Immediate vs. sustainable ceasefire
The terms "immediate" and "sustainable" are not generally considered as opposites, but they have come to be regarded as such in relation to the split between the coalition of the Arabs and the western liberal Europeans on the one hand and the US, British and Israelis on the other regarding the issue of a ceasefire to the Hizbollah-Israel conflict.
The Rome conference was considered a "complete failure" by the western liberal and European media, in that it did not come up with an immediate ceasefire, nor with a basis for the formation of the nucleus of a stabilization force for south Lebanon. But, it did formalize the agreement by Israel to sanction humanitarian deliveries and "corridors" in Lebanon, that will in effect circumscribe Israeli military actions but also take some of the pressure off.
However, from the US-Israeli viewpoint the Rome Conference was a partial success, in that even though the question of a ceasefire was discussed in detail, Condy Rice was excellent, and she stuck to her position that only a "sustainable" ceasefire, that would not leave Hizbollah armed and on the ground in south Lebanon, to repeat its incendiary acts as before, is acceptable. One reason why it was a failure is that the final communique failed completely to mention the two Israeli soldiers taken hostage by Hizbollah and their bombardment of northern Israel with over 1,600 rockets, killing 21 civilians and wounding 1,300! It is noteworthy that Hizbollah, Syria and Iran were not included in the Rome Conference, but in effect the Arabs, the western liberals and the Europeans substituted for the Syrian-Iranian axis side in this context.
Behind this scene is the continuation of the conflagration on the ground, with the Hizbollah fighters putting up a stronger resistance than expected by the IDF and the rocketing of northern Israel continuing unabated, with 100 rockets falling again Wednesday across the whole of the north from Haifa to Rosh Pinna, with many injuries and much property damage. Even Jan Egeland, the UN Human Rights spokesman, was suitably impressed by the degree of damage in Haifa, although he failed to express his emotional identification with the suffering of the Israeli people as he did with the poor Lebanese.
One reason why Israel is glad that there is no immediate ceasefire being imposed by the international community, as there always was in past conflicts, is that the IDF has apparently run into trouble in Bint Jbail. Instead of having taken it, as prematurely stated Tuesday night, in fact they had only surrounded it and on Wednesday 9 IDF soldiers were killed and 22 injured in an ambush in the heavy fighting for the town. This is a disaster for teh IDF and a victory for Hizbollah. Instead of 100 Hizbollah fighters as they initially estimated, it turned out that there may have been 200 or many more there. Some were killed when their bunkers were blown up, so their number is indeterminate.
One reason for this "slow" progress by the IDF was revealed in a report Wednesday in the Israeli press, that the IDF military intelligence branch had detailed reports of all the main fortified Shia villages in S. Lebanon, but these were not transferred to the operational branches, so that the soldiers went into battle without the latest detailed intelligence. One wonders what the military intelligence officers thought that this information was being kept for. In any case, as reported in the press, the troops who went in to fight the fanatical Hizbollah defenders did not have the requisite information of the layout of their bunkers, partly due to the "arrogance" of IDF officers. As often happens, Israelis prefer to rush in and learn on the job, but this can be costly in precious lives. In time, the IDF will defeat Hizbollah, but don't count on Syria or Iran to help get a ceasefire. Although Nasrallah has admitted that they were surprised by the strength of the Israeli response to their deliberate provocation, only when Hizbollah is really hurting and is in danger of being disarmed will they try to stop it.
Remember the old adage, "don't believe everything you read!" And especially not what you see on the TV networks. For example, the Lebanese Pres. Seniora spoke passionately at the Press Conf. in Rome about an "immediate ceasefire" but he also talked about extending Lebanese Govt. sovereignty down to the Israel border. But these are mutually incompatible aims, because only if Hizbollah is removed from the south by being severely beaten by the IDF in a continuation of the fighting can he have the latter. He also talks passionately about getting back the Shebaa Farms that he calls part of Lebanon, while everyone knows, and the UN certified, that this small parcel of land is in fact part of Syria. So would you believe anything he says? Yet the media portrays him as the poor suffering Pres. of the poor suffering Lebanon (that is waiting to get its hands on millions of reconstruction dollars, courtesy of Hizbollah and the IDF). Note that the number of casualties in Lebanon after 2 weeks of fighting is about the same as in Iraq in two days, yet you don't hear the same concern about Iraqi civilian lives! By the way, this proves that the IDF is careful about civilian casualties!
The incident of the four UNIFIL soldiers killed by IAF fire is another example of an IDF fashla, but none with any sense can consider this a deliberate act, as Kofi Annan implied. I remind you that during the NATO campaign against Serbia to force them to remove their army from Kossovo, the USAF destroyed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing many Chinese. Of course, the Chinese and many others considered this a deliberate act of war. But, after an investigation it turned out that the USAF were using old maps in which the building had a different purpose, although on ordinary city maps of Belgrade it was correctly marked. Such are the mistakes of war. But, when the IAF destroys a specific building in Tyre, and as the CNN correspondents scramble around on camera talking excitedly about civilian casualties and the destruction of apartment buildings, it turns out that this was the headquarters of the Hizbollah commander in South Lebanon, and that the building was empty at the time! So much for the hype of emotionally biased reporting that is the standard fare from Lebanon.
The Rome conference was considered a "complete failure" by the western liberal and European media, in that it did not come up with an immediate ceasefire, nor with a basis for the formation of the nucleus of a stabilization force for south Lebanon. But, it did formalize the agreement by Israel to sanction humanitarian deliveries and "corridors" in Lebanon, that will in effect circumscribe Israeli military actions but also take some of the pressure off.
However, from the US-Israeli viewpoint the Rome Conference was a partial success, in that even though the question of a ceasefire was discussed in detail, Condy Rice was excellent, and she stuck to her position that only a "sustainable" ceasefire, that would not leave Hizbollah armed and on the ground in south Lebanon, to repeat its incendiary acts as before, is acceptable. One reason why it was a failure is that the final communique failed completely to mention the two Israeli soldiers taken hostage by Hizbollah and their bombardment of northern Israel with over 1,600 rockets, killing 21 civilians and wounding 1,300! It is noteworthy that Hizbollah, Syria and Iran were not included in the Rome Conference, but in effect the Arabs, the western liberals and the Europeans substituted for the Syrian-Iranian axis side in this context.
Behind this scene is the continuation of the conflagration on the ground, with the Hizbollah fighters putting up a stronger resistance than expected by the IDF and the rocketing of northern Israel continuing unabated, with 100 rockets falling again Wednesday across the whole of the north from Haifa to Rosh Pinna, with many injuries and much property damage. Even Jan Egeland, the UN Human Rights spokesman, was suitably impressed by the degree of damage in Haifa, although he failed to express his emotional identification with the suffering of the Israeli people as he did with the poor Lebanese.
One reason why Israel is glad that there is no immediate ceasefire being imposed by the international community, as there always was in past conflicts, is that the IDF has apparently run into trouble in Bint Jbail. Instead of having taken it, as prematurely stated Tuesday night, in fact they had only surrounded it and on Wednesday 9 IDF soldiers were killed and 22 injured in an ambush in the heavy fighting for the town. This is a disaster for teh IDF and a victory for Hizbollah. Instead of 100 Hizbollah fighters as they initially estimated, it turned out that there may have been 200 or many more there. Some were killed when their bunkers were blown up, so their number is indeterminate.
One reason for this "slow" progress by the IDF was revealed in a report Wednesday in the Israeli press, that the IDF military intelligence branch had detailed reports of all the main fortified Shia villages in S. Lebanon, but these were not transferred to the operational branches, so that the soldiers went into battle without the latest detailed intelligence. One wonders what the military intelligence officers thought that this information was being kept for. In any case, as reported in the press, the troops who went in to fight the fanatical Hizbollah defenders did not have the requisite information of the layout of their bunkers, partly due to the "arrogance" of IDF officers. As often happens, Israelis prefer to rush in and learn on the job, but this can be costly in precious lives. In time, the IDF will defeat Hizbollah, but don't count on Syria or Iran to help get a ceasefire. Although Nasrallah has admitted that they were surprised by the strength of the Israeli response to their deliberate provocation, only when Hizbollah is really hurting and is in danger of being disarmed will they try to stop it.
Remember the old adage, "don't believe everything you read!" And especially not what you see on the TV networks. For example, the Lebanese Pres. Seniora spoke passionately at the Press Conf. in Rome about an "immediate ceasefire" but he also talked about extending Lebanese Govt. sovereignty down to the Israel border. But these are mutually incompatible aims, because only if Hizbollah is removed from the south by being severely beaten by the IDF in a continuation of the fighting can he have the latter. He also talks passionately about getting back the Shebaa Farms that he calls part of Lebanon, while everyone knows, and the UN certified, that this small parcel of land is in fact part of Syria. So would you believe anything he says? Yet the media portrays him as the poor suffering Pres. of the poor suffering Lebanon (that is waiting to get its hands on millions of reconstruction dollars, courtesy of Hizbollah and the IDF). Note that the number of casualties in Lebanon after 2 weeks of fighting is about the same as in Iraq in two days, yet you don't hear the same concern about Iraqi civilian lives! By the way, this proves that the IDF is careful about civilian casualties!
The incident of the four UNIFIL soldiers killed by IAF fire is another example of an IDF fashla, but none with any sense can consider this a deliberate act, as Kofi Annan implied. I remind you that during the NATO campaign against Serbia to force them to remove their army from Kossovo, the USAF destroyed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing many Chinese. Of course, the Chinese and many others considered this a deliberate act of war. But, after an investigation it turned out that the USAF were using old maps in which the building had a different purpose, although on ordinary city maps of Belgrade it was correctly marked. Such are the mistakes of war. But, when the IAF destroys a specific building in Tyre, and as the CNN correspondents scramble around on camera talking excitedly about civilian casualties and the destruction of apartment buildings, it turns out that this was the headquarters of the Hizbollah commander in South Lebanon, and that the building was empty at the time! So much for the hype of emotionally biased reporting that is the standard fare from Lebanon.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:45 PM
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