Ceasefire?

The past few days, supposedly the last of the current Lebanese conflict
between Hizbollah and Israel, have been the worst so far, each side trying to
get in its last strikes. Over 250 rockets hit northern Israel on Sunday,
killing one and injuring dozens. This represents a failure of the IDF to deal
with the rocket threat of Hizbollah. Even from the ruins of southern Lebanon
occupied by 30,000 IDF troops they were able to fire so many rockets at
Israel. In retaliation the IAF bombed more areas of south Beirut, although
this may not have had any more effect following the previous destruction of
that area.
Also on Sunday it was reported that 24 IDF troops were killed in one day, the
bloodiest day of the campaign, 19 were killed in the ground assault and 5 in a
helicopter downed by a missile. Certainly these casualties are not the result
of a defeat of Hizbollah. Whether or not Hizbollah will abide by the UNSC
ceasefire is uncertain, but at the moment the ceasefire is holding. Israel
retains the right to respond to any action by Hizbollah, including rockets or
ground attacks. But, who will say that it was Hizbollah that again started the
fighting.
The Israeli toll in the 33 days of the war have been 107 soldiers and 43
civilians dead, and 1,000 injured according to the Min. of Foreign Affairs
site. Lebanese Govt. sources say that 890 civilians were killed and 3,800
wounded, although they give no figure for Hizbollah fighters. Certainly
many of the "civilians" include Hizbollah fighters wearing civvies. Israel
estimates that ca. 250 Hizbollah terrorists were killed in direct fighting,
but an unknown number were killed in air attacks. While a huge amount
of Hizbollah infrastructure and supplies were destroyed, it has not proved
to be an insurmountable blow to the organization. Sheikh Nasrullah still
lives and their rockets are still deployed. Nevertheless Lebanon needs a
ceasefire right now.
One big difference between living in Israel and the Diaspora is that every day
we see the photos of the dead soldiers and civilians on the news and in the
papers and see their funerals. It has a much bigger impact than if it were
thousands of miles away. They are not merely statistics, each one has a
story, they are us. That so many Israelis, mostly young men in their prime,
can be killed by an organization that we allowed to develop such a capability,
knowing that they were planning on using it (why else did they need 10,000
rockets), and that after all the suffering and the discussions Hizbollah may
remain a threat to the State of Israel, is not a satisfactory outcome to the
present war.
That there is a ceasefire is good, but for how long it will last and whether
or not the details of UN resolution 1701 can be implemented remains to be
seen. The sooner a "robust" military force is on the ground there the better.
The key issue of whether or not Hizbollah can be disarmed is very
questionable.