Hezbollah’s Resistance to Israel May Embolden Likeminded Underdogs around the World
WardheerNews Commentary
April 30, 2007

“Although some extremists disagree, most Israelis have learned that they cannot reconstruct the Kingdom of David, which includes all of the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and parts of Lebanon and Jordan. At the same time, most Palestinians have been forced to accept the fact that the nation of Israel will never be erased from the map”.

Jimmy Carter, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid

This week Israel is bracing for a damning report that could signal the beginning of the end of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s political career. An interim report to be submitted by Winograd Committee – committee assigned to investigate the reasons for Israel’s fiasco in last year’s Lebanon War – is expected to heap the blame on Olmert for his critical leadership failure, misjudgment and “faulty” decisions.

On 12 July 2006, a small Hezbollah commando contingent attacked two Israeli armored Humvees patrolling the Lebanon-Israel border, killing three Israeli soldiers, injuring three and abducting two others. Though Hezbollah’s unwarranted aggressive actions can neither be condoned nor justified, Israel’s subsequent reaction was evidently indefensible. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered his defense forces to attack wide-ranging civilian targets within Lebanon. “If the soldiers are not returned” Israel’s Chief of Staff Dan Haluz swore that he “will turn Lebanon’s clock back 20 years”. (Dan Haluz was forced to resign after the war owing to widespread Israeli public anger over the Defense Force’s failure to defeat and dislodge Hezbollah or avert the threat of Katyushas from civilian population).

Between July 13 and August 14, Israel’s Air, Navy and Ground Forces inflicted massive destruction on Lebanese civilian infrastructure. Several airports, ports, power stations, water and sewage treatment plants were completely crippled; 350 schools, several hospitals, 25 fuel stations and 15,000 homes were destroyed. Another 300,000 houses were damaged. As a result, 1,500 Lebanese civilians were killed and 4,410 injured. According to UNICEF, 30% of those killed were children.

The conflict triggered worldwide condemnations of Israel’s disproportionate, indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructures. A report by Amnesty International stated that "the widespread destruction of apartments, houses, electricity and water services, roads, bridges, factories and ports, in addition to several statements by Israeli officials, suggests a policy of punishing both the Lebanese government and the civilian population".

Israel's devastating wholesale attack on Lebanon's civilian economic infrastructure and indiscriminate bombardment of civilians symbolizes its inherent belligerent and bullying foreign policy; contempt to international conventions and blatant disregard to international humanitarian laws. “The overriding problem”, as Jimmy Carter precisely articulated, is that, “for more than a quarter century, the actions of some Israeli leaders have been in direct conflict with the official policies of the United States, the international community, and their own negotiated agreements”.

If Israel's wanton blitzkrieg of Lebanon was justified in the classic name of "self-defense", it neither enhanced its security nor subdued Hezbollah. Israel’s military strategists had foolishly defied the combat wisdom of one of history’s prominent warriors. “You must not fight too often with one enemy”, urged Napoleon, “or you will teach him your art of war”. Despite its ultra-modern weapons of destruction, Israel's vulnerability has been exposed for the first time. Hezbollah has succeeded in overcoming the myth of Israel's invincibility. In the course of the conflict, Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets hitting twelve Israeli cities; destroying 14 Israeli Merkava battle tanks and damaging additional fifty. Another six tanks were destroyed by landmine. Hezbollah rockets killed 43 Israeli civilians and 120 troops while 4,262 Israeli civilians sustained injuries.

For the first time in the contemporary history of the Middle East, Israel failed to defeat an Arab opponent.  The ragtag Hezbollah force put up brave fight against Israel’s pouring rain of death, forcing Israel to grudgingly concede to uneasy and discomforting ceasefire with out achieving any tangible strategic accomplishments.

Israel’s excessive collective punishment meted out to noncombatant civilian population of Lebanon could only serve to further Israel's self-inflicted isolation in the region. Nor would it bolster the image of Israel and that of its omnipotent patron: the United States. 

 “Courage wins the victory, not the sword”, aptly states an old Spanish adage. High-tech powers like Israel and United States should understand that the zeal and tenacity of a group of determined militants are mightier than the machine. Hezbollah’s bravery and tenacity to withhold Israel’s power would certainly embolden other radical groups in the Middle East and elsewhere. The future wars will hardly be conventional.

The question now is can brute force substitute for diplomacy? Is Israel's indiscriminate onslaught in Lebanon and unending muscle-flexing bully serve as a sustainable deterrence? How can Israel's orgy on destruction and gross human rights violations contribute to the long term peace and stability of the Middle East and the much-needed confidence building between the Arabs and the Israeli people who seem to be hostages to fundamentally tyrannical, belligerent and warmongering regimes?

What lessons, if any, would Israel and United Sates glean from the growing reality that peace and confidence is not built on intimidation and terrorization of the very people with whom one desires to cultivate mutually beneficial cooperative relationships, peaceful co-existence and understanding?

WardheerNews
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