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ance in the region in important ways; the United States was now the sole
world power; the Soviet Union had formally ceased to exist. Hence Israel
was in a position of relative strength, not only because of such political
factors but also thanks to its own military and technological edge. From
this perspective, it might be a wise move for the Israeli government, even
if serious risks were involved, to preempt and prevent this fundamentalist
wave from achieving a momentum that would threaten not only Israel
but also the whole Middle East. I think that this has been the overarching
strategic assessment, whether it is right or wrong, which influenced both
Rabin and Peres.
I don't think we can make a judgment about its success as yet. There
is Iran; there is Sudan; there is also Algeria which is very unpredictable.
Then there is Egypt, which of course has its own major problem with
Muslim extremists and other countries in the region that are by no means
immune to Islamic coups. In Israel itself we have the Hamas whose po–
tential for creating havoc is known to us all.
The Israeli government's strategy is a high-risk option but not, I
think, an irrational one. And I believe that it has borne some fruits in
terms of Israel's international position. So the question of fundamentalism
has played a very important role in motivating dramatic changes . Also,
I'm sure it has played a part in the American government's involvement
in the peace process, which has also been extremely important. The
United States has been the pivot both for Israel and the Arabs throughout,
and remains the only address when things get difficult, for any kind of
peace process to be negotiated. I'm sure that American motivations have
also been influenced by larger strategic assessments related to Iran and Is–
lamic fundamentalism. Probably, there is a lot more ambivalence to all
this than I can even begin to suggest. Ever since the 1980s, there has been
something of a double game going on, played by the United States, Israel,
and the Europeans, with regard to Islamic fundamentalism. For example,
the Muslim extremists who carried out the World Trade Center bombing
in New York were linked with the Afghan guerrillas who had been
backed by the C.I.A. to bring down Soviet power in Afghanistan. In the
early 1980s, Israel itself nurtured Islamic fundamentalism in Gaza as a
means of undermining support for the PLO. Since then much has
changed but the terrorism continues.
So these issues are more complex than they sometimes seem. But the
combination of endless fundamentalist terrorism and the prospect of an
imminent Islamic nuclear bomb is a frightening one, not only for Israel
and the more moderate Arabs; it is also a real danger to the West. This
would indeed make it crucial to create a new network of relationships in
the Middle East that would isolate those forces hostile to peace, whether
