Israel’s strategic compulsions to expand are rooted in the peculiar geography that it inherited at its inception, the invalidity of its creation and the insecurities that have thus ensued. It then had a very narrow waistline between the Mediterranean Coast and the West Bank, near the cities of Tulkarm and Netanya. At this central point, the country was just 15 kilometres, or 9 miles, wide, and it emerged as a critical strategic vulnerability. Hypothetically, during wars, it could be cut in half by a determined enemy’s armoured formations and then defeated piecemeal. Ever since, Israel has been at pains to create that vital strategic depth that would forestall such existential threats. The ideal of a Greater Israel fuelled this strategic compulsion further. Thus, it has been on an expansionist spree to create strategic depth, buffer zones and perimeters of security to pursue both compulsions: security as well as Greater Israel. To that end, it has established illegal settlements in the West Bank, moved into Gaza, occupied the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon in Syria, and is now in the process of ingressing deep into southern Lebanon to obviate attacks by Hizbollah into north Israel suburbs. Ominously, it continues to depopulate these areas!

Now, its obsessive aggression into southern Lebanon is subverting all bilateral and international efforts to bring the Iran war to a peaceful, mutually acceptable closure.

The US-Israel Combine’s war on Iran continues unabated despite President........

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