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The Arab world reacts to the swap

By Uriel Heilman · July 17, 2008

Not everyone in the Arab world is impressed by Hezbollah’s accomplishments in the prisoner swap deal, the Jerusalem Post reports.

• The London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat daily noted that the deal “cost Hezbollah more than $7 billion, more than 1,200 dead and 4,500 wounded Lebanese citizens.”
  
• Lebanon’s Al Anwar newspaper ran an editorial saying it was “shameful to see members of the government in Beirut join the celebrations of Hezbollah.”
  



However, the dominant viewpoint seemed to be the one shared by most Israelis – that the deal represented a victory for Hezbollah and strengthened the Iranian-backed Shiite group’s standing.

• An editorial in Abu Dhabi’s The National noted that with dismay: “Hezbollah should be taken to task by the Lebanese for the suffering it brought on the country with its kidnappings. But successes such as yesterday’s prisoner exchange only increase its public standing.”
  
• Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, sees in the swap a hopeful sign that the volatile region may be turning away from war and toward diplomacy: “If [Lebanon] continues its march through a relatively peaceful summer, it is a sign the Middle East is turning its back on war in favour of diplomacy.”
  
• In a chat room on Al Jazeera’s English-language Web site, readers share their views about the swap.


For more Arab world headlines, see here.

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The swap and the pain

By Uriel Heilman · July 16, 2008

The wrenching images of today’s prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah – in which the Regev and Goldwasser families learned that their loves ones were dead while Israel handed over Lebanese murderer Samir Kuntar to Hezbollah – commanded the attention of all of Israel today.

Israeli media anticipated and reported on the event with a combination of pain, anger and resignation:

Media Line’s David Harris, in Ynet: “The poster on the Lebanese side of the border said it all: Israel sheds tears of sorrow, Lebanon sheds tears of joy.”

Ma’ariv has an interview with the man who captured Samir Kuntar (Hebrew): “After 29 years, Rami Salmon recalls the capture of the terrorist and tells of the thought that still bugs him: Would he have changed history if he shot him?”

Ha’aretz editorial: “The cabinet’s approval of the prisoner swap with Hezbollah, despite the ‘blatantly unsatisfactory’ report the organization delivered on the fate of Ron Arad, requires the cabinet to now act urgently to free Gilad Shalit.”

Jerusalem Post editorial: “The Lebanese people and government - and those others in the Arab world, including among the Palestinians, so delighted by Kuntar’s release - might want to ask themselves whether this monster is worthy of such glorification. Is he the kind of man they want as their idol? And if so, what does that say about them?”

JTA’s Dina Kraft has a piece in The New York Times on the old wound the swap deal reopened for the Israeli family whose life Kuntar destroyed.

Keshet TV has video footage of Goldwasser and Regev in happier times, on reserve duty in 2004.

Lebanon declared a national holiday Wednesday to welcome home Kuntar and the other terrorists released from Israel (Channel 10 and Ha’aretz): Watch video.

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The third grade

By Uriel Heilman · July 14, 2008

It’s difficult to decide if the efforts Syrian President Bashar Assad made to avoid a face-to-face meeting with the Israeli prime minister on Sunday are more reminiscent of the third grade, or of a guy steering clear of his ex at a party. In any case, at the Union for the Mediterranean summit in Paris the dictator from Damascus managed to spend a whole day near, but not with, Ehud Olmert.

Assad slipped out of the room when Olmert got up to speak. When Olmert made the rounds shaking hands, Assad turned around to talk to his interpreter. And at the Bastille Day parade, Olmert managed to get within a few feet of Assad, but there was no eye contact.

“We are not seeking symbols,” Assad told French TV.

I guess flowers and chocolate wouldn’t have been enough.

Ha’aretz shows in pictures how it all went down.

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Two years later

By Uriel Heilman · July 10, 2008

Two years after the Second Lebanon War, Israel is suddenly waking up and pressing for implementation of the U.N. resolution that ended the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, 1701.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Security Cabinet convened a hastily arranged discussion about the lack of implementation of the resolution, which called for stemming the flow of arms to Hezbollah. Now the Israelis are trying to press UNIFIL, the U.N. force in southern Lebanon, to make sure Hezbollah falls into line.

Too little too late?

The Jerusalem Post writes:

The war’s most urgent lessons, the adoption of which might prevent another round of fighting, remain regrettably unlearned.

First, due to its stubbornly misplaced faith in the UN, Israel has continued to turn a blind eye to the rearming of Hizbullah.

The Post reserves its harshest critique for Israel’s political leadership:

The broadest unlearned lesson from the war concerns Israel’s political culture itself. From the days of the Muslim conquest of Andalusia to today, it is impossible to recall Arab expressions of guilt or remorse over military victory. In contrast, Israel’s political echelons have typically been prompted to hand-wringing self-examination less by defeat than by victory. Yet healthy self-examination - of the kind so lacking in the wake of the latest war - requires precisely the opposite.

Could it be that both an underlying cause, and an effect, of the failures of the Second Lebanon War is that those steering this country no longer believe in the justice of its cause as utterly as used to be the case?

Ha’aretz’s Israel Harel also lays the blame for the failure of 1701 with Israel’s leadership:

The cabinet yesterday discussed “Hezbollah’s missile arsenal.” But what is such a discussion worth when there is no leadership in Israel today capable of making security decisions - even if the dangers and means of dealing with them are defined correctly? What is it worth when there is no leadership capable of insisting on decisions being implemented in full, even in the face of a public opinion with little patience and low endurance for suffering? The kind of public opinion that represses the central threats to the state’s existence and is not prepared to pay the necessary price for Jewish sovereignty.

After all, the main reason we do not escape the cycle of endless war is that every time we are on the edge of victory we stop the battle one step too soon - two years ago in Lebanon, and now with Hamas. This allows the enemy to recover and claim victory, continuing the struggle, justifiably from his point of view, until the Zionist Jewish entity comes to an end.

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Laments for Israel

By Uriel Heilman · July 9, 2008

The IDF must find a way to inspire fear in Israel’s enemies, as in days past, laments Dov Weisglass, a former aide to Ariel Sharon, in Ynet:

Once upon a time, when our founding fathers were in power, that same Mossad which [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah now disparages would have eliminated him a long time ago. However, Israel today is not the Israel it used to be.

Hamas too realizes that it is dealing with current-day Israel. It fires rockets and mortar shells with no fear; it forced Israel to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip; it holds on to abducted soldier Gilad Shalit and keeps fooling those negotiating on his release.

Despite its misery and inferiority, Hamas is talking to Israel as an equal. Its leaders threaten us, make demands, and present conditions. They conduct themselves as though they know Israel has no other choice except for negotiating in line with their rules. And they’re right.

Also in Ynet, former Yitzhak Rabin aide Eitan Haber offers a lament of his own about next week’s second anniversary of the start of the Second Lebanon War. There will be no festivals to mark the occasion, only memorial prayers, Haber writes:

Indeed, in almost every possible way, the decision to embark on the Second Lebanon War was a case of completely flawed judgment.

In any case, the damages caused to the State of Israel and to the Israel Defense Force in this war are immense; most certainly, the 158 bereaved families who lost their loved ones paid a terrible price. And what for? And why?

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Settlement ‘peace’ tours

By Uriel Heilman · July 8, 2008

A recent poll commissioned by Peace Now showed that 73 percent of Israelis have not visited any settlements in the last five years. Peace Now’s reaction? Bus more Israelis to West Bank settlements.

In other news from the wild West Bank, a Ha’aretz editorial calls on the Israeli government to do more to ensure the rule of law in the territory – particularly when it comes to violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians.

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Cease-fire shakeout

By Uriel Heilman · July 8, 2008

It’s going to take time for the Hamas-Israel cease-fire to take hold, which is why Israel’s military hasn’t responded to the firing of Kassam rockets from the Gaza Strip over the last three weeks, Ha’aretz writes in an editorial. Hamas is trying, Ha’aretz says:

Hamas’ public effort to fully keep its commitment is evident. The Hamas mufti has called anyone who fires a Qassam a “criminal,” and its leadership is declaring that the Qassams damage Palestinian interests…

This does not mean Israel must sit on its hands and do nothing for six months, absorbing Qassams with no response just so the cease-fire will be observed on its part. However, it must allow the Palestinians the opportunity to enforce the agreement, without playing into the hands of gangs or splinter organizations, thereby crushing the responsible party in Gaza at the moment.

Meanwhile, Ynet’s Alex Fishman writes that Israel has failed to take advantage of the relative lull in the fighting to improve defenses in Israel’s Gaza-adjacent communities to prepare for the next round of rocket attacks:

The ceasefire is the first lull in Hamas’ “war of independence” since it took over Gaza. The group uses every moment in this lull in order to better organize and build up strength ahead of the next round of fighting. And what do our leaders do in order to take advantage of the lull ahead of the next round? Nothing. We’re on vacation…

If the homes are not fortified people will be leaving…

Seemingly, the lull came at the right time. Residents could have expected to see their communities flooded by contractors and laborers the moment quiet prevailed, with secured rooms being constructed at a dizzying pace. After all, this is what was decided; this is precisely what the government promised.

Moreover, it is clear to everyone that the relative quiet brought by the lull is only temporary, and that every day that passes without it being used for building fortifications and improving our anti-rocket alert system is a wasted day. Yet for the time being, nothing has changed on the ground. Not one brick has been laid, and no wall has been moved.

On Sunday, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff of Ha’aretz wrote that captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has turned into a hostage of the crisis over Gaza’s border crossings, which Israel has been closing in response to rocket attacks from Gaza.

They write:

Hamas has shown itself to be genuinely interested in a lull in the fighting, but at the same time is unable to rein in the smaller factions operating in Gaza. Israel, in search of ways to at least ensure quiet, has turned to an old standby in its campaign for calm and again sealed the crossings.

Israel hopes that renewed economic pressure will lead the public in Gaza to apply pressure on the Hamas leadership, which in turn will seek to assert its authority over the smaller terror groups.

In the past week, it has become abundantly clear that Hamas refuses to play into Israel’s hands. Its spokesman announced that each time Israel closes the crossings in response to rocket fire, it will suspend talks over a prisoner exchange for Shalit.

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Gilad Sharon: Stop pretending

By Uriel Heilman · July 7, 2008

Gilad Sharon pens an angry Op-Ed in Ynet delivering Israeli Arabs an ultimatum: “Do you wish to enjoy all the good Israel bestows upon you? Then be completely loyal to it. If you cannot do it, be prepared to pay the price.”

Sharon’s missive was prompted by last week’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem by a Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem who carried an Israeli ID card. Though not an Israeli citizen, the terrorist lived within Israel’s borders. Sharon, a son of the former prime minister, writes:

The repeated terror attacks carried out by Arab terrorists possessing Israeli ID cards highlight the need for a frank and open discussion regarding relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel and the future of these ties…

This pretention must stop: You shall stop pretending that you are loyal to the State the way it is, and the State will stop pretending that it does not discriminates against you, because it does. It has no choice, as you come out against its essence as a Jewish state and are working to turn it into something else. For example, how can we not discriminate against an elected representative such as Azmi Bishara or Ahmad Tibi, who served as an advisor for Arafat the terrorist, when it comes to sharing sensitive security information?

This juggling act, whereby on the one hand Arab Israelis enjoy the State’s health and welfare services and freedom of expression unlike anywhere else in our region, while on the other hand their representatives condemn and attack Israel at every opportunity, and particularly in enemy states, must end.

Decent points, maybe, but the hole in this argument is that the converse can be argued just as easily. Israeli Arabs can say to Sharon and the Israeli government: When you stop discriminating against us, when you treat us like equals, when you craft a national anthem and flag that speaks of us, then we will be loyal to the state.

It’s a complicated situation.

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Israel’s soft spot

By Uriel Heilman · July 3, 2008

A day after the second major terrorist attack in four months by a Jerusalem-area Palestinian, the Jerusalem Post’s Calev Ben David asks how Israel can protect its people against terrorists among the 200,000 Palestinians who live on the west (i.e. Israeli) side of the West Bank security fence. It’s not so easy.

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Borat in Israel?

By Uriel Heilman · July 3, 2008

Sascha Baron Cohen narrates “the running of the Jews” in Borat.

The serious-minded former director of Tel Aviv University’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Yossi Alpher, who also is co-editor of Bitterlemons.org, a Palestinian-Israeli Web site, writes about a close encounter of the Bruno kind in his latest column in the Forward.

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