Defending David Petraeus

There seems to be a big dust-up on the right that maybe Petraeus holds "Arabist, anti-Israeli attitudes." For example, Diana West thinks that Petraeus "blames the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the existence of Hezbollah". The evidence she cites is:

... this Petraeus quotation from last summer as reported by the Lebanese Daily Star via Pajamas Media: “Hezbollah’s justifications for existence will become void,” Petraeus said, “if the Palestinian cause is resolved.”

I think it's pretty clear that Petraeus is not saying that Hezbollah was caused by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or that the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will cause the end of Hezbollah. I think it is obvious that Petraeus is saying that, were the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to end, the justifications Hezbollah gives for their ongoing violence will no longer be valid. Hezbollah will undoubtedly come up with new justifications for its existence (no organisation shuts itself down voluntarily), but these new justifications will be much weaker, and command much less support in the Arab world, than the current justifications.