While I am writing these words, eight people died in Haifa, Israel’s third largest city,
as a result of a rocket launched by Hizbollah. The mood in the air is one of battle, but far from total war. In the Jerusalem vicinity, where I live, the situation is rather calm (for now…) and the crowds fill the pubs in the evenings.
People here are rather trigger happy. “Beat the hell out of them!” and “finish it once and for all!” are popular phrases heard in places and living rooms across town.
Beat the hell out of whom? The Lebanese? If I recall we did just that 24 years ago, and the result was not what we expected. The Syrians and the Iranians? No thank you, an all out war is not what we should be looking for right now. The Palestinians? We are doing just that everyday (did I mention Gaza and the constant assault) Hizbollah? Damn right! But how?
Our real-political aim should be to remove Hizbollah from our Northern border and to have the Lebanese army deployed instead. Negotiation to return the Israeli POW’s should be intense and quick, but the price is known to all sides: the release of Lebanese and Palestinians prisoners from Israeli jails. If we do this we will encourage another round. The winner, therefore, is the one with better endurance and patience.
As always, the political looser of this unfortunate situation are the Palestinians Hassan Nasrallah is portraying himself as their knight on a white horse who has come to their rescue. But Hamas complains that someone pulled the media carpet out from under their feet. Who is paying ant attention to them now? Who is broadcasting the suffering of the women and children in Rafah? Not even the Europeans.
The Middle East has its own rhythm. At any given moment a rocket could land on
Tel Aviv and escalate the situation even more. It is my hope that real-politics and common sense will take over and that the parties involved will find a way to reach some of their goals. I have a gut feeling this will be the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.
May god protect us all.
