Posted 8/08/2003 08:44:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Hizbollah

Caroline Glick writes today about Hizbollah's war on Israel. I wonder if she is responsible for the Irony in the articles title. And the shelling is not the only problem emanating from Lebanon/Syria. Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has called for kidnapping, and his call seems to have been heard.

Just a few days later, 17-year-old Dana Benett went missing, and then 19-year-old Eliezer Zusia Klughaupt disappeared. Several Israelis have reported attempted kidnappings some at gunpoint from which they were able to escape. Most of these attempted abductions emanated from the same area in the North. All have taken place since Nasrallah's call.

Even that's not the worst of it. Using hudnas of its own, Hizbollah has continued its war on Israel while being practically immune to criticism from anyone on earth.

Another important aspect of Hizbullah's strategy against Israel in Lebanon involved the interruption of its guerrilla and terror operations with limited cease-fires. These cease-fires worked to force Israel to restrain its counterterror operations against Hizbullah, while placing no effective limitations on Hizbullah itself.

Hizbullah's actions against Israel were informed by its awareness of our diplomatic isolation. Understanding that Israel has no allies other than the US, Hizbullah could be certain that no international body, NGO, or alliance would back Israel's right to defend itself in Lebanon.

With Israel's precipitous unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, Hizbullah achieved its short-term goal. Since then it has been moving forward with its long-term goal of destroying Israel itself. Its refusal to recognize the international border set the international context of its continued aggression. The UN's unwillingness to stand up for Israel on the issue of borders proved Hizbullah's assumption that Israel has no international support regardless of its actions was correct. Its current cooperation with Palestinian terrorist organizations and the Palestinian Authority and its employment of Israeli Arab operatives within Israel allow Hizbullah to work toward its objective from its safe base in Lebanon.

Much of the west continues to insist that the problems in the region are simply between the Israelis and palestinians. They are wrong.

Until we deal with the problems of the Arab world and accept those problems as the central issue in the Arab Israeli conflict, there is little chance for a meaningful peace. I know its' repetitive and I know that it's not a popular position, but the palestinians already have a State, and if the truth be known, the majority of the Arab world won't be satisfied until that state includes all of Israel. The Arabs have deliberately created a wretched group of perpetual refugees to insulate themselves and to focus the attention on Israel. They've been hugely successful.

While the west and the left ignore its history, the Arab-Israeli war has been reduced, by them, to an unwarranted police action with the powerful subjugating the poor wretched victims. It pisses me off.