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As the lopsidedness of the body count in Israel's war of opportunity in Lebanon becomes a more grotesque irony daily -- with
the August 6 killing of 12 Israeli soldiers by a ball-bearing-packed Hezbollah rocket being related in horrifying detail in
much of the Western press while the deaths of scores of Lebanese civilians from equally gruesome Israeli shrapnel-spewing
antipersonnel bombs are reported with far less fervor and few damning particulars -- it's hard to know what Israel hopes to
accomplish with such an wildly wanton violation of international standards for human rights and common sense in warfare.
If the Israeli intent is, as some have guessed, to overrun as much Hezbollah-defended territory as possible before an
internationally mediated settlement stops the clock on the war, its success in the short run will only assure future Israeli
vulnerability -- and solidify the cynical immorality of the contemporary Israeli approach to settling international disputes.
Witness the "success" of the Sharon and Olmert regimes' "facts on the ground" approach to the Palestinian
conflict -- a strategy otherwise known as "grab all the land we can and then negotiate to give back the parcels we want
least." The net gain in Israeli-controlled territory has been more than offset by a deepened Palestinian rage for revenge,
the election of Hamas, and the fueling of an unceasing and escalating war for land. Similarly, any current Israeli "gains"
in Lebanon legitimized by a clock-freezing mediated deal will only serve, in the long run, to underpin the very grievances
that strengthen Hezbollah's popular appeal in the first place. It's a tactic that only a bully can be blind enough to believe
in: kick ass today and don't worry about having to coexist tomorrow.
If, on the other hand, the intent of the Olmert regime is to simply blow Hezbollah off the map, Israel's hopes are even
more self-delusory. One cannot wipe out a guerrilla movement with conventional overpowering force any more than one can stop
a swarm of hornets with a shotgun. The true power behind the forces waging war against Israel, including Hezbollah and Hamas,
is not sheer fighting muscle (as Israeli hawks and their backers would like to believe) but the popular legitimacy of the
grievances these resistance groups represent. It's the occupation, stupid. When the viciously unfair "facts on the ground"
carved out by the Israeli occupation finally dissipate in the face of good sense, so will the popularity of the murderous
agendas of those who lead the opposing charge.
The practical problem in Lebanon -- as in Palestine, as in Iraq, as in Vietnam -- is that Israel, like its heavy-footed
sponsor the United States, still has no idea whatsoever how to win a guerrilla war. The self-immolating hubris of the Bush
ethic has already made itself useless in the Middle East. What now remains to be seen is whether Israel has learned from the
blunders of its benefactor. Will it cut its losses in Lebanon and Palestine, or extend them?
© 2006 Bruce A. Jacobs (Posted 8/8/06)
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