"Ceasefire"

“Ceasefire”

16-17 August, 2006

“…Yoni Kassous, 30, who works for a technology company near Tel Aviv, was troubled by the war and its management. ‘We say that we won,’ he said. ‘But I think: ‘What did we win? What did we accomplish?’ ’ Like many of the reserves, he expects to return to Lebanon at some point to again try to face down Hezbollah.” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/world/middleeast/16cnd-mideast.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=9a51ca9178438705&hp&ex=1155787200&partner=homepage

“‘We tell [the Israelis] that after tasting humiliation in the latest battles, your weapons are not going to protect you -- not your planes, or missiles, or even your nuclear bombs. . . . The future generations in the Arab world will find a way to defeat Israel," [Syrian President] Assad added.” http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=12343

A ceasefire: the missiles have stopped, reservists are no longer being called into service, and some soldiers are even moving home. Since 8AM Tuesday morning I think that most people here have relaxed at least a little, especially after burying a kibbutznik who died in Lebanon last week. In class we watched some army general ordering the troops to lay down their weapons, marking a break from Immediate Threat. Will the quiet last?

Probably not. As you read above, in addition refusing to disarm, Hizbullah & its supporters have not skipped a beat in reaffirming their vision of running the Jews into the sea. Israel will fight Hizbullah again – whether it is this year or next decade, it is hard to know – and the next conflict will inflict greater costs to all involved. I fear that for every civilian that Kofi Annan thinks he has saved today, several (or more) will die in her stead when Israel is forced to fight the second half of this war.

6000 Hizbullah fighters held out against Israel’s might in the air, land & sea – longer than any army has sustained direct combat with the Israelis since 1948 – and it’s no surprise to me that Hizbullah has declared victory despite having dragged millions of their Lebanese hosts into ruin. In the next go-round, Israel can expect a more confident, determined & prepared enemy, not to mention a more numerous one.

What has Israel gained from this? In my view, not much. On the surface, of course, dozens of Israeli soldiers & civilians who might have perished will survive, and the whole country will get to to “relax” after sustaining high alert. But what does this mean for the future? Hizbullah’s refusal to disarm in Southern Lebanon, along with Iran’s & Syria’s increasingly robust public (and ostensibly private) support for the group can only mean one thing…

Israelis meanwhile have entered a fierce debate over the Government’s / IDF’s performance in the last month. Many are critical. One of my co-workers in Plasson (the kibbutz’s plastics factory), a former army commando we’ve dubbed “The Nice Guy” (no one can remember his name… he really is a Nice Guy), is livid. The Nice Guy thinks that what should have been a full-blown war effort was half-assed until the final days, that Hizbullah was given too much time to adapt to Israeli air strikes, etc. Most of all, he is livid over the government’s willingness to pull out in the thick of the war, I think for some of the reasons I’ve already mentioned. “You can’t dance half a dance, and you can’t fight half a war.” Based on what I know, and despite the unsavory implications, I think I agree with him.

In other news, two of my ulpanist co-workers and I got in trouble at work for building a fort out of plastic bins… on the factory floor. Yes, our job really is that boring: if you don’t believe me, you try walking up & down a giant aisle watching tiny plastic products drop into crates for 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, and then tell me that building a fort is a Bad Idea.

OK, it was a Bad Idea. Yesterday we played Plastic Bowling, and the day before that we tried to make clothes out of the various plastics we had at our disposal. We have been making a bit of a mess (though to our credit we clean up before leaving). I’m just amazed we weren’t caught sooner. We may have to lay low for a while, but I’m hoping we'll find a way to continue rocking it on the factory floor before too long.

It’s 11PM, which means I should start studying for tomorrow’s test… and maybe stop by the pub.