Ceasefire Agreement A Defeat For Israel – And America
Unless you think the cessation of hostilities, regardless of the moral standing of the combatants, is such a good thing that all else pales in comparison, it’s clear that the cessation of hostilities that is scheduled for this Monday morning is a major defeat for Israel. Remember that Israel’s original war aim was no less than the neutralization of Hezbollah’s military strength. What we have now is, in the words of Caroline Glick, an ‘unmitigated disaster’:
I quote extensively:
There is a good reason that Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has accepted UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which sets the terms for a cease-fire between his jihad army and the State of Israel.
The resolution represents a near-total victory for Hizbullah and its state sponsors Iran and Syria, and an unprecedented defeat for Israel and its ally the United States. This fact is evident both in the text of the resolution and in the very fact that the US decided to sponsor a cease-fire resolution before Israel had dismantled or seriously degraded Hizbullah’s military capabilities.
While the resolution was not passed under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter and so does not have the authority of law, in practice it makes it all but impossible for Israel to defend itself against Hizbullah aggression without being exposed to international condemnation on an unprecedented scale.
This is the case first of all because the resolution places responsibility for determining compliance in the hands of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Annan has distinguished himself as a man capable only of condemning Israel for its acts of self-defense while ignoring the fact that in attacking Israel, its enemies are guilty of war crimes. By empowering Annan to evaluate compliance, the resolution all but ensures that Hizbullah will not be forced to disarm and that Israel will be forced to give up the right to defend itself.
The resolution makes absolutely no mention of either Syria or Iran, without whose support Hizbullah could neither exist nor wage an illegal war against Israel. In so ignoring Hizbullah’s sponsors, it ignores the regional aspect of the current war and sends the message to these two states that they may continue to equip terrorist armies in Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Iraq with the latest weaponry without paying a price for their aggression.
The resolution presents Hizbullah with a clear diplomatic victory by placing their erroneous claim of Lebanese sovereignty over the Shaba Farms, or Mount Dov – a vast area on the Golan Heights that separates the Syrian Golan from the Upper Galilee and is disputed between Israel and Syria – on the negotiating table. In doing so, the resolution rewards Hizbullah’s aggression by giving international legitimacy to its demand for territorial aggrandizement via acts of aggression, in contravention of the laws of nations.
Moreover, by allowing Lebanon to make territorial claims on Israel despite the fact that in 2000 the UN determined that Israel had withdrawn to the international border, the resolution sets a catastrophic precedent for the future. Because Lebanon is receiving international support for legally unsupportable territorial demands on Israel, in the future, the Palestinians, Syrians and indeed the Jordanians and Egyptians will feel empowered to employ aggression to gain territorial concessions from the Jewish state even if they previously signed treaties of peace with Israel. The message of the resolution’s stand on Shaba Farms is that Israel can never expect for the world to recognize any of its borders as final.
By calling in the same paragraph for the “immediate cessation by Hizbullah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations,” the resolution treats as equivalent Hizbullah’s illegal aggression against Israel and Israel’s legitimate military actions taken in defense of its sovereign territory.
And on and on. I’m persuaded by her logic, for the most part. This is a bad, bad day for the War on Terror…
The terms of the ‘cease fire’ are that Israel can keep shooting if Hezballah does. The jihadi scum have vowed to keep fighting so long as Israelis are in Lebanon, hence there is no cease fire, just a fig leaf to bamboozle the idiots at the UN.
The fighting will continue past monday. Most Lebanese think this, Hezballah seems to also.
If this is “a defeat for Israel — and America,” how come the US sponsored it and Israel accepted it? Bush approved it, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Israel’s cabinet accepted it, with only one abstention. Unless Bush and the Israelis are dimwitted fools, there’s something you’re missing. I don’t know what it is, but there has to be something more.
Jack, maybe you’re right – but I’m sure not seeing it….
I don’t doubt for a second that Hezbolla has no intention of honoring a cease fire, and I understand that this forces Isreal to pull back their assault on Hezbolla strongholds. But short of occupying Lebanon outright for 5+ years, Isreal was never going to eliminate Hezbolla in Lebanon anyway, and Isreal never intended to occupy Lebanon outright, so a cease-fire of some kind was inevitable.
Besides, the key player in this cease fire isn’t Hezbolla at all, its Lebanon — specifically its military. The military hung Hezbolla out to dry during this entire war, which is a sign that the desire to purge Hezbolla from Labanon exists, if not the ability. If the Lebanese military is willing and able to respond to Hezbolla rocket attacks into Isreal, and to keep the Syrians out of Lebanon, the cease fire can work.
My understanding is that the Lebanese army is utterly, utterly useless. They may be holding back because they are capable of nothing else. Hizb’allah doesn’t seem to have ever asked them for help throughout this entire conflict.
[...] My friend Mark Coffey, at Decision ‘08, reports on a column by Caroline Glick at the Jerusalem Post. The Monday cease fire is labled an ‘unmitigated disaster’. [...]
Mark, have you read CQ lately? I think Ed has the best rationale for why this is a win-win for Isreal & US. Sort of a rope-a-dope, hezbollah being the dope that overplayed their hand and now forced to bvackpedal & stall for time
Well, I’ll read it, but I’m going to take a LOT of convincing…