settlement construction.
5. The military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza enforces totalitarian control, systematic torture, and economic subjugation through brutal administrative policies and collaborator networks.
6. The 1982 invasion of Lebanon was executed under pretexts to destroy the PLO infrastructure, sideline Palestinian self-determination, and impose a new regional order.
7. High-ranking Israeli military and government officials knowingly facilitated and shielded Phalangist militias during the brutal massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
8. The Kahan Commission of Inquiry functioned as a political whitewash designed to protect state leadership while issuing token reprimands and preserving systemic impunity.
9. The Oslo agreements establish a neo-colonial Bantustan model that fragments the territories into isolated cantons while preserving ultimate Israeli control over land and water.
10. Palestinian society must focus on internal organization, democratic institution-building, and collective leadership to overcome historical losses and counter external structural vulnerabilities.