A New West
By Jamal Laoudi

 
War and violence can sometimes resolve some conflicts.  The Arab Israeli conflict is not one of them.  The recent Israeli Hezbollah conflict is another proof of that.
Now that a cease fire as been declared and is being implemented, how did the parties involved fair? Let’s take a look:

Hezbollah:
Hezbollah has not been routed out by any means but it did sustain damage though we don’t know its extent.  It did not get its thousands of captured soldiers during the past 20 years or so freed.  Actually, their prisoners’ number has increased as more Hezbollah fighters fell prisoners to the hand of the Israeli soldiers.
In the immediate term, Hezbollah as a group may be viewed as a hero by the majority of the Lebanese people but in the long run, that is bound to change as Lebanon now knows that it too will be held accountable for Hezbollah’s actions; Furthermore, Hezbollah has lost at least temporarily its complete and total control over southern Lebanon where Lebanese army and UN forces are readying to take over.
Sure they put up a fight and inflected casualties on the Israeli soldiers but at what cost?  Was it worth it?  Would you want them to do it all over again if you knew the cost and the outcome? 

Lebanon:
Over 1000 innocent civilians killed, ten times as many injured, and 100 times as many displaced.  The Lebanese infrastructure is severely damaged, from bridges to hospitals to ports to roads.
How fast could it be rebuild and how is that going to be funded? Of course all the rebuilding will eventually happen but would we be smart enough to let it stand a little longer than it did the last time?

Israel: 
Israel’s loss was psychological more than it was physical.  There were few dozen civilian casualties among them were Muslim Israeli Arabs, and some damage to the infrastructure.  The two Israeli soldiers were never released and may be even more were captured, who knows?  The most damage would be that Israel could not eradicate Hezbollah or even seriously handicap the capabilities of its military wing.  Hezbollah cannot be eradicated.  It's just the nature of how it is built.  Another psychological defeat is that Israeli cities can now be hit and are within reach.  In addition, they lost even more points with the Arab and the Islamic worlds not that they had many to begin with.
Israel will get all the financial and military help it needs to recover from this month’s or so long conflict much faster than Lebanon will. 

Palestine:
The Palestinian issue was even more marginalized and ignored more as it had to take a back seat.  More killing and suffering were taking place while everyone was busy with the new conflict.  Palestinians lost even more.   

The Arab world:
More divide between the Arab leaders and even between the Arab leaders and their people.  I must say though that the Arab delegation sent to the UN played a very positive role as it negotiated on behalf of Lebanese interests. 

Really, who won here?  Nobody in my opinion, everyone lost!
How did all this violence stop? It was through pressuring the parties involved in the war to accept a peaceful resolution.  It was through a maximum number of major players getting involved.  It was through making reasonable compromises and being fair handed to all sides.  “Fair and balanced” negotiations!
Why can’t we expand this approach to other conflicts such as the Israeli Palestinian issue?
For such plan to succeed and establish peace, there needs to be fairness to both parties’ interests, comparable compromises from both sides, and the list goes on.
If we succeed in doing this, not only we will create a new Middle East but a new America and a new West.

Copyright 2006 ©
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