‘Children of a lesser God’?

In his statement before the Core Group Meeting in Rome last July 26th, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora asked, the emotion in his voice patent: "Is the value of human life less in Lebanon than that of citizens elsewhere? Are we children of a lesser God? Is an Israeli teardrop worth more than a drop of Lebanese blood."

The answers to all these questions are of course no, clearly not and definitely not. But if ending the war in Lebanon were as easy as these answers, a settlement, albeit as temporary as a ceasefire monitored by an international peace-keeping force, would be the obvious solution. Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple, nor as cut-and-dried.

Lebanon has rejected a United Nations proposal which calls for a "full cessation of hostilities" based on "the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations." The proposal does not demand an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. In fact, it seems to allow continued defensive operations by Israel, which has always claimed that the effort to neutralize and disarm Hezbollah is defensive in nature, not offensive.

Moreover, although the UN plan calls on the Hezbollah to forthwith release two captured Israeli soldiers, it refers only to a release of Lebanese prisoners being held by Israel (in many cases, for a decade or two) at some future time.

United States President George W. Bush, while publicly supporting an eventual ceasefire, insists that any ceasefire must address "root causes" and prevent Hezbollah from strengthening its grip on Southern Lebanon. He also blames the Lebanese government for being unable to assert its sovereignty and control over Southern Lebanon which remains a bastion of Hezbollah strength and leadership.

Thus, a Lebanese offer to send 15,000 of its soldiers to the Southern border is not taken seriously. Lebanon has allegedly had six years, since Israel ended its 18-year occupation of Lebanon, to secure that border.

The Lebanese contingent, military analysts say, don’t have the heavy armament or mobile capability that the Hezbollah regulars have in place. The analysts add that a Lebanese armed force would not be able to hold the guerillas in check or prevent the civilian population from sheltering or otherwise helping the "terrorists".

The prospect is for more death and destruction in Lebanon, despite the tearful appeals of a desperate Fouad Siniora before the Arab League in Beirut the other day. Although the League has announced it would send a delegation to the UN in New York to argue Lebanon’s case, a Security Council decision may take some more time.

In Rome, Prime Minister Siniora put forward a "Seven-Point Peace Plan" which the Honorary Consul of Lebanon to the Philippines Joseph Assad has summarized as follows: an immediate ceasefire; the return of all displaced persons, i.e. "refugees," to their villages and homes; the release of all Israeli and Lebanese prisoners held within the two countries’ territories; placement of the Schebaa Farms area under UN jurisdiction, and the end of 40 years of Israeli occupation, until the issue of Lebanese sovereignty over the disputed area is settled and, in addition, Israel to provide detailed maps of landmines left in Southern Lebanon; the extension of the control and authority of the Lebanese government into Southern Lebanon; disarming Hezbollah and all other militias; enlargement of the UN international force operating in Southern Lebanon and reviving the 1949 Armistice Agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

Of these points, Consul Assad identifies four as the most important: the return of the Schebaa Farms, an exchange of all prisoners, the provision of detailed maps to landmines planted by the Israeli Defense Forces in Southern Lebanon, and disarming by the Lebanese army of all militias, primarily the Hezbollah.

The Schebaa Farms, it turns out, are important to the Lebanese because these lands, originally part of Lebanese territory but occupied by Israel for the past 40 years, are rich in underground water resources. Since the area is largely arid desert, possession of water resources is of supreme strategic importance. The landmine maps are vital too since, according to Consul Assad, hundreds of men, women and children have been killed, maimed or crippled for life.

All the elements of the Seven-Point Peace Plan are indisputably important. But the diplomatic reality is that the priority at this time is seen to be the immediate cessation of hostilities. In all likelihood, the issues of a justifiable reason for the incursions into Lebanon, the charges of Israel’s use of "disproportionate force," the unacceptably high humanitarian costs being paid by both sides, and the damage to infrastructure particularly in several Lebanese cities, will all take the back seat to the primordial issue of an immediate ceasefire.

As a practical matter, despite the consensus among nations that the ceasefire be "lasting" and that "root causes" be addressed, the international community does not think it has the luxury to grapple with basic issues that have remained outstanding for years or, in some cases, for decades. In this category are issues concerning the return of the Schebaa Farms and, this might surprise you, the immediate disarming of Hezbollah.

In the final analysis, what is most important to Israel is that Hezbollah be deprived of capability to lob Katyusha and longer-range rockets into Israeli cities, and that the Israeli soldiers illegally (in Israel’s view) captured by Hezbollah be returned. Their objective is to establish a 15 to 20 kilometer buffer zone which they will then turn over to the UN international force after it arrives, and not before they are fully in place.

For the sake of an immediate ceasefire or "cessation of hostilities," the role of Syria and Iran as arms suppliers and financiers will probably be put in the back burner, to be confronted at "a more opportune time."

At the conclusion of his speech in Rome, Prime Minister Siniora quoted the Roman historian Tacitus who, the Lebanese leader said, described what Israel was doing to Lebanon: "They create a desolation and call it peace."

Tragically, unless the international community, primarily Britain and the United States, reaches a consensus on an enforceable and lasting peace, a desolate peace is precisely what Israel and Lebanon may be condemned to for the foreseeable future, even if by some miracle the latter decide that enough is enough.