An Analysis Of The US-Israeli Relations Since The Middle East Upheaval

In the early 21 st century,the Middle East possesses a vital position in the world energy market,meanwhile it owns important strategic value,and thus it is one of the major regions where extraterritorial powers compete with each other to expand their influences.The Middle East Upheaval,breaking out in December 2010,has stormed the whole region and affected nearly 500 million people.It has not only stirred the complicated situation in Middle East,but has substantially impacted the international relations in this region as well,among which the US-Israeli relations is the representative.For the United States,the upheaval has disturbed its Middle East strategy and even its global strategy.As the most influential power in the region,prior to the upheaval,US has started to withdraw from this region,however,the upheaval disrupted its strategic arrangement.In this upheaval,a variety of pro-Western regimes were changed and the traditional alliance and the security system even collapsed.Under this circumstance,US lost its strategic stability in the Middle East.In order to cope with the new dilemma,US has to adjust its Middle East strategy.For Israel,the upheaval caused severe challenges to its security environment and security strategy.The political changes in the Middle East,such as the ongoing unrest in Egypt and the escalation of the Syrian crisis,have constituted a big threat to Israel's security.At the same time,with the balance of power being damaged in the Middle East,Israel will be more isolated in the region and it will encounter more terrorist threats.The political changes in this region have undoubtedly affected the US and Israeli policies to the Middle East,and therefore the US-Israeli relations has been changed accordingly,which is the logic start of the thesis.Although the Middle East upheaval has not shaken the foundation of the US-Israeli relations,but undoubtedly,it has affected the bilateral relations and made it dynamically develop.Therefore,taking the upheaval as the time notes,the analysis of the strategic adjustments and changes in the bilateral relations between the United States and Israel has significant practical value.This paper focuses on analyzing and discussing the changes of the strategic basis and its related influencing factors and attempts to predict the trends of the US-Israeli relations.The contents of this article are divided into three parts.The first part introduces the background and reasons for choosing the topic.The second part mainly discusses the US-Israeli relations before the Middle East upheaval.In this part,the establishment of the US-Israeli special relations,the strategy foundation of the US-Israeli relations and the third factors affecting the US-Israel relations after the Cold War are presented.The third part elaborates the new changes in US-Israeli relations after the Middle East Upheaval.It mainly discusses the influences caused by the upheaval,which are out of the policymakers' prediction.Specifically,this part contains the changes in the security situation around Israel,the adjustments of US foreign policy towards the Middle East and the strategic reconstruction of US-Israeli relations after the Middle East Upheaval.The fourth part is the prediction of the Middle East Upheaval and the US-Israeli relations.In this part,it points out that the upheaval has not shaken the strategic basis of the US-Israeli relations,but it has changed the situation in the Middle East,which has in return influenced the security cooperation between America and Israel.The changes of the “the third factors” caused by the upheaval has enlarged the divergence in the policy between US and Israel.The relations between the United States and Israel is not static,its formation,development are closely related to the reconstructions of plenty of interests,and it will evolve with the changes of international political environment.