"Seeking Peace, Forced to Fight"; the view from an Israeli peace institute

[Clarkie1]

The author of this opinion piece, a member of an Israeli peace institute, differentiates between the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians and Lebanon.

Yitzhak Frankenthal
The Arik Institute For Reconciliation, Tolerance and Peace,In Memory of Arieh Zvi Frankenthal. (??"?)

Seeking peace; forced to fight.


Lebanon, by abducting two Israeli soldiers, firing at Israel and killing eight Israeli soldiers, has this morning declared war. Such attacks, when carried-out from within Lebanese sovereignty, can be seen as nothing but a declaration of war.

A distinction must be made here, between Lebanon and other sovereign states, and the Palestinians. The Palestinians are fighting occupation, the worst form of terror, and the occupier. If I was a Palestinian I would undoubtedly be struggling for my independence and vigorously opposing the occupation. To do so is the natural duty of every Palestinian. Opposing the occupation and struggling for independence can be done in numerous different ways, however. Personally, I would have chosen to oppose it by massive demonstration (hundreds-of-thousands' of Palestinians), without letting up until Israel ceased its occupation of my lands and my people. I would not use force of arms or suicide bombers for a number of reasons, not the least of which being:

a. Israel is incomparably stronger, especially in contrast to the Palestinians.

b. Terrorizing Israel will not force Israel into surrender, as no nation can afford to give in to terrorism. Palestinians as well, cannot afford to despair and surrender in the face of Israeli terrorism.

c. Those who take part in terrorist activities inevitably reduce themselves to the level of those who they are fighting with just cause – ultimately placing themselves in the wrong.

d. Terror aimed at civilian populations is justly perceived by the world as an illegitimate form of warfare. Without support from the free world, establishing a sovereign state is impossible.

True, in this regard we can see a great degree of hypocrisy in the world: despite Israel's incessant terrorizing of the Palestinian population, the world does not look upon Israelis as terrorists. When Palestinians terrorize Israel on the other hand, they are unjustly equated to fundamentalist Muslim terrorists such as Bin Laden.

The events which occurred this morning on the Israeli-Lebanese border are an act of war. Israel has an obligation to retaliate and defend itself. Lebanon, unlike the Palestinian population, is an autonomous country. The Hezbollah in this case is of no interest to me. Only the Lebanese government, which cannot control the armed factions within it, is of interest to me - a government that cannot control the armed forces within-it is nothing but a government of puppets.

Within reason, I would be willing to do anything to achieve peace. As an Israeli, however, I cannot tolerate a self-governing country attacking mine. If I was the Prime Minister of Israel today, faced with the events of this morning, I would give Lebanon an ultimatum by which to return the abducted Israeli soldiers to Israel - alive and in one piece. If they failed to fulfill this deadline, I would begin bombing infrastructures in Beirut, starting with the electricity. If the soldiers are still not returned, I would destroy every bridge in Lebanon - and if the Lebanese government remained stubborn, I would have Lebanese soldiers, dignitaries and Hezbollah operatives captured - only to be released in return for the Israeli soldiers.

I am not playing games… As much as I want peace, I want my fellow Israelis to live securely in their country. No more fooling around with Lebanon.

Gentlemen, peace is realized in order to live peacefully. We have had no quarrels with Lebanon for the past few years. The ruthlessness and belligerence of the various terrorist organizations there do not interest me. I don't recognize the Hezbollah. It does not interest me. What interests me is the Lebanese government, as it is solely responsible for maintaining peace along its borders.

I cannot emphasize enough the fact that there is a significant difference between the Lebanese government and the Palestinian population - the Palestinians are justified in their battle against the occupation and the occupier. The Lebanese/Hezbollah are nothing but a gang of brutes which Israel has an obligation to defend itself against.

I would not be surprised if Syria is backing the Hezbollah. Syria has a right to fight Israel in order to re-possess the Golan Heights, which were occupied by Israel – especially in light of the fact that the Syrian President has repeatedly addressed the Israeli government calling for peace, given the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. For Syria to attack Israel via Lebanon, however, would be a first-class case of malevolence. The Lebanese have suffered more than enough and if they controlled the terrorist enclaves in their own territories, deserve to live in peace and quiet.

In summary, I think it is entirely possible that we will go to war with Lebanon over what happened this morning. It would be a very unfortunate, a very regrettable war, but an entirely justified one. We cannot let terror - be it Lebanese, Israeli or Palestinian - win.

To be able to differentiate between the different varieties of terror we must be able apply a healthy dose of common sense. I hope that wisdom will soon reach our region – we all deserve to live in peace and security.

Yitzhak Frankenthal

http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/news_item.2006-07-13.2604750814

[Clarkie1]

1. Pay attention, people.

Doesn't eveyone find this as thought-provoking as I do?:think:

Not saying I necessarily entirely agree, just that's it's thought-provoking and I do feel the author makes some legitimate points. Maybe this is why so many Israelis are supporting the action this time around?

[izzie]

2. To go back to the start on that.

Israel has lots of prisoners from Lebanon and Palestine and this exchange one Israel for may of those people have been going on for a long time. I am sure Hezellobah thought it would be the same stuff. An exchange. I would say that the US has got into this to take over the whole Middle East and Israel had to come in. It also is taking Iraq off the front page before Nov. and Bush's numbers will go up as it puts all this terrorist stuff and Gods land in play for the Far Right. GOP Congress needs that.

[izzie]

3. Why do you think that the war slowed down so all those

people just vacationing in Lebanon could get out?

[enigma000]

4. kick