> ...My position is that its immaterial whether its a US/Israeli victory or
> a Hezbollah/Iran victory... Both outcomes will be bad, because of how
> they will
>further impact the region's civilian populations (as is occurring now in
>Iraq, Palestine,
> Israel and Lebanon) and lead to endless future conflicts...I have no
> interest in stressing
>equality of blame here for any purpose other than to emphasize what an
>utterly
>nihilistic conflict this is, and how easy its been for all the warring
>factions to
>automatically subscribe to its inhumane logic.
=================================
I mean no disrespect, Joel, but I understand your response as pretty much
symptomatic of the chronic despair which becomes acute in the case of the
well-intentioned Israeli and overseas Jewish left at times like these: a
deep-seated reflexive fear for Israel's survival coupled with shame and
disgust at the brutal one-sided military might it brings to bear on
resistance movements originating in impoverished and oppressed civilian
populations.
It was easier to support Israel when it wasn't occupying Arab territories with a high-tech military and its political culture tended towards the social democratic left rather than the conservative and even fascist right. Now your view of the society and what it stands for is much more ambivalent, and your response, in effect, is to cover your eyes and declare "a plague on both your houses."
It is not an "utterly nihilistic conflict". Both sides have limited, rational aims. One of them will be shown to have miscalculated, but each has acted in a calculated rather than irrational fashion.
The Israelis were looking for a pretext to destroy Hezbollah because its arms build-up posed a growing threat to their security and because they and the US reasoned the political fallout of a quick, decisive victory would lead Hamas, the Syrians, and Iranians to be more accomodating to their joint power in the Middle East. Hezbollah understands that if it is able to survive the onslaught, it and the other resistance movements and regimes will emerge strengthened and in a better position to press for a regional peace settlement which takes their interests into account.
Rather than lead to "endless future conflicts", the outcome of the war may well provide the impetus necessary to move the stalled peace process forward. It is the pre-war status quo which has been the prescription for the region's intermnible instabilty.
Also:
1) Do you believe Hezbollah or Hamas have the will and ability to impose repressive Islamic theocracies in secular Lebanon and Palestine, and would an attempt to do so justify armed intervention in your view by Israeli and US forces to prevent it?
2) Do you believe Hezbollah or Hamas or the Iranians, for that matter, realistically believe they can overthrow nuclear-armed Isreal state by force of arms, or do you accept their objectives and military preparations are mainly defensive in nature, ie. to end the US and Israeli occupations of Arab land and contain Israel within its 1967 borders?