<font size="2"I never thought I would live to see the day that Israel would become the international equivalent of Wile E. Coyote, but that day has come. If Israel signs on to the UN Resolution they are lighting the fuse on the dynamite that will subsequently explode in their hand. This
resolution marks a major victory for Hizbullah. Unfortunately for Israel, there appears no other viable course of action.
Israel cannot defeat Hizbullah without paying a price in
blood and treasure that it cannot sustain politically.
In fact, Israel runs a real risk of damaging its military effectiveness because of the significant casualties among its officer corps. Unlike the American Army, the Israelis rely on officers rather than non-commissioned officers to lead their units.
You don’t grow these boys on trees. It appears they are
suffering a dispropotionate amount of the casualties that Hizbullah is inflicting on the DF.
Let’s start with the text of the <!–
D(["mb","UN Security Council Resolution:
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OP8 and the Future
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""OP8. Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent nceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and nelements:
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— full respect for the Blue Line by both parties;
— nsecurity arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the nestablishment between the Blue Line and the nLitani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons nother than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorized in nparagraph 11, deployed in this area;
— full implementation of the relevant nprovisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), nthat require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision nof July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than nthat of the Lebanese state;
— no foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government; n
— no sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government; n
— provision to the United Nations of all remaining maps of land nmines in Lebanon in Israel’s possession. UN Resolution 1701
n
Pat Lang offers the following keen analysis and identifies ncritical unanswered questions at his blog, Sic Semper nTyrannis:
n
n
“,1]
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//–>UN Security Council Resolution:
OP8 and the Future
“”OP8. Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent
ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and
elements:
— full respect for the Blue Line by both parties;
—
security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the
establishment between the Blue Line and the
Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons
other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorized in
paragraph 11, deployed in this area;
— full implementation of the relevant
provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006),
that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision
of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than
that of the Lebanese state;
— no foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government;
— no sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government;
— provision to the United Nations of all remaining maps of land
mines in Lebanon in Israel’s possession. UN Resolution 1701
Pat Lang offers the following keen analysis and identifies
critical unanswered questions at his blog, Sic Semper
Tyrannis:
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1- "Between the Blue Line and n the Litani River." The Litani closely approaches the panhandle of Israel n in the area of Metulla. The river then extends north away from n Israel. What are the n boundaries of the "buffer zone" in that area since the n language of the resolution does not describe them?
n
2- Since Hizbullah is a legal political party in Lebanon n with representation in parliament and ministers in the government, n What is to prevent the integration n of Hizbullah forces into the Lebanese government security forces? n If that occurs then the provisions of OP8 will be fulfilled with n regard to the exclusivity of the possession of armed forces by the Lebanese n government.
n
3- In the event of the integration of Hizbullah forces n into those of Lebanon, then re-supply of those forces from outside Lebanon n will not violate the relevant portion of OP8.
n
It should be remembered that Hizbullah and its Shia n political ally "Amal" control a bloc of seats in the Lebanese parliament n amounting to 35 seats out of 128. Democracy in naction.
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Israel and its supporters in the United States must come to ngrips with a stark and uncomfortable fact–Hizbullah is not going to be ndisarmed, it is not going to disappear, and, in all likelihood, it will be an nimportant political player for years to come. Hizbullah in the last four nweeks has accomplished what no Arab or Muslim Army has ever done–they have nfought Israel to a standstill. That fact is already resonating throughout nthe Muslim world. The Arabs in particular, who have lived with the shame nof not being able to defeat Israel in previous engagements now has a new nchampion. Hizbullah is the Army and Nasrallah its face. Beep, nbeep.”,1]
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1- “Between the Blue Line and
the Litani River.” The Litani closely approaches the panhandle of Israel
in the area of Metulla. The river then extends north away from
Israel. What are the
boundaries of the “buffer zone” in that area since the
language of the resolution does not describe them?
2- Since Hizbullah is a legal political party in Lebanon
with representation in parliament and ministers in the government,
What is to prevent the integration
of Hizbullah forces into the Lebanese government security forces?
If that occurs then the provisions of OP8 will be fulfilled with
regard to the exclusivity of the possession of armed forces by the Lebanese
government.
3- In the event of the integration of Hizbullah forces
into those of Lebanon, then re-supply of those forces from outside Lebanon
will not violate the relevant portion of OP8.
It should be remembered that Hizbullah and its Shia
political ally “Amal” control a bloc of seats in the Lebanese parliament
amounting to 35 seats out of 128. Democracy in
action.
Israel and its supporters in the United States must come to
grips with a stark and uncomfortable fact–Hizbullah is not going to be
disarmed, it is not going to disappear, and, in all likelihood, it will be an
important political player for years to come. Hizbullah in the last four
weeks has accomplished what no Arab or Muslim Army has ever done–they have
fought Israel to a standstill. That fact is already resonating throughout
the Muslim world. The Arabs in particular, who have lived with the shame
of not being able to defeat Israel in previous engagements now has a new
champion. Hizbullah is the Army and Nasrallah its face. Beep,
beep.<!–
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