NPR : Israel-Hezbollah Conflict

The Israel-Hezbollah Conflict

NPR.org, UPDATED July 20, 2006 · Casualties are mounting, essential infrastructure lays in ruins, and some are warning of a pending humanitarian crisis as the fighting escalates between the Israeli military and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. In opinion pages around the globe, calls grow for the international community to take a role in stopping the violence, with some noting the delicate diplomatic position Israel finds itself in. A sampling of world opinion:

JORDAN

Recipe for Another 100 Years of Warfare

Jordan Times

July 20, 2006

Both Hamas and Hizbollah [sic] are reasonably moderate Muslim fundamentalist movements: their successors may be uncompromising religious radicals who mirror the hardliners who rule Israel. That would be a recipe for another 100 years of warfare.

PARIS

Reaping What Bush Sowed

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

(letter from Washington)

July 19, 2006

Iraq lies in ruins, Islamist forces are strengthening, and the Palestine-Israel conflict threatens to become a full-scale war. Even more ominously, the Middle East is being polarized along sectarian lines, empowering an Iran with nuclear ambitions. The mistakes of the Bush administration are coming home to roost.

AUSTRALIA

Israel Must Win the War of Ideas

The Australian

July 21, 2006

However many battles the Israelis win, their sixty-year struggle for survival will never end unless they achieve their objectives in the war of ideas. Yet on this fiercely contested front, the fighting is not going Israel's way.

EGYPT

When Terror Is Just Fine

The Middle East Times

July 20, 2006

Somehow, Israel expects a weak state like Lebanon to take on Hizbullah [sic] and eliminate it. Yet Israel is too fearful itself of casualties to take on this gang directly. It would rather bomb and threaten others into attempting it, something that if even attempted would tip Lebanon into civil war once again.

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PAKISTAN

Putting Lebanon Together

Daily Times

July 20, 2006

What is needed is a military delegation that has a clear mandate to use force. It should be international, with the UN's blessing, but it should not be a UN force. It could be based on NATO capabilities, with a strong European ingredient. To add legitimacy for its delicate mission within an Arab country, soldiers from Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and perhaps Pakistan, should be added.

TURKEY

Disastrous Miscalculations

Zaman Daily Newspaper

July 20, 2006

Strategically, Israel must focus on Lebanon, knowing that how the confrontation with Hezbollah ends will have serious repercussions on the Palestinian front. Considering the implications for their national security, the Israelis have no choice but to finish off Hezbollah by destroying its infrastructure and arsenals.

ISRAEL

Winning the PR War

Jerusalem Post

July 20, 2006

Israel has nearly always managed to succeed on the military field only to be massacred later in the halls of diplomacy. Now it seems that, for the first time in its history, Israel has managed to package a controversial military offensive in a political and diplomatic form that only the most radical of Arab states can reject.

ATLANTA

Call for Mideast Calm, Then Call on U.N. Force

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

July 20, 2006

Inevitably, as the mayhem continues in Lebanon and the international outcry grows, Washington will lean on Israel to accept a cease-fire. It should be accompanied by a new U.N. force. The only question is when. The moral answer is now.

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