lebanon-israel conflict

No peripheral vision

Have a look at this disgusting piece of propaganda. Moshe Arens (Professor Moshe Arens mind you) would have us believe that Hezbollah and Hamas rockets "continue to erode Israel's deterrent capability". Moshe, are you having a laugh? Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons in its arsenal, F-16s, Merkava tanks, you name it; and now Moshe is telling us that Hezbollah and Hamas rockets (those Qassam ones that look like firecrackers) are eroding Israel's deterrent capability?

Israel destroyed Lebanon (multiple times, let's not forget), they wiped the Palestinians off the map and continue to systematically rain death and destruction on the Palestinians. See, the Israelis are more ambitious - they don't "wish" death and destruction on the Palestinians and the Lebanese - they actually do it. And then they ask .... "but why, why do they hate us?"

12th August 2008 | Haaretz
Moshe Arens

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not as stupid as he looks. His almost daily bombastic threats against Israel, accompanied by his insistence that Iran has every right to continue enriching uranium - the raw material for a nuclear bomb - has succeeded in totally focusing most Israeli leaders on the Iranian threat, to the disregard of more immediate threats that are under our very nose. For some years now, most Israeli politicians have become like horses with blinders: They can only look straight ahead. They seem to have lost their peripheral vision.

In the meantime, Hezbollah and Hamas are doing Iran's work. In the north and the south they continue to erode Israel's deterrent capability. Tehran must be saying, we don't need a nuclear bomb to wipe Israel off the map - so long as we keep Israel hypnotized by the Iranian nuclear threat, Hezbollah and Hamas rockets will do the job much more cheaply. As far as they are concerned, Jabotinsky's "iron wall," which Ben-Gurion adoped as the basis for Israel's defense strategy, has in recent years become no more than a wall of paper, easily pierced.

Last week our defense minister uttered another vacuous threat. "If Israel is provoked, the IDF is ready to attack Iran and succeed uncompromisingly," he told an Italian newspaper. This is the man who sent Israel's deterrent capability downhill eight years ago, when as prime minister and defense minister he ordered the unilateral withdrawal of the IDF from the south Lebanon security zone.

His threats at the time - that any Hezbollah provocation after the withdrawal would be met by an extreme Israeli response - turned out to be nothing more than empty words. The years that followed not only brought a number of Hezbollah provocations, but were years of Hezbollah fortifying itself in south Lebanon and being armed by Iran with thousands of rockets, many of which came down on Israel during the Second Lebanon War.

Ariel Sharon, who followed Barak as prime minister, and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Shaul Mofaz as his defense ministers, watched as Hezbollah's capabilities grew to a point where they were beginning to deter Israel from taking pre-emptive action to halt them. It was not long before Israel's civilian population ended up paying the price for the torpor that had seized our leadership in the face of this threat.

The repeated declarations by Ehud Olmert that we had won the Second Lebanon War, and that one of its great achievements was UN Security Council Resolution 1701, have turned out to be just so much nonsense. Not only is Hezbollah much stronger now than it was before the war and the threat to Israel that much greater, but Hezbollah - in the wake of its victory over the IDF and the government's foolish approval to exchange Samir Kuntar for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers - has just about taken over Lebanon. It is receiving praise from Lebanon's new president, Michel Suleiman, and its right to take military action against Israel has now been endorsed by the new Lebanese government. So much for the "restraining effect" of the UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon, which was heralded by the Olmert government as one of Israel's great achievements in the war.

In the south, the government, with Ehud Barak as defense minister, has followed the same policy as in the north, and can expect the very same results. Israel may have to pay very dearly for this policy, based on the assumption that doing nothing is the best of all alternatives.

Now along come two new contenders for the leadership of Israel: Shaul Mofaz and Tzipi Livni. Both were senior partners in the mistakes made by the Olmert government. What have they got to offer?

Mofaz, like Olmert and Barak, is hypnotized by Ahmadinejad. All he can talk about is the nuclear threat from Iran. In Tehran they must be laughing up their sleeves, as they notice that this aspirant for the leadership of Israel also has the same blinkers, and seems to pay little attention to what is going on in Lebanon and in Gaza.

And Tzipi Livni? She has only one thing in her head: establishing a Palestinian state, which she seem to think is the solution to all of Israel's problems.

These politicians better take the blinkers off and take a good look in all directions. Danger may be lurking in what are to them unexpected places.

IAF: Hezbollah threat may affect Israeli flights over Lebanon

What a crime it is for Hezbollah to install anti-aircraft batteries to put a stop to Israeli overflights over Lebanon. Is there any limit to Israeli double standards and arrogance?

8th August 2008 | Haaretz

If Hezbollah installs advanced anti-aircraft batteries in Lebanon, the Israel Air Force will have to alter its overflights of Lebanon significantly, a senior IAF officer told Haaretz Tuesday.

However, he added that the IAF has successfully coped with similar threats elsewhere, and could do so in Lebanon as well.

Senior government and army officials have recently held feverish discussions on this scenario. Some of those involved have termed the installation of anti-aircraft batteries a "red line" to which Israel would have to respond with a "violent signal."

There have been conflicting reports in the Arabic media as to whether Hezbollah has already smuggled in such missiles, or is merely seeking to do so. Senior General Staff officers opined recently that while Hezbollah clearly wants such missiles eventually, they doubt it is interested in heating up its conflict with Israel just now.

Meanwhile, the diplomatic-security cabinet will meet Wednesday to discuss the situation in Lebanon, and especially Hezbollah's rampant arms-smuggling via Syria. The Foreign Ministry plans to recommend that Israel seek to increase international pressure on Syria to halt this smuggling.

Israel views this matter as urgent, especially in light of the reports that Hezbollah is trying to smuggle in sophisticated anti-aircraft batteries. This will be the cabinet's second discussion on the matter in recent weeks.

In addition to upping the pressure on Syria, Israel would also like the international community to increase pressure on Russia, since some of the sophisticated weaponry Hezbollah is procuring is Russian-made.

Another key focus of today's discussion will be the new government guidelines the Lebanese cabinet adopted last week, which formally authorize Hezbollah to attack Israel whenever it pleases.

Occupation 101

Although this site focuses mainly on the Lebanon-Israel conflict, I often feel the need to empathise with the Palestinians, Lebanon's neighbours who have suffered the most at the hands of Israel.

I watched a very powerful and brilliant documentary today called Occupation 101. It's a remarkable portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict - makes you boil in anger and wallow in despair at the same time.

Follow this link for the full movie (1 hr 27 mins).

Another victory for Hezbollah, another victory for Lebanon

There is great excitement in Lebanon tonight after the release of Samir Kuntar and four other Lebanese prisoners, in exchange for the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Hezbollah has once again done Lebanon proud, now emptying all Israeli jails of Lebanese prisoners and bringing home the remains of some 200 resistance fighters, among them Syrians.

On the other side, the Israelis are mourning - forgive me for not feeling sorry for them. Wallowing in their sadness they describe the Lebanese celebrations as "sickening" - "how could you celebrate the release of a child murderer?" they say.

Well, this is interesting. Firstly, Kuntar denies killing the young girl. He says that he was under heavy fire and that Einat Haran was killed as a result - we may never know the truth. Yes, he took the Haran family hostage, and if you call this terrorism, I would agree with you - its targeting civilians for political gains. But hang on here - the Israelis have been asking for information on Ron Arad for more than 20 years; wasn't he a murderer and killer of innocents when he flew over Lebanon with his fighter jet? As Norman Finkelstein put it:  "Israeli pilot Ron Arad was not a 'murderer' and was not 'despised' by Lebanese when he was shot down on a combat mission in 1986. He was only dropping tulips and daffodils on south Lebanon". So if the Lebanese are "sick" for celebrating Kuntar's release, what do we call the Israelis who would move heaven and earth just to get information on Ron Arad, or any of their soldiers who (dare I say) have killed thousands of innocent children in recent times?

If you want to criticize the Lebanese without mentioning the abysmal Israeli reputation on human rights, then that's pure hypocrisy and you're turning a blind eye on the truth. You have to ask yourself - who are the victims in this conflict and who are the aggressors, based the historical record - UN resolutions, the world court decisions and human rights organisations?

In any case, this is a huge victory for Lebanon and as Nasrallah said in his brief address to the crowd tonight, the times of victory have arrived.

The 33-Day War

I take my hat off to Gilbert Achcar and Michel Warschawski for writing "The 33-Day War", a brutally honest account of Israel's ruthless but unsuccessful aggression on Lebanon from 12 July to August 14, 2006.

The first two chapters provide detailed background on Lebanon and Hezbollah (In my opinion a single chapter on background would have been sufficient, given that the book is only five chapters long). The first chapter tells us about Lebanon's civil war from 1975 to 1990, the importance of Iran and Syria in the region, and the situation in Lebanon after Syrian troops left. Chapter two concentrates on Hezbollah, from its  proclamation in 1985 up until 12 July, 2008 - the day it kidnapped two Israeli soldiers to trade for Lebanese prisoners jailed in Israel.

Chapters three and four provide excellent analysis (mostly political) of the war and its aftermath. The authors discuss Israel's military failure, UN Resolution 1701, Hezbollah's handling of the post war situation, Israel's political failure and its role in Washington's "Global War". I was interested to read that "Resolution 1701 says not a single word about the protection of Lebanese territory against the repeated aggression by Israel, an occupying power in Lebanon for eighteen years". Another interesting fact revealed was that "Chief of Staff Dan Halutz sold off all his stock market shares at the beginning of the crisis, knowing that their value would probably fall soon". Warschawski explains that the Israeli military staff, like their chief, were more interested in stock market fluctuations than in the readiness of their troops - one of the causes of Israel's disastrous war campaign.

Achcar, in the conclusion titled "The Sinking Ship of U.S. Imperial Designs", explains that although the US has the capacity to "knock down any regular army on earth" it "nevertheless proved one more time in contemporary history that is unable to control rebellious populations in poor countries". He comments that "however the situation in Lebanon evolves, the Israeli rescue boat, instead of helping to raise the sinking ship of the U.S. empire, actually aggravated the shipwreck, and was even dragged down with it".

Although the political discussions of the war were brilliant, I would have liked to read at length about the military aspect, in detail. When I came across the book, being someone immensely interested in this topic, I was going to buy it no matter what it centralised on. That said, I was hoping to read about Hezbollah fighters climbing out of their bunkers and surprising the Israeli soldiers and about their logistical and communications systems - how it all remained intact and why it was unbelievably effective.

"The 33-Day War" is very anti-Israeli, and rightly so. I congratulate Achcar and Warschawski for their courageous stand against the Zionist regime and for their vision and insightful discussions on the realities of the wider Arab-Israeli/American conflict.

If it were not for Hezbollah, would Israel still be in Lebanon today?

With the release of Naseem Nissr, attention is now on the next stage of negotiations - the more anticipated prisoner exchange deal between Hezbollah and Israel. If the speculation that Israel will release all Lebanese prisoners for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev is true, Operation Truthful Promise that Nasrallah announced two years ago will have succeeded - and what an amazing feat that will be.

It would mean that since the mid 1980s through to 2000 and beyond, Hezbollah would have resisted the Israeli occupation, driven them out of Southern Lebanon and freed all Lebanese prisoners of war from Israeli dungeons and torture cells. All Lebanese prisoners - including Samir Kuntar who has done hard time in Israel's prisons for almost 30 years.

Think about what all this means for a moment. Look at it in the big picture. There was once a time when Israel did what it pleased simply because it could. The defeat it suffered in the 33 day war, however, changed everything. Israel suddenly realised that it no longer had the military option in Lebanon - the resistance was just too stiff. Hezbollah showed what they could do to the IDF and sent them packing. This is why - and this is the only reason - Israel now has no choice but to negotiate with Hezbollah over a prisoner exchange deal.

What Hezbollah has achieved is nothing short of miraculous. When all Lebanese prisoners are free, however, there is still the issue of the Shebaa Farms and Israel's continuous violation of Lebanese air space and territorial waters. To those who want Hezbollah disarmed, do you really think that the Lebanese army will care enough to do something about these Israeli violations? In the event of a future Israeli invasion (and there will be one - Israel is a vengeful, frustrated and lunatic state, let's not forget), is the Lebanese government and army capable of even putting up a fight? Remember that crying on national television doesn't count for anything.

I'll ask an even more important question: If it were not for Hezbollah, would Israel still be occupying Southern Lebanon?

Resistance: My Life for Lebanon

Soha Bechara's story, "Resistance: My Life for Lebanon" is a fascinating account of a young girl's life of war and brutal imprisonment in Lebanon.

Soha  was born in 1967 in Deir Mimas, a village in South Lebanon. Growing up, she was an energetic, enthusiastic and cheerful girl - a "lover of life", as she describes. Life was beautiful for the Becharas in her childhood years - merry family gatherings, extravagant parties,  and the enjoyment of the picturesque country side of Deir Mimas. However, the commencement of the civil war in 1975 transformed such a gifted life into years of madness and bloodshed.

Her father Fawaz was a loyal and steadfast member of the Lebanese Communist Party. Soha adopted his philosophies on politics and nationalism. Throughout the frenzy of the civil war, with the Muslims and Christians clashing, something had become clear to her: "Lebanon had only one real enemy, one occupying power: the state of Israel. To my mind, the civil war was just a consequence of this situation". In 1982, she decided to actively join the resistance against Israel.

At first, Soha helped with intelligence gathering and logistics support.  In 1986, she was assigned the mission of assassinating Antoine Lahad, head of the South Lebanon Army - the collaborators of Israel and traitors of Lebanon. She managed to win the trust of Lahad and Lahad's wife, Minerva, by posing as her aerobics instructor. On the night of the operation, while having coffee at the Lahad house, Soha took her handgun from her purse and shot Lahad twice in the chest. She was arrested and taken to Khiam prison, Israel's illegal torture den of resistance fighters in South Lebanon. There she spent 10 years of her life, six in solitary confinement.

" Resistance: My Life for Lebanon" is an interesting, memorable book that certainly puts things into perspective. It simplifies the political issues of Lebanon during the 80s - the issues were not complex; the overwhelming problem was Israel. For a person new to Lebanon's political history over the last 30 years, I think the book provides a good overview of the events that unfolded, and why.

I would have like to read more about Soha's emotions while in Khiam, and especially after being released. Did her experience change her as a person? What was her opinion of the Lebanon Israel conflict after Khiam? Is she still proud of what she did? I certainly am, and I am sure many, many Lebanese today feel the same.

I strongly recommend this book - it's an amazing, inspirational story that will keep you turning the page in anticipation.

Hezbollah military tactics

Andrew Exum, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the American University of Beirut, has compiled a report - "Hizballah at War" - on Hezbollah's actions in the July War "from a military and tactical" perspective. Andrew's biography states that he served in the US Army from 2000 to 2004, leading platoons in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

The report is written in a very non-judgmental way (although, at one point, Exum describes Hezbollah as a team of terrorists), omitting any political matters and primarily focusing on why and how Hezbollah managed to uphold a very aggressive Israeli offensive and inflict unprecedented casualties on the IDF.

Exum describes precisely the July 12 kidnapping of IDF soliders near Ayta ash Shab, and explains how events unfolded from then on, in detail. He brings to light how Hezbollah prepared for years for such a guerilla war - the preparation of the battlefield, the weapons they used, their training, their communication and logistical organisation.

The result of the July War is compared to previous Arab-Israeli wars. Unlike all previous Arab attempts to defeat Israel militarily, Hezbollah's success, according to the author, is attributed to three main factors:

• its ability to maneuver tactically against the IDF;
• the autonomy given to its small units and the initiative taken by the small-unit leaders; and
• the skill Hezbollah displayed with its weapons systems.

A very interesting read. For the full report, follow this link PolicyFocus63.pdf.

Finkelstein visits Lebanon, talks to Hezbollah

I really, really admire Norman Finkelstein. Here is a man, a Jew, living in America, who is so outspoken and vocal on his criticism of Israeli oppression, murder and greed that De Paul university - where he taught for 6 years - denied him tenure because of pressure from influential Jewish groups. Yet, Finkelstein continues to stand strong and brave and tell it like it is.

He visited Lebanon on Monday, 7th January, and some of the things he said - such is my respect for his opinion- made me even more proud to be in favour of Hezbollah. He addressed a crowd of people in Qana, making a brief statement in which he expressed his horror, shame and disgust at what he called an "American war for American interests". He then went on to say about Hezbollah: "They are fighting to defend their homeland, they are fighting to defend the independence of their country, they are defending themselves against foreign marauders, vandals and murderers and I consider it to be genuinely an honor to be in their presence".

A humble and compassionate man, and a true visionary in this era of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Real fighters believe in their cause

I read a story in the Haaretz today about ex Israeli Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai's testimony before a panel investigating the IDF's failure in the 33 day war.  According to Mordechai, Israel had "optimal conditions to secure a victory". Mind you, this statement coming from a man (pictured below) who was indicted for sexual misconduct during his military service.

The key to success, Mordechai says, would have been to launch a wider ground operation. That said after all the tonnes of bombs the IDF dropped, the F-16 fighter jets, the constant shelling, the reported 30,000 soldiers invading Southern Lebanon - is it even possible to arrange for a more intense and serious attempt at "bringing Hezbollah to its knees", as he puts it? Journalists who have inspected post war southern Lebanon said that the IDF did as much damage as possible.

Mordechai is in for a rude shock if he thinks that the IDF can uproot Hezbollah in another attempt by launching a wider ground operation. It comes down to this: when the going gets tough, Hezbollah thrives. Their fighters come ready to die, they believe in their rights to defend themselves and protect their human rights; and that belief feuls courage. The IDF on the contrary believe in what? That they should be invading someone's land and oppressing the people; that violating Lebanon's rights is a good thing? When the battle gets messy, my guess - after viewing many interviews with IDF soldiers and Hezbollah geurillas -  is that the IDF soldiers look back toward northern Israel longing to be back home. They have a home to go back to, but Hezbollah guerillas are fighting at home. They will fight to the death because they believe in their cause.

Maybe Mordechai's claim was taken out of context, as one of the commentators of the article explained. "The only thing Mordechai knows about bringing people to their knees is ...young female soldiers who served with him." Good call.