Hezbollah and Hamas are to Israel, what Al Qaeda is to the U.S. No one is advocating that the U.S. negotiate a ceasefire with Al Qaeda, and likewise, Israel should not negotiate a ceasefire with Hezbollah or Hamas. Terrorist organizations are not to be negotiated with.

When Hamas started sent its suicide bombers into Israel, Israel attacked the Fatehh-led Palestinian National Authority. Now Hizbollah attacks Israel and Israel responds by attacking the state of Lebanon. What kind of deterrence is this?

This kind of deterrence has strengthened the extremists and weakened the moderates. It creates enemies out of friends and ensures there will never be a constituency for peace.

Attack the innocent. Is this is the new balance of terror?

As pointed out by John at 09:34AM the
level of destruction being inflicted on
Lebanon may very well have some origin
in Israeli desire to send a clear message
to regional and global capital markets
that investing in Lebanon comes with some
high risk profiles of mayhem and ruin.It
has been reported that Lebanon was truly
enjoying a resurgence of tourism this
year and had achieved economic and rebuild
goals that had taken many years to bring
about. So indeed there is reason to bring
this Israeli attack on so many "non-terror"
targets into sharper focus. Is it possible
Israel frowns on Lebanon emerging as a
success story and chose as pretext this
border skirmish of which much was standard
fare along this border as a fuse to take
Lebanon backwards? If so then Israel has
become the principle agent of Middle East
destabilization. As seen with the recent
Palestinian election result of Hamas having
duly been elected then being ostracized
by Israel and that elections outcome being
made null and void by Israeli interference.
The Americans should become much more wary
of Israeli motives and intents as clearly
Israel may be the principle spoiler of
any Middle East solution being it benefits
from ongoing ME turmoil in several ways.
It is plainly evident that Israeli desires
are currently being implemented on pretext
of "no partners to work with" logic lines.
Lebanon having fallen under this rubric on
grounds of not having reeled in Hezbollah.
Also resultant unilateral WestBank,Gaza and
Jerusalem decisions being made by Israel
are being put in place on Israeli terms
alone. This also brings into focus the need
to be very circumspect regarding any action
on Iranian issues. The Americans really do
need to wise up here. One Iraq is proving
untenable. One Iraq invasion/occupation
plus Iran invasion opens to deepest parts
of a HellWorld. If Israel has fallen into
a siege mentality it then has also become
less reliable as an American Middle East
policy contributor. Americans will suffer
gravely for sloppy Middle East navigation
of regional rivalry and supremacy quests.

Violence begats violence. Until the endless cycle of violence is ended, there will be no long-term solution.

The current crisis is a failure of leadership, at all levels, not the least of which is our American President. What is needed is a new Gandhi or Martin Luther King, who could capture the imagination of their own country's citizens, and then the world, and humble the participants into radical peaceful change.

Gaston,

Isn't it likely Israel sought a weak central government in Lebanon, as in Palestine. Right at the moment Fatah and Hamas announced a stronger central government, a national unity agreement to negotiate borders and control armed gangs, one of those gangs raided Israel and took Galid. Haaretz said a day later that the Shin Bet had provided "time and location specific" information to the IDF that should have prevented that raid. It's well understood Israel was ready with the war on Palestine and Lebanon. What was needed was a sellable opportunity...something Congress had to have.

We keep asking, "If Israel wants what she says, why would she do this or that?"

Bush went in the backdoor of Baghdad to get to the Peace of Jerusalem and will not easily give up his ME policy cause his place in history is on the line. Olmert believed his new level of hatred would marginalize Bush. We'll see.

I think its clear the neocon interest is in war and domination, not reconciliation with Islam. So long as Jerusalem is on the table, Israel ain't coming. Simple.

Mahatma Gandhi said - An eye for an eye willresult in theowrld being half blind! It does look tome tha the Middle East is becoming half blind!

nothing good will come out of this; at the beginning of this conflict an israeli general let the cat out of the bag as to one of israel's true aims when he said israel would set lebanon back 20 years. look it up! this is why even some of the so-called "mainstream" press is reporting that some of israe's targets are "puzling" (on npr this a.m) israel will never let lebanon become the tourist and financial center it has shown over and again the potential for being until the u.s. becomes more even-handed in its approach to middle eastern issues. good luck luck! israel wants those roles for itself. again, good luck!

Can't everyone see Iran sitting back and laughing away at what is a most predictable position!! Hezbollah being neutered is not the point; - will not Iran take over the reins of the Middle East after this supplementing ferociousness in the MiddleEast? The Axis of Good has shown its fettered claws.

Why are we always being warned of Arab and Muslim rage? Why don't we ever hear warnings of Israeli rage, American, European or Hindu rage?

Perhaps it's impossible for us to simply say that Arabs and Muslims are violent. By framing it in terms of rage, the question conveniently shifts to external causes of it.

To follow up on my comment of yesterday, it seems evident now
that the Israelis are using paid
informants to identify which fleeing vehicles might contain
members of Hezbollah. Capitalism
being what it is, the informants
are delivering product & it is being acted upon. How accurate the infomation really is, is unknown, since everyone involved has a very strong vested interest in vouching for it.

There are here some intersting ideas, yet, it seems to me that there are other foreseeble scenarios. While it is true that Hizbalah will not be destroyed,yet will be in great part neutralized. That means that Hizbalah will hardly be a player in the palestinean israeli game, and will find itself in a very bad position it it wants to veto Israel policies in the region. On the other hand, Israel will impose its will in the area without any need to penetrate into Lebanese territory. To my mind not only Hizbalah presence in the south will be eradicated. Hizabalah armed parades in Beirut which had a great symbolic effect will probably fade away and probably Nasralah will have to go to clandestinity.
Probably there will be a cease fire and interchange of prisioners, but there will not be further agreements between Hizablah and Israel. That means that we are in state of war. Since Israel population has already proven that it can absorb Hizbalah pounces, Israel will monitor Hizbalah activities, and strike with its air force whenever will find necessary, in order to turn... Iran out of mind. What will come next
is quite another planet

It would have been edifying if several
days ago the Americans had issued a firmly
worded,clear and on point rebuke to Israel
over use of American provided warplanes in
its brutal attacks on Lebanese civilians
and innocents. Instead the 19th century
throwback American President operates as
if he were dealing with a Western American
Indian uprising. By doing so he confirms the
American historical indifference toward
the subjugation of Native Americans for the
purposes of expansion by overt militarism.
He has shown over the pass several days not
much in the way of concern for loss of life
by way of compassion or mercy, little in
the way of shared human remorse over so
much death and suffering. It is no credit
to the American people to have such an
unconcerned,plainly unaffected and stupidly
arrogant person in the White House Oval
Office. Israel and the United States may
well believe they are not answerable for
how they have inflicted suffering,loss of
innocent life and senseless destruction on
the Middle East by virtue of rampant and
corrupted militarism. Yet they indeed are
and the ongoing failure of Israeli and
American militarism and the false choice
War of Terror will not bring peace anytime
soon to the Middle East. The wrong and
immoral subjugation of the Palestinians
by Israel remains at root of much Middle
East strife,violence and revenge based
infliction of suffering and death. Until
Israel is made to amend this shameful and
ethically blind conduct it solely controls
and enables little else can or will change.

Can we expect some thing creative instead of creating buffer zones in neighbours land, Building settlements, building walls slaughtering innocents in the name of defence , building check posts, Bulldosing infrastructure and collective punishment. All these things are tried from the last five decades and proved it does not work. In reality these actions have opposite effect.

Daoud Kuttab hit a right note. After this crisis is over, both sides Israel & Hizbollah will establish dialogue to free prisoners while Lebanon civilian infrastructures will need to be rebuilt. The Lebanese population in their anger & frustration at a regional superpower unbridled use of military power tacitly backed by the Bush regime will coalesce around Hizollah which again will further damage the new born democratic Lebanese government. How ironic for Israel to use disproportionate force to "rescue" their prisoners & clear the southern part of Lebanon of Hizbollah in the end create a "failed state" to its northern border.

Rav is not being fair. The US did condemn the terrorism in Mumbai. The different treatment of Pakistan as compared with Syria/Iran is an artefact of the fact that Musharraf is an ally against terror, and Syria/Iran are not. Diplomatically and stategically it makes for a different picture.

Israel will not destroy Hezbollah. But they will weaken it, which will serve as deterrence -- perhaps.

Compare Israel's response to it's 3 kidnapped soldiers to India's response to hundred's dead and thousands innocents wounded from Mumbai terrorist act... And then compare vociferous US condemnation of Hezbollah and steadfast Israeli support to it's deafening silence vis-a-vis state-sponsored Pakistani terrorism.

What a world of difference and what double standards!!

Israel's response has been as much
for it's own citizens as for the rest of the world. Perhaps when you
are frustrated, blowing a lot of things up can make you feel a bit better. But, as for ridding themselves of Hezbollah, isn't it
more than a little possible that among
those evacuating the areas Israel intends to invade are Hezbollah fighters, who will regroup elsewhere?