USA`s veto in the United Nations Security Council which stopped the condemnation of the murder Sheihk Yassin is a latest in long series of
own goals by USA. Whatever the thing that Israel is accused of, USA
rides to the rescue and Mr Negroponte claims that "Israel has the
right to defend itself!" - even when it kills UN workers and blows up
UN food storages, like happened in the late 2002.

One can ask only why is USA doing this? It gives United States bad
publicity; it gives Israel´s government ideas that government of
United States probably doesn´t mean (like now Israel probably
considers that it has USA´s support to kill anyone it wants to); it
doesn´t help the situation in Palestine and it certainly doesn´t help
either Israel nor the United States.

One should ask, what would happen if USA wouldn´t use it´s veto
to "protect Israel"? Not much. Maybe Israel´s leaders would be a
little bit less belligerent, maybe they would be little more eager to
find peaceful solution. Certainly USA would be viewed bith less
contempt in the Middle East - and the rest of the world. Certainly
Israel would not be any more danger if USA would treat it the same
way as "ordinary countries".

Of course I understand that Israel is not a matter of foreign policy
in the United States. The government´s unconditional support for
Israel is a product of the strong position that Christian Fundamentalists
have in the United States. Some 25% of voters in the last presidential
election are claimed to have been basically protestant fundamentalists,
of whose votes are important when only half of those who have the
right to vote bother to vote. And Israel plays a huge part in their
fantasies of Armageddon.