Mideast crisis--Blog from Jerusalem
This outcome has ramifications across the region. "The approach of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia vis-à-vis Israel is that it is impossible to achieve goals through military means," explained an Arab diplomat, who asked not to be named. "So when their people think that it is easy to put pressure on Israel and embarrass Israel, it is not a good situation for those countries to be in."
To make things worse, the moderate Arab leaders-who previously criticized Nasrallah for sparking the war-have faced angry street demonstrations by citizens who spent the last five weeks sitting in front of TV sets watching dead and wounded Lebanese civilians being pulled from the rubble of Israeli-bombed buildings. In the Arab street, there are signs of public discontent with the failure of their leaders to back Nasrallah. "Arab majesties, excellencies, and highnesses, we spit on you," read one banner carried in a demonstration in Egypt.
The solution: Pay lip service to Hezbollah.
In a surprising statement, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Monday praised Hezbollah's perseverance. "They conducted themselves in a manner that showed their ability to resist and they fought with honor," said Aboul-Gheit in an interview with Reuters, adding,"but the result after all is a disaster for Lebanon."
About the Israeli military campaign he said: "It led to the difficulties that everybody is facing."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has faced daily demonstrations for not supporting Hezbollah, "will have to spend more time to convince people how weak [Egypt is], and remind them of what happened in 1967,"said the Arab diplomat referring to the devastating defeat Egypt incurred in the '67 war.
Indeed the government-backed Egyptian media has been doing just that for the past few weeks, showing clips of the '67 war on TV and discussing it in newspaper articles. "The goal," said the diplomat "is to tell the people that it's not in their interest to be brought into a war that they are not prepared for and not part of."
August 14
Jerusalem/Haifa—Hours after a United Nations-brokered cease-fire went into force Monday morning, stores opened their long-shut doors, traffic lights began operating, and thousands of Israelis in the north of Israel started to come out from the bomb shelters where they hid from Katyushas rockets for five difficult weeks.
The long-awaited cease-fire brought great hope to Israeli citizens and soldiers but also skepticism, and it opened the gates for the flood of criticism toward the Israeli government and military leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz have a lot of answering to do. The war between Hezbollah and the Israeli Army, which was sparked by the capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12th, killed over 1,000 Lebanese, a third of whom were children, and 115 Israeli soldiers and 39 Israeli civilians. It forced over 700,000 Lebanese and 500,000 Israelis to abandon their homes for refuge.
Yet the Israeli soldiers are still missing and Hezbollah was not crushed. In fact, many Israelis still fear that Katyushas could come raining down. As Uri Avnery, an Israeli peace activist and commentator, said, "If a light-weight boxer is fighting a heavy-weight champion and is still standing in the 12th round, the victory is his—whatever the count of points says." Most Israelis, civilians and soldiers, sense that for the first time Israel has lost a war against the Arabs.
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