Tuesday, July 18, 2006

The Israeli-Muslim War

[I'm pretty sure I'm going to get flamed on this either way that I go, so have at it. I am attempting an integral view, but I suspect that I have failed . . . and that's okay.]

I've done a bit of reading today, and I have to say that I now am very clear on why I quit my political blog. Politicians are mostly idiots, or at least pretend to be when the camera is on them or the tape recorder is running. And then there is a whole profession whose job it is to analyze the crap that spews from the always open mouths of politicians. But perhaps I am being to gentle.

So, this is some of what I learned:

William Kristol is stark raving mad.
George Will is remarkably sane for a baseball fan.
Israel is a brutal monster of a state.
Israel will have to negotiate its way out of this mess.
Hizbullah is winning the hearts and minds of Arab citizens.

But this seems to be the best article I read today, from Richard Cohen at the Washington Post. Here is a quote from the top of the piece:


The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself.

This is why the Israeli-Arab war, now transformed into the Israeli-Muslim war (Iran is not an Arab state), persists and widens. It is why the conflict mutates and festers. It is why Israel is now fighting an organization, Hezbollah, that did not exist 30 years ago and why Hezbollah is being supported by a nation, Iran, that was once a tacit ally of Israel's. The underlying, subterranean hatred of the Jewish state in the Islamic world just keeps bubbling to the surface. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and some other Arab countries may condemn Hezbollah, but I doubt the proverbial man in their street shares that view.
There is no easy answer to this issue. I certainly don't have the answers after one afternoon of reading. So to take these thoughts as preliminary observations subject to revision in light of new info as I encounter it.

If Israel persues war with the Muslim world -- which would be intiated by a continued offensive against Hizbullah out of proportion to the atagonism, or an attack on Syria and/or Iran -- the US will be drawn in under the Bush administration. That is not acceptable.

It's time to take a hard line with Israel. They have the right to defend their borders and to prevent terrorist attacks on their soil. But they do not have the right to indiscriminately bomb residential areas in Lebanon in retaliation against Hizbullah attacks. And they would be foolish to engage Iran in a war.

I have no doubt that Pakistan, a nuclear nation, would covertly aid its ethnic and spiritual neighbor in a war against Israel. This might draw India into the mess. The whole region could end of exploding in war, possibly nuclear.

The US must not support Israel in widening this battle. And we must not insert our already stretched-too-thin military into the mess.

More from Richard Cohen's article:


Hard-line critics of Ariel Sharon, the now-comatose Israeli leader who initiated the pullout from Gaza, always said this would happen: Gaza would become a terrorist haven. They said that the moderate Palestinian Authority would not be able to control the militants and that Gaza would be used to fire rockets into Israel and to launch terrorist raids. This is precisely what has happened.

It is also true, as some critics warned, that Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon was seen by its enemies -- and claimed by Hezbollah -- as a defeat for the mighty Jewish state. Hezbollah took credit for this, as well it should. Its persistent attacks bled Israel. In the end, Israel got out and the United Nations promised it a secure border. The Lebanese army would see to that. (And the check is in the mail.)

All that the critics warned has come true. But worse than what is happening now would be a retaking of those territories. That would put Israel smack back to where it was, subjugating a restless, angry population and having the world look on as it committed the inevitable sins of an occupying power. The smart choice is to pull back to defensible -- but hardly impervious -- borders. That includes getting out of most of the West Bank -- and waiting (and hoping) that history will get distracted and move on to something else. This will take some time, and in the meantime terrorism and rocket attacks will continue.
Isreal needs to take a long-term view here, as suggested, and realize that they will never be accepted into the region as long as they appear to be the bully on the block. It may take generations for their Arab/Muslim neighbors to accept their right to exist. For now, they need to protect their borders and use as much restraint as they can muster.

As long as they employ an aggressive, militant attitude, they will be seen as a threat that must be eliminated. Images like these won't help:





Pictures of Israeli children writing messages on missles to be launched at Lebanon will do nothing toward helping their neighbors accept them in the region.

And the Muslim terrorist groups must be brought to justice by the nations that protect them. Israel isn't going away and the endless assult on their lands must be stopped. This would mean that the US would have to stop coddling dictators and thugs (we usually call them allies), and that the US and Europe will have to put humanitarian interests ahead of economic interests. The bloodshed must end.

The US presence in Iraq is certainly a contributing factor to this mess. The ill-conceived and ill-planned war has always been a mistake, but it is only now that we are beginning to see what our presence as an occupying power has created in the region. Fundamentalist Islam, which is already militant, sees the US presence as a possible long-term occupation that, together with Israel's militanism, threatens their already paranoid worldview.

We need to withdraw from Iraq and let the Iraqis sort out their own mess. Instead of wasting more than $300 billion in a futile -- and seemingly unending -- military campaign, we could be building secular schools, working hospitals, and a functional infrastructure. Tribal conditions create a tribal mentality. If we want to change the way Muslims think, we must change the way they live.

It is no coincidence that the most Westernized Arab nations are also the most progressive. We need to push that model in other areas of the Middle East. We will not eliminate Islam, but as its followers enter the 21st century, the fundamentalism will fade.

Israel could contribute to that process by becoming a generous and compassionate neighbor that carries a big stick. They could support democratic movements, progressive education, and economic growth. At the same time, they can powerful defend their lands with their superior military.

But Israel must learn the art of a measured and calculated response. All out brutality in response to every offense only inflames their enemies. With that approach, they will never be accepted into the region.


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6 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a hard time seeing what you've written here as an integral approach.

I think that you are failing to appreciate that Israel is dealing with interlocking organizations and states that use amoral means to try to gain ground.

Hezbollah hides its missles and has its headquarters in neighborhoods where there are parks and children present. By taking two Israeli soldiers, holding them for an exchange of hundreds of jailed Palestinians, they were daring Israel to lower themselves to means that the Hezbollah is easily capable of.

Israel has a problem on the horizon. The Arab world is growing more powerful with non-state entities that use ever-more ruthless means and that can have access soon to weapons of devastating effect.

Israel needs to have partners for peace, but these partners have not emerged. It was Arafat who blew the golden opportunity for longterm peace just seven years ago.

Israel cannot easily make peace with hostile neighbors, for if there is a return to 1967 borders they would be very vulnerable to being overwhelmed if attacked.

The conditions that seemed so ripe for peace just six or seven years ago are not in place now. The Bush Administration has not helped by failing to involve itself in the search for peace.

Israel has to change the situation. Hezbollah has no right to be acting as a militia within the nation of Lebanon. Israel is attacking Hezbollah targets in its effort to affect a change such that there are not long-range missles targetting it from the south of Lebanon. This effort by Israel is understandable, though it is being made using the kidnapped soldiers as an excuse.

The military dominence that you claim for Israel is being lost -- simply because their Arab enemies are getting more powerful weapons and possible access to WMDs. Leaving Gaza has not proved successful. Muslim terrorist organizations are not going away and are neither being challenged by the nations wherein they have refuge, nor by the populations of Arabs that contenence these organizations' ruthless gangland activities. Israel feels forced to respond.

william harryman said...

I told you I failed at taking an integral approach. :)

Yes, Hizbulah and Hammas are both horrible organizations that must be dealt with, probably with force. And yes, Israel has a right to defend itself. But Israel has been just as brutal and amoral in its responses to terrorist attacks, which only serves to generate new recruits for suicide missions.

It sounds to me that you guys are advocating for an escalation that would include Iran and/or Syria -- an escalation that would undoubtedly draw in the US.

I don't see how it is an integral position to advocate for an all-out regional war -- Israel vs the Islamic religion. I don't even see how that is a situation that would be good for Israel.

Right now, they have Arab neighbors condemning the Hizbullah attacks. That will change immediately if they go into Syria and/or bomb Iranian targets.

For what it's worth Colmar, I think that the UN needs to deal the Iran situation more directly. But I also think that the US cannot be the most vocal supporter of Israel AND go after Iran with military strikes. The regional response (even though Iran is not an Arab nation) would be full scale terrorist war.

Since I clearly am not seeing the integral nature of WWIV, please explain to me how an Israeli-Muslim war is a good thing.

Peace,
Bill

william harryman said...

Check out this article by Timothy Naftali. It also seems to me to be a realistic look at this mess. It says some of what I was trying to get at in my post.

Peace,
Bill

Unknown said...

ebuddha,

From what I understand, the Israeli campaign is as precise as it can be, targetting places where Hezbollah has hidden missles, sometimes in parts of Lebanon where Hezbollah is not liked.

WH,

The endgame for Israel, here, is to have a secure northern border. I think this is likely. There is talk about European troops in southern Lebanon, extending a demilitarized zone, UN supervision, the Lebanon gov't taking control in the south.

I don't think that we are on the verge of something cataclysmic. The chances for that are in the future. Israel has to rush the will for peace SOON, because the situation is likely only to get worse for them. They need partners.

Once a peace accord is signed, stability in the Middle East can come quickly -- just as things calmed down after the US Civil War and WWII. And then we can hope for the arab people cleaning up their autocratic, enrich-themselves governments. People get tired of war and embrace the opportunities of peace.

william harryman said...

Tom,

I want to try to address some of your points.

There is talk about European troops in southern Lebanon, extending a demilitarized zone, UN supervision, the Lebanon gov't taking control in the south.
This was the status quo before the attack by Hizbullah on the Israeli border patrol.

One out of every two Lebanese in the south are members of the Hizbullah politcal party, so it's not like we are dealing with a simple terrorist group. They are a full-scale political party holding seats in parliment. Israel can target their weapons and their leaders, but they cannot eliminate the philosophy of Hizbullah without mass genocide.

The UN, as much as I think they should have been there in larger numbers, is really helpless unless the Lebanese government can exert some nationalistic pressure to end the violence as a way to preserve national independence.

Israel has to rush the will for peace SOON, because the situation is likely only to get worse for them. They need partners.
Israel is resisting US pressure to wrap up the bombing. They want to systematically destroy any chance that Hizbullah will ever attack them again. Israel quickly moved way beyond retaliation for the kidnapping, which is only going to make the citizens of Lebanon more supportive of Hizbullah as their defenders.

I really don't think there will be any lasting peace in the Middle East as long as the US is in Iraq -- and Bush/Cheney has no intention of leaving in the next ten years or so. Many of those bases are permanent.

I hope, though, that I am wrong and that peace is possible -- and soon.

Peace,
Bill

Unknown said...

Bill,

Regarding your comment, of 7:10PM. I don't know what the status of creating some sort of secure border is right now, but I still think that that is the likely outcome and was and is Israel's aim. But I am not following the news super closely.

I am aware that Hezbullah is a political party in Lebanon. But all those who voted for the party are not "soldiers" in the movement. From what I understand there are three major parties in Lebanon and many in the north are not keen on Hezbullah nor its independence as a state within a state nor its relations with Syria and Iran. With Lebanon's recent history as a puppet state of Syria's there are many currents of political thought, but I doubt -- from what I think I know -- that the majority of Lebanese are going to be thinking of Hezbullah as their defenders. [Hezbullah has a history as an aggressor, not a defender.]

In the north, in Beirut, they want tourism, independence, democracy, peace and security -- not so much ties to terrorism.

As for Bush & Cheney, the surest bet of all is that they will not be in power or influencial after Jan 20, 2009. Whomever is elected to secede them will usher in the dawning of a new day for America around the world. I doubt the US will have ANY bases or other than trivial military presense in Iraq four years from now.

Back to the current bombings: I don't see how this escalates. Possibly, Israel will occupy extreme-southern Lebanon for a spell and violence will continue in and around Israel at a higher than usual level for a period, but I don't see there being a general war. Who wants it? The Arab nations in the arena have a lot on their plates and, some, high oil revenues to tend to. Syria is somewhat used to losing skermishes and they have nothing to gain; they can't beat Israel when it's mad. Iran is trying to extend its power, but it is far away and the population is not keen on getting in on this fracus.

I think THIS will calm down, but the future, ten years from now or less, is not bright.