Cease Fire, Blow Smoke
Well the boys playing war over the carcass of this battered nation have decided that the fighting was getting pretty tedious and agreed to cool it off.
And why not? March a mile in their boots and you would probably feel the same way. I fire rockets, you flatten a village, I destroy a tank, you pulverize a bridge. I call you murderer, you call me terrorist. Do that for a month and you'll find the novelty fades away quickly.
Besides, a ceasefire brings with it that exquisite pleasure of claiming victory.
So who won?
Well both. And they've both lost too.
Hezbollah won: Israel's declared objectives of destroying Hezbollah and decapitating its leadership have both failed to materialize. Rockets kept being fired till the final hour. Praise allah, we are victorious.
Israel won: The IDF knew it could never achieve either of those goals. What it really set out to do was destroy what it could get away with (i.e. mostly infrastructure and Hezbollah sympathizers) in order to get a UN resolution that would be more hostile to Hezbollah than 1559. It did.
Hezbollah lost: Yes the leadership is still alive and the rockets kept raining on Haifa, but what Israel brutally destroyed is very dear, and the loss is incalculable. And no, it's not all "fida sirmeyt el-sayyed" (translation: for the sake of Nasrallah's slipper) as some say. You'll miss that roof over your head. And that son or daughter too by the way.
Israel lost: Yes it huffed and puffed and blew the house down, but no "self-defense" argument can justify the manic stomping of a country, innocents dying needlessly on both sides. The whole world sympathized with the cause of rescuing 2 kidnapped soldiers (even some Arab ones), and Israel managed to turn all that sympathetic capital into indignant rage in just 30 days. Why punish all the Lebanese for not disarming Hezbollah when your own 'legendary' IDF was unable to do so, and then only make them look like heroes in the end. Disarming Hezbollah is going to be much harder now. And you have sowed seeds of hate that will blossom well into the future.
So who won? Both did. Who lost? Both did.
But who lost everything and gained nothing? Lebanon. And the moderate, peace-seeking Lebanese.
And that is why our Prime Minister wept.
And I wept with him.
posted by Ramzi at Tuesday, August 15, 2006
16 Comments:
:(:(:(
You're so right, unfortunately.
and I'm still weaping
M.L.R.
C'est malheureusement tellement vrai ...
Merci et courage
Myriem, Paris
Question is: Does much of Lebanon want a "Hezbollahstan" created in the South? It seems the Shia do.
Now why is it when Arabs get killed, they become more radicalized but when Americans get killed in Iraq they want to retreat?
Best, most fair-minded summary of the war I've seen. Thanks for hanging in there. Rock on.
we all lost
You are right. Both lost and both won. However, only time will tell who the real winner is.
As Arabs (and Muslims), we revel in claiming fictional victories, feeding our ego and victimising ourselves with grand conspiracy theories.
Only time will tell
Incredibly accurate analysis and a great post.
Lebanon lost the most, and we're going to pay the price of this lost for a long long time. This is why I'm still weeping.
Ya Ramzi, as it looks the second round will happen soon, Hizballah is already back at the border and I can see their current drugged cockroach waving his yellow flag from here. I suggest you go back to absorption alert.
The most accurate and truly descriptive summary on the war, did you ever thought of journalism as a career?
Vito
Very good post. Well said.
Hi Ramzi,
I read through most of your blog through the long days and weeks of this (second) lebanese war. Of course I couldn't agree with most of it, living where I live (Herzelia), and my obvious loyalties laying where they do, but nonetheless read it with great respect for your point of view and out of universal respect for the suffering of innocents on both sides. I think you should start writing for Ha'aretz, really, and I'm not trying to be funny. You're a little bit left of our far left, with a lot more logic than alot of our center people. Your summary is the first post and can truely say I agree with. We have a few more issues to deal with in the aftermath than those you mention - such as how the hell did a 3000-man gorrila organization manage to paralize a third of Israel for over a month, and how on earth did they send soldiers in to fight without sufficient food or appropriate arms. It's only a question of time before political pay time starts here and hopefully Olmert will be sent home if he hasn't the integrity to go home of his own accord - but that's just wishful thinking. Besides, sadly, I'm not so sure there's anyone better around.
For now, let's hope and pray that we get some quiet, and that Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser get home soon and safely.
Hey..... and where is Lebanon in this all story?
Lebanon had the greatest lost... it lost it's democracy and independence and still is captive in the the Hizballah' Iranian hands!!!!!
Ramzi, you evdently have strong feelings against Assad, yet you empathize with your Syria/Hezbollah-friendly prime minister - who took the line of least resistance early on in the conflict and sided with Hezbollah.
Do you see the contradiction here?
Regarding who lost, on the Lebanese side those who resist Islamic terror lost, since many, like yourself, appeared to have sided with hezbollah.
By so doing, you have paved the way for the increasing oppression of Lebanese Christians by Muslims and the eventual decline of Lebanon into a typical Muslim state in which Sharia law predominates and the adherents of other religions are subjugated to Islam at best and driven out or killed at worst.
After Hariri's assassination it appeared that you had the will to reclaim your country from Syrian/Hezbollah/Iranian control. The free world was with you as you came out onto the streets in your hundreds of thousands against Assad. But the war with Israel has proven that you lack that will. So don't blame Israel for your woes. To the extent that you are willing to side with Islamic fascists and terrorists en route to the establishment of their Caliphate, you only have yourselves to blame.
i was just criusing round and i found this...touched me kteer...im still weeping...w nshalla mnitwa7ad kilna w minseer mitl l awal w a7san...l du3a2 will always help no matter how hopeless the situation seems...
and i want to comment to what Bryan said:
sure we might have ourselevs to blame...but what got us to not being fully equipped to a point we cant fully depend on ourselves against an enemy like Israel? Syria was occupying our lands for 35 years!!!! they ruined us..they took over our country and ruled everything...what would u expect if they left? of course were not going to be fully equipped for any war anytime soon! we need to regain our strength and get equipped and train our army and whatnot....may Allah bless the lebanese people
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