Hey, Bill Bartlett,
Pay particular attention to this part by Chomsky:
> The US is a global power. What happens in Israel-Palestine is a sidelight.
> There are many factors entering into US policies. Chief among them in this
> region of the world is control over the world's major energy resources. The
> US-Israel alliance took shape in that context. By 1958, the National
> Security Council concluded that a "logical corollary" of opposition to
> growing Arab nationalism "would be to support Israel as the only strong
> pro-Western power left in the Middle East."
-- David