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| http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1146 A fervent supporter of Israel with close ties to the Likud Party, Feith was an outspoken critic of the Middle East policies of both the Bush I and Clinton administrations, which he said were based on the faulty "peace now" and "land for peace" policy frameworks. He called instead for a "peace through strength" agenda for Israel and the United States, invoking a phrase promoted by the neoconservatives since the mid-1970s that became the Center for Security Policy slogan. In October 1991, Feith addressed the National Leadership Conference of the State of Israel Bonds Organization. In his speech, Feith said it was foolish for the U.S. government and Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians over issues of land, given that contrasting principles—not differences over occupied lands—fueled the Israeli-Arab conflict. He claimed that even before Israel was established, Western political leaders mistakenly thought that "the vast territories newly made available for the fulfillment of Arab ambitions for independence would make it easier to win acceptance within the region of a Jewish state in Palestine." According to Feith, no matter what they say publicly or at the negotiating table, the Palestinians have always rejected the principle of legitimacy, namely "the legitimacy of Zionist claims to a Jewish national homeland in the land of Israel." Criticizing the George H. W. Bush administration's attempt to broker a land-for-peace deal, Feith warned: "If Western statesmen openly recognized the problem as a clash of principles, they would not be able to market hope through the launching of peace initiatives." In October 1997, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) honored Feith and his father, Dalck Feith, at its annual dinner. The organization praised the Feiths as "noted Jewish philanthropists and pro-Israel activists" and awarded Dalck a Centennial Award "for his lifetime of service to Israel and the Jewish people," while Douglas received the "prestigious Louis D. Brandeis Award." Before he immigrated to the United States during World War II, Dalck Feith was a militant member of Betar, a Zionist youth movement founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, an admirer of Mussolini. Betar, whose members wore dark brown uniforms and spouted militaristic slogans modeled after other fascistic movements, was associated with the Revisionist Movement, which evolved in Poland to become the Herut Party, which later became the Likud Party. In 1999, Douglas Feith wrote an essay for the book The Dangers of a Palestinian State, which was published by ZOA. That same year, he spoke to a 150-member ZOA congressional lobbying mission that called for, among other things, "U.S. action against Palestinian Arab killers of Americans" and for moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. |
