Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

As we approach the beginning of the endgame for this disastrous war, analysts are beginning to tally up the won-lost column. The NY Times features this interesting interview with Giora Eliland, Ariel Sharon’s Mr. Security, who notes a ‘loss’ for Israel:

Giora Eiland, Israel’s national security adviser under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, predicts a solution in the next week or so “that is far from Israel’s original intent.”

He sees a political package negotiated at the United Nations that includes an exchange of Lebanese prisoners, with Israel regaining its two soldiers; a security zone in southern Lebanon under the control of a multinational force; an Israeli promise not to violate Lebanon’s sovereignty; and “a general understanding or commitment by the Lebanese government to be responsible for Hezbollah’s behavior.”

But “the most important thing will be missing from a deal,’’ he said, “the dismantling of the military capacity of Hezbollah.”

In other words, the core of the mission assigned to the IDF in fighting this war will remain unachieved. Eiland doesn’t draw the proper conclusion for all this–that Israel has been defeated according to the terms it originally set out for itself.

Bringing out the Qana dead (photo: Nasser Nasser/AP)

The IDF seems to meet its Waterloo in the village of Qana whenever it invades Lebanon. In 1996, during Operation Grapes of Wrath (another anti-Hezbollah military action) the army shelled a UN peacekeeping position that happened to house refugees fleeing the battles. More than 100 died. And that was the end of Operation Grapes of Wrath.

Now Haaretz reports that history has repeated itself in almost the same terms. The IDF attacked today a building in Qana that was sheltering 100 civilian refugees:

Some 35 Lebanese civilians were killed, 21 of them children, in an Israel Air Force strike on a building in the south Lebanon village of Qana on Sunday morning. Dozens of others were reportedly trapped in the rubble…

Several houses collapsed and a three-story building where about 100 civilians were sheltering was destroyed, witnesses and rescue workers said.

The IDF said it had warned residents of Qana to leave and said Hezbollah bore responsibility for using it to fire rockets at Israel.

Reuters also reports this sorry-assed statement from Ehud Olmet:

“All the residents were warned and told to leave. No one was ordered to fire on civilians and we have no policy of killing innocent people,” Israeli media quoted Olmert as saying.

Does anyone believe this joker anymore? I am sorry to be so disrespectful. I usually accord prime ministers at least a modicum of respect. But this garbage is beneath contempt.

Al Jazeera reports 65 dead while Reuters reports the death toll is likely to rise somewhere near 60 people. It would appear that many more names may be added to the current death toll based on the number of missing buried under the rubble.

The utter moral depravity of the Israeli reaction is underscored by the IDF blaming the victims for remaining in their village rather than obeying the order to evacuate. Because the civilians refused (in the IDF’s eyes) their order, they were no longer civilians but somehow dupes of Hezbollah who no longer deserved any rights of protection reserved for civilians. How utterly bankrupt a position!

AP reports this interaction with those searching for bodies in the rubble:

Residents said the dead were from four families who had gathered to spend the night on the ground floor of a three-story building, believing they would be safer from bombings.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV station said 21 children were killed.

”We want this to stop!” shouted Mohammed Ismail, a villager whose brown pants were covered in dust. ”May God have mercy on the children. They came here to escape the fighting.”

”They are hitting children to bring the fighters to their knees,” he said.

The Times is also reporting that George Bush may be placing Israel on a shorter leash after his meeting with Tony Blair. In other words, he may be giving Israel even less time than previously thought to wrap up its Lebanon misadventure. I have little doubt that Qana may be the seal of doom for the current invasion. In a single bombing today, Israel has produced over 10% of all the Lebanese civilian fatalities in this war.

The Lebanese prime minister has refused to see Condi Rice on her current Mideast trip till there is a ceasefire in place. I’d say that puts the kibosh on any progress she can make. And it just might put the kind of pressure that is necessary on both the U.S. and Israel to cave on the “immediate ceasefire” issue. Let’s hope.

End this war now!!

3 year-old Natan Mor calling out for his father, who sustained serious injuries during the Katyusha rocket assault on northern Israel (photo: Rina Castelnuovo/NYT)

Latest news: Haaretz reports that an Israeli grandmother and her five-year old grandson were killed and four others injured by Hezbollah rockets which landed in Moshav Meron on Friday evening. Ha-makom yinachem etchem–May God comfort their families. I have a five year old son and my heart grieves for their loss. Israel’s chief of staff is now warning that Hezbollah has rockets that can penetrate 70km into Israel, far deeper than the 18 mile distance to Haifa, which was rocketed yesterday. Two Israelis died in rocket fire yesterday.

The news gets bleaker and bleaker…

Israel’s version of collective punishment: Beirut airport on fire (photo: Adnan Hajj/Reuters)

Israel has launched its much anticipated counter-offensive against Hezbollah and the entire Lebanese people in retaliation for the killing of eight IDF soldiers and kidnap of two others. The IDF’s response has been massive and chilling. And it has been “disproportionate” to use the clinical terms of diplomacy. For “disproportionate” read “collective punishment,” which is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. How else may we describe an operation which blockades sea, air and roads and murders 63 Lebanese civilians (as of this date)? What can Israel possibly gain from this madness?

Let’s examine Israel’s statements about the Lebanon offensive. Yesterday, Olmert said that Hezbollah had violated “every rule” and brought the “Middle East to the abyss.” Yes, Hezbollah has violated every rule. But it did not bring the Middle East to the abyss because by itself it does not have the capacity to do so. However, Israel, with its massive firepower has more than the capacity to do so and it has through its actions in Lebanon. And one must not forget that Israel played a key role in initiating the escalation with a month of mostly failed attacks and targeted assassinations which killed 20 Palestinian civilians. This in turn led to the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit which in turn led to the Gaza invasion which in turn led to the Hezbollah attack on IDF positions in northern Israel. Of course, the concatenation of events is a bit more complicated than what I’ve made out–but that summarizes it in a nutshell. So all of Israel’s claims that it is the victim here ring false. Yes, in losing its troops to killing and kidnapping it is the victim, but not the innocent victim it makes itself out to be.

I also found this piece of reasoning absolutely ridiculous:

Israeli officials say they believe that their campaign against Hezbollah is popular with many Lebanese…

I’m sure an Israeli policy which threatens to turn the country into a smoking ruins will find much favor among the inhabitants. Do they stop for even half a second to think how they would feel if an Arab nation bombed Tel Aviv to gain the upper hand on some Israeli political/military faction?

And here is further demented reasoning from the Israelis:

Until now, the Israeli officials said, the Lebanese campaign, largely limited to airstrikes and naval shelling, has been largely limited “to infrastructure, not too dramatic, and the Hezbollah neighborhood” in southern Beirut, which was leafleted first to ask residents to leave. Airstrikes, the most intense over Lebanon since the 1982 war, have been carried out against Hezbollah rocket and ammunition stores, launching sites, barracks and buildings.

Israel expected Mr. Nasrallah in response to order a cooling off period

Surely, they must be joking. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that whoever said that to the NY Times reporter didn’t even believe what he or she was saying. Israel couldn’t have expected a “cooling off.” I’m certain it expected retaliation. Perhaps it even welcomes it because it allows the IDF to further penetrate and obliterate Lebanese/Hezbollah targets. But again, it will not matter how many targets it obliterates. Hezbollah will remain standing probably stronger than ever. It will reinforce its image within Lebanon and the Arab world as one of the few forces which stood up to Israel and fought back.

Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has further revealed the cluelessness of the military/political strategy:

Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, said: “Our intention is to hurt Hezbollah and cause the Lebanese government to take responsibility for what is going on within its borders and somehow create conditions which will enable our prisoners of war to come home.”

“Somehow create conditions which will enable our prisoners to come home.” In other words, “this is what we’d like to happen but we have no idea how to actually make it happen.”

The Times quotes an Israeli analyst whose rhetoric that would be worthy of any neocon think tank (and just as delusional–I’ve noted those portions in italics):

Guy Bechor, an analyst who heads the Mideast Division of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, said that Hezbollah, having made a series of errors, “is coming closer to its defeat,” and that Israel is likely to continue to carry out most of the campaign from the air to avoid being bogged down in Lebanon.

“Facing this aerial machine, Nasrallah can do little,” Mr. Bechor said. “And it will lead to its defeat. Israel is not going for an understanding with Hezbollah, but for a victory.”

Israel needs a few more days, Mr. Bechor said, to get the message across, and it will echo in Gaza, he said. “New parameters in Lebanon will make it easier for Israel with the Palestinians,” he suggested.

Four Israelis are now dead from Katyusha rocket strikes in northern Israel. Are these deaths worth the cost of this futile invasion? Is even a single Israeli life worth the cost of these adventures? I’m calling it an invasion even though ground troops are not yet involved. It is everything an invasion is but that.

Impotent U.S. Policy

U.S. reaction to the crisis continues to be shamefully, and perhaps purposely ineffectual. Lebanon has asked President Bush to push Israel for a ceasefire which he has refused:

White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that Mr. Bush had spoken with Lebanon’s prime minister, Fouad Siniora, but would not press Israel for a cease-fire.

Mr. Bush “believes the Israelis have the right to protect themselves, and that in doing so they should limit as much as possible so-called collateral damage, not only to facilities but also to human lives,’’ Mr. Snow said.

Asked specifically if Mr. Bush would call for a cease-fire, Mr. Snow said, “No. The president is not going to make military decisions for Israel.’’

Yes, certainly Israel has the right to ‘protect itself.’ But how in heaven’s name is blockading an entire country either defensive or ‘protective’? As to “limiting collateral damage,” they’ve got to be kidding. This is just more doublespeak coming from an Administration which perfected the art with its prevarication regarding the war in Iraq. The U.S. has become a hopeless aider and abettor of Israel’s grandiose vision of “changing the rules” regarding its relations with the Palestinians and Lebanese. Which makes perfect sense because that is precisely what Bush himself tried to do in invading Iraq. Is there any doubt that the latter policy has failed just as the former is doomed to failure?

Israeli officials…said that the Israeli strategy is to diminish or destroy the power of Hezbollah, which has created “a state within a state” in southern Lebanon, and to ensure that the Lebanese army replaces Hezbollah on the border with Israel, as demanded by the United Nations.

In response to a new barrage of rockets today, said Isaac Herzog, a member of the Israeli security cabinet, “We’ve decided to put an end to this saga and to change the rules of the game whereby a terrorist organization that is part of the Lebanese government can push the region to the abyss.”

Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, a member of the general staff, said: “We want to put Hezbollah out of business. We want to force the Lebanese government to take responsibility and deploy along the border and dismantle Hezbollah, which if it is allowed, will prevent any stabilization and peace process in the Middle East.”