http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1219280.ece
15 August 2006 08:08
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Israel's verdict: We lost the war
By Donald Macintyre in Metulla, Israel
Published: 15 August 2006
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, was obliged to admit
"shortcomings" in the 34-day-old conflict in Lebanon yesterday as he
launched what may prove a protracted fight for his own political
survival.
Mr Olmert's admission in a stormy Knesset session came in the face of
devastating poll figures showing a majority of the Israeli public
believes none or only a very small part of the goals of the war had been
achieved.
Adding insult to injury, the leader of Hizbollah, Sheikh Hassan
Nasrallah, crowed on television that his guerrillas had achieved a
"strategic historic victory" over Israel.
The Prime Minister, who was repeatedly heckled by opposition MPs during
his address, insisted the international commitments in Friday night's UN
resolution would "change fundamentally" the balance of forces on the
country's northern border.
But, facing his first major political crisis since winning the election
five months ago, he acknowledged "the overall responsibility for this
operation lies with me, the Prime Minister. I am not asking to share this
with anyone." A number of Knesset members including the Israeli Arab
Ahmed Tibi, a furious opponent of the war, were ejected from the chamber.
The opening of what is likely to prove a bitter post-mortem came as the
two sides began an uneasy truce. The conflict is estimated to have cost
well over 1,000 Lebanese lives as well as those of 156 Israelis -
civilians and soldiers.
The fragility of the ceasefire was underlined by four incidents in which
Israeli troops shot dead six Hizbollah fighters after the ceasefire began
at 8am yesterday. The Israeli military insisted the incidents were within
guidelines permitting troops to open fire when threatened and did not
jeopardise the truce.
Promising that the government "will have to examine ourselves at all
levels," Mr Olmert fought to pre-empt a probable campaign by the
political right by declaring that Hizbollah had been dealt a "harsh
blow". He added that the guerrilla group was no longer "a state within a
state" or a "terrorist organisation that is allowed to act inside a state
as an arm of the axis of evil", referring to Syria and Iran.
While refraining from a direct personal attack on Mr Olmert, Benjamin
Netanyahu, leader of the right- wing Likud opposition, lost little time
in declaring "there were many failures, failures in identifying the
threat, failures in preparing to meet the threat, failures in the
management of the war, failures in the management of the home front."
Critics from right and left were fortified by a Globes Smith poll
showing, remarkably given the degree to which the army is embedded in
Israeli society, that 52 per cent of electors believed the Israel Defence
Forces had been unsuccessful in its Lebanon offensive as opposed to 44
per cent who believed it did well.
Mr Netanyahu also pointedly chose to attack unilateral withdrawals - the
issue on which Mr Olmert fought his election in March. Mr Netanyahu said:
"We left Lebanon to the last centimetre and they are firing. We left Gaza
to the last centimetre and they are firing."
Meanwhile, the Hizbollah leader said he believes the Lebanese army and
international troops are "incapable of protecting Lebanon". He also said
it was the "wrong time" for a public discussion on disarming the
guerrilla group.
At the eastern end of the northern border, heavy artillery barrages and
repeated tank machine-gun fire continued yesterday up to the ceasefire
deadline.
But as the artillery batteries fell silent and firing stopped, there was
a final single explosion at about 8.05pm, sending a plume of grey smoke
upwards before the uneasy calm began.
Amid a wave of angry civilian reactions in Israel after more than a month
in which an estimated 3,500 rockets were fired into northern Israel, Sam
Echahid, the manager of a local supermarket, was asked whether he thought
the ceasefire would hold. He said: "I hope not. We haven't done anything
yet."
Alamaine, IVe
Grand Forks, ND, US of A
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a
philosopher." - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
Don't ask about caste or riches but instead ask about conduct. Look
at the flames of a fire. Where do they come from? From a piece of
wood"and it doesn't matter what wood. In the same way, a wise
person can come from wood of any sort. It is through firmness and
restraint and a sense of truth that one becomes noble, not through
caste. -Sutta Nipata
~~~~~~~
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