There is no justification for the large-scale violence that Hezbollah has unleashed from Lebanese territory on dozens of peaceful Israeli villages, town and cities. Israel has counterattacked, and it has every right to do so. No country in the world would remain silent and abandon its citizens when its neighbor strikes without any provocation.
Six years ago, Israel withdrew from all the Lebanese territory
occupied in 1982 and redeployed behind the international border. Immediately, Hezbollah began violating the relevant United Nations resolutions. It established armed positions along the border and began building up its military strength, with the aid of Syria and Iran.
For years, the government of Lebanon has avoided direct confrontation with Hezbollah. Israel, seeking not to heat up the border, also abstained from taking any real action against Hezbollah. Israel is now acting against Lebanon because Lebanon is officially responsible for Hezbollah. It is also the address from which missiles and Katyusha rockets are being fired at Israeli cities. Hezbollah's leaders are members of the Lebanese Cabinet and participate in setting the country's policies.
At this writing, millions of innocent civilians -- Israelis and Lebanese -- are under heavy fire. In Beirut and in Haifa, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and in the Israeli Galilee, children and adults face the horrors of war. Israel and Lebanon must do all they can to not harm innocent people. But even those who hope for an immediate end to violence and the opening of negotiations must acknowledge that Hezbollah cynically and deliberately created the crisis. Israel had no choice but to respond to the severe attack on its territory.
This latest eruption of hostilities underlines the problematic similarities between the governments of Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority.
Both have two heads, whose behavior contradicts one another. One Lebanese and one Palestinian head act as statesmen, using diplomatic channels, conducting themselves with relative moderation. The two other heads declare that they are free to do whatever they wish -- to use racist rhetoric and terror against civilians and to call openly for the destruction of Israel.
This dual phantasm is the main reason that a great majority of Israelis, including many in the peace camp, have in recent years lost all confidence in the good intentions of the more moderate elements in the Arab world. (Another complication is that a similar double phantasm -- if less extreme and without aspirations of destroying its enemy -- is also evident in Israel's behavior toward the Palestinians.)
