ABSTRACT
Israel conducted a complete, unilateral, withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, at least partially in the anticipation of an improvement in the security situation. For Israel, whose national security is intimately linked to American global and regional influence, the ramifications are significant. To illustrate, twenty-two of the twenty-six resolutions the General Assembly adopted in 2012 in regard to human rights violations had to do with Israel, with a similar pattern repeated in 2013, where twenty-one out of twenty-five resolutions concerned Israel. Moreover, Iraq has come under growing Iranian influence and the emergence of an Iranian-dominated arc stretching through Iraq, into Syria and Lebanon, would pose severe challenges to Israel. Saudi Arabia faces a period of change and possible instability, due to rapid domestic change, fluctuating energy prices and external challenges, primarily the rise of Iran. Peace with the Palestinians remains the foremost challenge Israel faces and is also the key to the achievement of its other primary national objectives.
