By KARBY LEGGETT and MARCUS W. BRAUCHLI
JERUSALEM -- Israel's summer war against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants has redoubled its concerns about the threat from Iran, leading Israeli officials to reach out to Arab governments that share their concern about Tehran's growing influence in the region.
Leaders across the political spectrum here now agree that Israel must find ways to work with other Middle Eastern states, even if that means dealing with governments that have been hostile to Israel in the past. Asked in an interview last week if Saudi Arabia, a longtime backer of groups that have fought Israel, would be considered a moderate Arab nation Israel could potentially work with, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni replied bluntly: "Yes."
More keenly debated is how far Israel should go to broaden such ties -- particularly because its territorial dispute with the Palestinians is likely to come into diplomatic play. This week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is visiting the region, and she will focus on both Iran, which the U.S. worries is trying to develop a nuclear weapon, and the Palestinian question.
The increased alarm here about Iran has arisen in large measure because of Israel's critical self-assessment of a war that ended indecisively in August, with Hezbollah -- and others in the region -- calling it a defeat for Israel's vaunted military. That left many Israeli leaders worried about an emboldened Iran.
"The main threat in this region is fundamentalism, radicalism and unconventional weapons -- everything under the title of Iran," said Ami Ayalon, a leader of Israel's Labor party.
The ascent of violent Islamism is another area where Israel's interests are converging with those of its Arab neighbors. An array of Sunni Muslim networks such as al Qaeda, though ideologically at odds with Shiite Muslim Iran, consider Israel a mortal enemy while deriding many Arab governments as corrupt and illegitimate -- and have targeted both.
The Nuclear Question
The concern about Iran comes as the international community tries to persuade Tehran to suspend a nuclear program the U.S. believes is aimed at building a weapon. Iran says the program is purely peaceful. Tehran defied one United Nations resolution that had called on it to suspend by the end of August any activities that could produce a nuclear weapon, and the U.S. and Europe are weighing further steps. Israel's worries about Iran are compounded by comments from Iranian leaders, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, suggesting a desire to see Israel eliminated as a state. "History has taught us to listen to this kind of talk," said the foreign minister, Ms. Livni, alluding to the Holocaust.
The more immediate lesson Israeli leaders are taking from the 34-day war in Lebanon is that Iran is building an organized military threat capable of taking on Israel and extending its influence in the region. The Lebanon war began July 12, when Hezbollah militants attacked inside Israel, killing three soldiers and kidnapping two others. Israel responded with a devastating air and ground campaign that killed more than 1,000 Lebanese -- almost all civilians -- and devastated the nation's infrastructure. Hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were killed, according to Israel, along with more than 150 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Israeli officials and politicians across the political spectrum are convinced Iran represents an existential threat. Withdrawing from territory in the absence of a negotiated deal, as Israel did in Gaza last year and Lebanon in 2000 -- and was contemplating doing in the West Bank before the war -- is increasingly seen as futile. "We had withdrawn from every inch of their territory" in Lebanon, said Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli prime minister and current leader of the opposition Likud party, referring to Israel's 2000 pullout from Lebanon. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government contend the withdrawal was incomplete because Israel retained control of a parcel of land called Shebaa Farms, and complain of regular violations of Lebanese territory.
Mr. Netanyahu and other leaders believe Iran is a regional threat, pointing out that its influence is growing in Iraq following the model Tehran used to establish Hezbollah in Lebanon. One senior security official said Tehran is funneling increasing sums of money and arms to organizations it supports in Lebanon and now Iraq. "Iran is building an enormous force in Iraq," he said, adding that the goal is to exert influence in the run-up to and aftermath of American and other troops' inevitable exit.
The assessment that Iran is a regional threat and could one day be a nuclear rival unnerves other countries in the region, Israeli officials and politicians say. That has led them to decide they should attempt a new embrace not only of Egypt and Jordan -- which already have formal relations with Israel -- but also Arab countries with which it has had few to no dealings.
"We have to do everything to lead Iran to collapse from internal reasons... the way to do that is to isolate them even in the Arab world," said Ran Cohen, a member of the Knesset, or Parliament, from the liberal Mertz-Yahad Party.
Israel's outreach to moderate Arab states gained some momentum last month when, during a United Nations meeting in New York, Israeli officials held some private meetings with officials from Persian Gulf countries regarding Iran, officials here said. Israeli officials declined to name which countries' representatives they met with, saying the matter is too politically sensitive. Beyond Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania, Israel has no official relations with any Arab League countries.
This process could gain further momentum this week, when Ms. Rice arrives in the Middle East for a new round of diplomacy. In Egypt, where she is scheduled to arrive today, Ms. Rice plans to meet with foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Discussions are expected to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and how to possibly restart talks for a political settlement, though the question of Iran and its nuclear program also is likely to be addressed. Like Israel, the U.S. is interested in building a broad regional coalition against Iran.
Palestinian Pressures
Still, Israel could have difficulty winning cooperation from Arab countries if it isn't willing to address their longstanding complaints about its occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territory. Officials in Egypt and Jordan, as well as Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia -- all majority Sunni Muslim states -- do little to hide their anger over Israel's often-harsh treatment of the Palestinians. They are particularly concerned with Israel's bid to unilaterally set its border with the West Bank, a plan that would leave Jerusalem inside Israel.
Radical Islamist groups in the region, including Hamas, cite Israel's control of Jerusalem as justification for its attacks. Al Qaeda, meanwhile, says the U.S. is a legitimate target because of its support for Israel. Saudi Arabia, in what was considered a dramatic move several years ago, offered to get much of the Arab world to recognize Israel in exchange for a withdrawal from all territory Israel occupied during the 1967 war. Israel rejected the idea. Saudi Arabia's peace proposal also reflected its own concern that Islamic radicals are using the Palestinian conflict to build support for their movements.
While there has been some discussion in Israeli circles of whether to open talks with Syria, an Iranian ally but also a key player in any effort to secure peace in the region, few Israeli officials said their country is contemplating the idea in earnest. U.S. officials remain adamantly against it, saying Damascus must be isolated for its role in abetting terrorism in the region.
Specter of an Arms Race
Despite these territorial issues, many Arab states make little effort to hide their concern of a militarily powerful and potentially nuclear-armed Iran. At the start of the Lebanon war, for example, Sunni leaders in the region were openly critical of Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim organization that has deep ideological ties to Iran. Perhaps the biggest concern, within the U.S. and Israel but also among weaker states such as Kuwait and Jordan, is that a nuclear Iran could spark a regional arms race. Egypt has fed those fears with a recent announcement that it is restarting its own nuclear-power program.
Another major complication is the growing political tension among Palestinian factions, particularly between Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian Authority government, and Fatah, the former ruling Palestinian party. These strains have been worsened by a months-long financial blockade of the Hamas-run government by Western countries, including the U.S.
In recent weeks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has held discussions with Hamas leaders on the formation of a national unity government that could allow Western countries to end the financial boycott, but the effort has stumbled on Hamas's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. Officials in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia also have begun applying political and financial pressure on Hamas to recognize the Jewish state, which Israeli officials say is the bare minimum needed to formally restart peace talks.
Without a breakthrough on this front, progress on the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue is virtually impossible. Meanwhile, violence in Gaza is ticking higher daily, fueling anger and making any solution to the conflict even less likely.
Write to Karby Leggett at karby.leggett@ wsj.com1 and Marcus W. Brauchli at marcus.brauchli@ wsj.com2
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