DR MUSA KEILANI- CHIEF EDITOR  AL URDON NEWSPAPER-  July 21, 2006

IRONIC as it sounds, the Bush administration`s refusal
to pressure Israel into ending its military offensive
in Lebanon is said to be based on a belief that the
crisis could open the door for negotiations that could
lead to peace in the Middle East.

It is indeed refreshing to hear the White House say
that President George W Bush "believes that unless you
address the root causes of the violence that has
afflicted the Middle East, you cannot forge a lasting
peace."

"He mourns the loss of every life," said White House
counselor Dan Bartlett.  "Yet out of this tragic
development, he believes a moment of clarity has
arrived."

So far so good in terms of the American understanding
of the situation. However, it is more disturbing to
realise that Washington is waiting for Israel to
"finish off" Lebanon`s Hizbollah or at least inflict
as much damage to the group before moving onto
diplomacy and possible revival of Arab-Israeli peace
talks.

In the first place, allowing Israel to continue its
spree of destruction means untold suffering for the
people of Lebanon in terms of human life, injuries,
infrastructure and displacement. Surely, there is no
international law that allows any country to wreak
havoc on another in whatever pretext. Suffice it to
say that Israeli actions are in gross violation of all
international laws and conventions and Washington is
endorsing those actions.

In the second place, Washington needs to realise that
it is not possible to "finish off" Hizbollah. Israel
could damage Hizbollah infrastructure and cut off its
supplies and remove the group`s fighters from
positions from where they could launch attacks on the
Jewish state. But Israel cannot destroy the mindset of
resistance against its plans in the region. If
anything, the Israeli military assaults in the Gaza
Strip and in Lebanon have only consolidated that
mindset and produced many more militants ready to take
up arms against not only Israel but also the US, given
Washington`s deliberate drive to give the Jewish state
as much time as possible for "destroying" Palestinian,
Hizbollah and perhaps even the broader Arab
resistance.

The ongoing Israeli campaign might indeed cause a
major dent in the physical resources and capabilities
available to Hizbollah, but it would only be a matter
of time before the group restores its potential to
stage armed attacks on Israel. There is nothing Israel
or anyone else could do about it, because the group`s
raison d`etre is to fight the Jewish state with a view
to restoring usurped Arab and Palestinian rights.

It is not as if Hizbollah or Palestinian hardliners
are opposed to ever making peace with Israel although
the  noises coming from their camps indicate that such voices
exist with the sole agenda of "destroying" the Jewish
state. They want  peace, but honourable peace and not
any peace imposed on them at the expense of Arabs and
Muslims. Therefore, the first priority for Israel is
to silence and subdue those who oppose its agenda of
imposing its version of peace on them.

Hizbollah might not have had a major axe to grind
against Israel. The group was acclaimed for its
successful drive that ousted Israel from southern
Lebanon six years ago, and with the Israelis out of
Lebanon there was little Hizbollah could cite to
justify is continued armed presence near the border.

Much more so when seen against the obvious fact that
Israel wanted nothing more to do with occupying
Lebanon and all it wanted was an end to cross-border
attacks and uninterrupted flow of Lebanese waters to
its territory. The surprising ferocity of Israel`s
response to Lebanese moves to divert a river to
Lebanese farmlands speaks volumes of the second part
of the Israeli agenda.

Bush is said to  believe that it is not acceptable
that an armed group exists in a country and is engaged
in attacks against a neighbour, and hence his position
against any call for a ceasefire in the
Israeli-Hizbollah confrontation. Well, the
administration should be asking itself whether it is
acceptable that a country exists that does not respect
of even recognise any international law, occupies
others` territory, subjects the people under
occupation to a reign of terror and intimidation and
refuses to heed calls for reason, logic and justice?

The US is said to see Israel fighting the
Washington-led "war against terror" by hitting
Hizbollah. As far as one could scrutinise Hizbollah`s
record, the group was not involved
in international terrorist activity other than
 targeting Israeli embassies in Latin America
 and occupation forces in Lebanon .

It is regrettable that the group had carried out
anti-US attacks and kidnappings years ago , but then
one needs to be reminded that those actions took place
within Lebanon and against forces that the militant
group saw then as working against the interests of the
people of Lebanon. That does not of course mean
condoning Hizbollah`s  previous actions, but it is a pointer to
the circumstances that existed in Lebanon at that
point of time.

Simply put, the US has adopted a position of inaction
to put an end to Israel`s offensive in Lebanon only
because Israel happens to be an ally of the US.

The Bush administration is also said to be hoping that
 Israel`s crippling of Hizbollah would complete the
work of building a functioning democracy in Lebanon.

Well as far as one knows, Lebanon does have a
functioning democracy. The US point here, however, is
that Lebanese should not vote for Hizbollah in
democratic elections.  Would that represent the US
vision of a functioning democracy even as it seeks to
impose a situation that it hopes would lead to denying
a political group its rightful place in the country`s
democratic process?

The contradictions in the US positions are one too
many.  The only refreshing element is its
affirmation that the fundamental roots of the
Arab-Israeli conflict have to be addressed for permanent
peace in the Middle East. However, the way the US is
going around addressing those problems is tailor-made
to evade the key issues and complicate the situation
further away from any hope of a solution.But the main fact
remains that if Hizbollah is defeated now , another more radical
Hizbollah will emerge from the ashes  , just like cutting off  Hamas
now will summon the Medusa of another more radical Hamas.