Seeking peace; forced to fight. [View All]

[Ian David]

Yitzhak Frankenthal
The Arik Institute For Reconciliation, Tolerance and Peace,In Memory of Arieh Zvi Frankenthal. (הי"ד)

Seeking peace; forced to fight.


Lebanon, by abducting two Israeli soldiers, firing at Israel and killing eight Israeli soldiers, has this morning declared war. Such attacks, when carried-out from within Lebanese sovereignty, can be seen as nothing but a declaration of war.

A distinction must be made here, between Lebanon and other sovereign states, and the Palestinians. The Palestinians are fighting occupation, the worst form of terror, and the occupier. If I was a Palestinian I would undoubtedly be struggling for my independence and vigorously opposing the occupation. To do so is the natural duty of every Palestinian. Opposing the occupation and struggling for independence can be done in numerous different ways, however. Personally, I would have chosen to oppose it by massive demonstration (hundreds-of-thousands' of Palestinians), without letting up until Israel ceased its occupation of my lands and my people. I would not use force of arms or suicide bombers for a number of reasons, not the least of which being:
a. Israel is incomparably stronger, especially in contrast to the Palestinians.
b. Terrorizing Israel will not force Israel into surrender, as no nation can afford to give in to terrorism. Palestinians as well, cannot afford to despair and surrender in the face of Israeli terrorism.
c. Those who take part in terrorist activities inevitably reduce themselves to the level of those who they are fighting with just cause – ultimately placing themselves in the wrong.
d. Terror aimed at civilian populations is justly perceived by the world as an illegitimate form of warfare. Without support from the free world, establishing a sovereign state is impossible.
True, in this regard we can see a great degree of hypocrisy in the world: despite Israel's incessant terrorizing of the Palestinian population, the world does not look upon Israelis as terrorists. When Palestinians terrorize Israel on the other hand, they are unjustly equated to fundamentalist Muslim terrorists such as Bin Laden.

The events which occurred this morning on the Israeli-Lebanese border are an act of war. Israel has an obligation to retaliate and defend itself. Lebanon, unlike the Palestinian population, is an autonomous country. The Hezbollah in this case is of no interest to me. Only the Lebanese government, which cannot control the armed factions within it, is of interest to me - a government that cannot control the armed forces within-it is nothing but a government of puppets.

Within reason, I would be willing to do anything to achieve peace. As an Israeli, however, I cannot tolerate a self-governing country attacking mine. If I was the Prime Minister of Israel today, faced with the events of this morning, I would give Lebanon an ultimatum by which to return the abducted Israeli soldiers to Israel - alive and in one piece. If they failed to fulfill this deadline, I would begin bombing infrastructures in Beirut, starting with the electricity. If the soldiers are still not returned, I would destroy every bridge in Lebanon - and if the Lebanese government remained stubborn, I would have Lebanese soldiers, dignitaries and Hezbollah operatives captured - only to be released in return for the Israeli soldiers.
I am not playing games… As much as I want peace, I want my fellow Israelis to live securely in their country. No more fooling around with Lebanon.

More:
http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/news_item.2006-07-13.2604750814