TEL AVIV — Israel's political establishment was outraged Wednesday over an extraordinary public statement by the commander of Israeli troops in southern Lebanon that the army would "not permit" Prime Minister Shimon Peres to stop "Operation Grapes of Wrath" before the military had achieved its goals.
The prime minister's office called the declaration "scandalous," Israel's chief of staff said it was "stupid," and the commander, Brig. Gen. Giora Inbar, spent much of Wednesday apologizing for his insubordination to Peres, who also serves as defense minister.
The general's remarks revealed the view held by many in the Israeli military--and by some hard-line civilians--that the week-old operation in neighboring Lebanon should not be ended too hastily.
The Israeli bombing campaign is in retaliation for attacks on northern Israel by guerrillas of the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah.
Peres has stated that the goals of the offensive are to pressure the governments of Lebanon and Syria--the de facto ruler of Lebanon and overseer of Hezbollah--to rein in the guerrillas.
Peres' primary demands for halting the operation are that Hezbollah stop firing Katyusha rockets at civilians in Israel and cease hiding behind Lebanese civilians. He also wants Syria and Lebanon to guarantee a written agreement.
But Inbar said that is not enough. He and others in the military want to keep pounding suspected Hezbollah targets in Lebanon with jet fighters and helicopter gunships until an agreement is reached that also prevents the guerrillas from attacking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. In effect, they want a cease-fire.
"We do not permit a situation in which Peres should suddenly stop us before we have completed our operation," Inbar said on Israeli radio. "The understandings that will be obtained at the end of the operation must include the security zone as well."
Israel occupies a 440-square-mile swath of southern Lebanon that it calls a security zone to keep guerrillas and combat away from its own border. The area is inhabited by about 200,000 Lebanese civilians and ostensibly is run by Israel's allies in the South Lebanese Army.
"What we want, what is desirable," an Israeli military source said, "is that Hezbollah gives up totally for at least a long period of time any activity in the south so peace talks [with Syria] can proceed without being interrupted every two days or two weeks. . . . You can't talk to someone who is killing you."
