Israel was formed in 1948, a lone Jewish state surrounded by hostile Arab countries. Despite UN support and immediate recognition from the US and the USSR, it was unclear whether the new nation would survive the fierce fighting that accompanied its formation. However, the Israeli military was surprisingly effective, perhaps as a consequence of the experience gained by many officers while serving in the British forces during WW II, and before long the tables were turned and it was the Israelis who threatened the neighboring Arab countries. An uneasy truce was signed and the dispute over land and refugees continues to this day. Read on...

In June of 1948, while the outcome of the Arab-Israeli war was still very much in doubt, the Altalena affair took place. The Altalena was a ship sailing from France to Israel carrying weapons badly needed by the IDF. However, the ship was crewed by members of Etzel, a paramilitary group not officially incorporated into the IDF, and there was a prohibition on importing weapons as a condition of the currently effective truce. Negotiations between Ben Gurion (Provisional Government) and Begin (Etzel) over who would get how many of which weapons broke down, and Ben Gurion became concerned about Etzel operating independently of the IDF. When the ship reached Israel there was a violent confrontation; the ship was shelled, several Etzel members were killed, and the cargo was confiscated. Naturally many Etzel supporters were outraged by what they perceived as an excessive use of force, but the end result was that the central Israeli government consolidated power while appearing to abide by the truce conditions, and eventually the paramilitary groups were either squashed or subsumed into the IDF. The confrontation directly involved three leaders of Israel: Ben Gurion, Begin (elected in 1977), and Rabin (elected in 1974 and 1992), who led the IDF forces firing on the Altalena; less surprising than it first appears, as former military leaders have always enjoyed the trust of Israeli voters concerned about security.

Today in Iraq, the central government faces a somewhat similar conundrum. Shiite militia groups threaten to usurp the power of the state and fracture the country. In the wake of Sunni terrorist attacks, Muqtada al-Sadr (leader of the Mahdi army) has made several bold demands, including that Prime Minister al-Maliki not meet with Bush. Al-Maliki needs US troops to enforce security, as the Iraqi army is not yet capable of battling insurgents on its own (partially because it contains elements sympathetic to al-Sadr) and consequently he did meet with Bush today. Another domino then fell, as "Lawmakers and Cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have suspended participation in parliament and the government." Not a good week for al-Maliki, whose ability (or desire) to end the violence in Iraq was recently questioned in a classified memo from Stephen Hadley leaked to the NY Times. I think it's time for the embattled Iraqi PM to take a lesson from history, and look to how Ben Gurion handled the Altalena. That bloody, cruel, and inhumane clash was likely necessary to centralize power in Israel with the IDF and marginalize paramilitary groups. If al-Maliki wishes to preside over a stable Iraq, he would do well to consider cracking down on the Shiite militias. It won't make him popular, but it's probably the only chance to centralize power in Iraq and avoid an all-out war between Sunni and Shiite factions.

Update: According to CNN talks between Bush and al-Maliki have been postponed until tomorrow. This is not encouraging...

Cross-posted from Swords Crossed