Is Beirut Burning?

"IT SEEMS that Nasrallah survived," Israeli newspapers announced,after 23 tons of bombs were dropped on a site in Beirut, where the Hizbullahleader was supposedly hiding in a bunker.

An interesting formulation. A few hours after the bombing, Nazrallah had givenan interview to Aljazeera television. Not only did he look alive, but evencomposed and confident. He spoke about the bombardment - proof that theinterview was recorded on the same day.

So what does "it seems that" mean? Very simple: Nasrallah pretends tobe alive, but you can't believe an Arab. Everyone knows that Arabs always lie.That's in their very nature, as Ehud Barak once pronounced.

THE KILLING of the man is a national aim, almost the main aim of the war.This is, perhaps, the first war in history waged by a state in order to kill oneperson. Until now, only the Mafia thought along those lines. Even the British inWorld War II did not proclaim that their aim was to kill Hitler. On thecontrary, they wanted to catch him alive, in order to put him on trial. Probablythat's what the Americans wanted, too, in their war against Saddam Hussein.

But our ministers have officially decided that that is the aim. There is notmuch novelty in that: successive Israeli governments have adopted a policy ofkilling the leaders of opposing groups. Our army has killed, among others,Hizbullah leader Abbas Mussawi, PLO no. 2 Abu Jihad, as well as Sheik AhmadYassin and other Hamas leaders. Almost all Palestinians, and not only they, areconvinced that Yassir Arafat was also murdered.

And the results? The place of Mussawi was filled by Nasrallah, who is farmore able. Sheik Yassin was succeeded by far more radical leaders. Instead ofArafat we got Hamas.

As in other political matters, a primitive military mindset governs thisreasoning too.

A PERSON returning here after a long absence and seeing our TV screens mightget the impression that a military junta is governing Israel, in the (former)South American manner.

On all TV channels, every evening, one sees a parade of military brass inuniform. They explain not only the day's military actions, but also comment onpolitical matters and lay down the political and propaganda line.

During all the other hours of broadcasting time, a dozen or so have-beengenerals repeat again and again the message of the army commanders. (Some ofthem don't look particularly intelligent - not to say downright stupid. It isfrightening to think that these people were once in a position to decide whowould live and who would die.)

True, we are a democracy. The army is completely subject to the civilianestablishment. According to the law, the cabinet is the "supremecommander" of the army (which in Israel includes the navy and air force).But in practice, today it is the top brass who decide all political and militarymatters. When Dan Halutz tells the ministers that the military command hasdecided on this or that operation, no minister dares to express opposition.Certainly not the hapless Labor Party ministers.

Ehud Olmert presents himself as the heir to Churchill ("blood, sweat andtears"). That's quite pathetic enough. Then Amir Peretz puffs up his chestand shoots threats in all directions, and that's even more pathetic, if that'spossible. He resembles nothing so much as a fly standing on the ear of an ox andproclaiming: "we are ploughing!"

The Chief-of-Staff announced last week with satisfaction: "The armyenjoys the full backing of the government!" That is also an interestingformulation. It implies that the army decides what to do, and the governmentprovides "backing". And that's how it is, of course.

NOW IT is not a secret anymore: this war has been planned for a long time.The military correspondents proudly reported this week that the army has beenexercising for this war in all its details for several years. Only a month ago,there was a large war game to rehearse the entrance of land forces into SouthLebanon - at a time when both the politicians and the generals were declaringthat "we shall never again get into the Lebanon quagmire. We shall neveragain introduce land forces there." Now we are in the quagmire, and largeland forces are operating in the area.

The other side, too, has been preparing this war for years. Not only did theybuild caches of thousands of missiles, but they have also prepared an elaboratesystem of Vietnam-style bunkers, tunnels and caves. Our soldiers are nowencountering this system and paying a high price. As always, our army hastreated "the Arabs" with disdain and discounted their militarycapabilities.

That is one of the problems of the military mentality. Talleyrand was notwrong when he said that "war is much too serious a thing to be left tomilitary men." The mentality of the generals, resulting from theireducation and profession, is by nature force-oriented, simplistic,one-dimensional, not to say primitive. It is based on the belief that allproblems can be solved by force, and if that does not work - then by more force.

That is well illustrated by the planning and execution of the current war.This was based on the assumption that if we cause terrible suffering to thepopulation, they will rise up and demand the removal of Hizbullah. A minimalunderstanding of mass psychology would suggest the opposite. The killing ofhundreds of Lebanese civilians, belonging to all the ethno-religiouscommunities, the turning of the lives of the others into hell, and thedestruction of the life-supporting infrastructure of Lebanese society willarouse a groundswell of fury and hatred - against Israel, and not against theheroes, as they see them, who sacrifice their lives in their defense.

The result will be a strengthening of Hizbullah, not only today, but foryears to come. Perhaps that will be the main outcome of the war, more importantthan all the military achievements, if any. And not only in Lebanon, butthroughout the Arab and Muslim world.

Faced with the horrors that are shown on all television and many computerscreens, world opinion is also changing. What was seen at the beginning as ajustified response to the capture of the two soldiers now looks like thebarbaric actions of a brutal war-machine. The elephant in a china shop.

Thousands of e-mail distribution lists have circulated a horrible series ofphotos of mutilated babies and children. At the end, there is a macabre photo:jolly Israeli children writing "greetings" on the artillery shellsthat are about to be fired. Then there appears a message: "Thanks to thechildren of Israel for this nice gift. Thanks to the world that does nothing.Signed: the children of Lebanon and Palestine."

The woman who heads the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner forHuman Rights has already defined these acts as war crimes - something that mayin future mean trouble for Israeli army officers.

IN GENERAL, when army officers are determining the policy of a nation,serious moral problems arise.

In war, a commander is obliged to take hard decisions. He sends soldiers intobattle, knowing that many will not return and others will be maimed for life. Hehardens his heart. As General Amos Yaron told his officers after the Sabra andShatila massacre: "Our senses have been blunted!"

Years of the occupation regime in the Palestinian territories have caused aterrible callousness as far as human lives are concerned. The killing of ten totwenty Palestinians every day, including women and children, as happens now inGaza, does not agitate anyone. It doesn't even make the headlines. Gradually,even routine expressions like "We regret…we had no intention…the mostmoral army in the world…" and all the other trite phrases are not heardanymore.

Now this numbness is revealing itself in Lebanon. Air Force officers, calmand comfortable, sit in front of the cameras and speak about "bundles oftargets", as if they were talking about a technical problem, and not aboutliving human beings. They speak about driving hundreds of thousands of humanbeings from their homes as an imposing military achievement, and do not hidetheir satisfaction in face of human beings whose whole life has been destroyed.The word that is most popular with the generals at this time is"pulverize" - we pulverize, they are being pulverized, neighborhoodsare pulverized, buildings are pulverized, people are pulverized.

Even the launching of rockets at our towns and villages does not justify thisignoring of moral considerations in fighting the war. There were other ways ofresponding to the Hizbullah provocation, without turning Lebanon into rubble.The moral numbness will be transformed into grievous political damage, bothimmediate and long term. Only a fool or worse ignores moral values - in the end,they always take revenge.

IT IS almost banal to say that it is easier to start a war than to finish it.One knows how it starts, it is impossible to know how it will end.

Wars take place in the realm of uncertainty. Unforeseen things happen. Eventhe greatest captains in history could not control the wars they started. Warhas its own laws.

We started a war of days. It turned into a war of weeks. Now they arespeaking of a war of months. Our army started a "surgical" action ofthe Air Force, afterwards it sent small units into Lebanon, now whole brigadesare fighting there, and reservists are being called up in large numbers for awholesale 1982-style invasion. Some people already foresee that the war may rolltowards a confrontation with Syria.

All this time, the United States has been using all its might in order toprevent the cessation of hostilities. All signs indicate that it is pushingIsrael towards a war with Syria - a country that has ballistic missiles withchemical and biological warheads.

Only one thing is already certain on the 11th day of the war: Nothing goodwill come of it. Whatever happens - Hizbullah will emerge strengthened. If therehad been hopes in the past that Lebanon would slowly become a normal country,where Hizbullah would be deprived of a pretext for maintaining a military forceof its own, we have now provided the organization with the perfectjustification: Israel is destroying Lebanon, only Hizbullah is fighting todefend the country.

As for deterrence: a war in which our huge military machine cannot overcome asmall guerilla organization in 11 days of total war certainly has notrehabilitated its deterrent power. In this respect, it is not important how longthis war will last and what will be its results - the fact that a few thousandfighters have withstood the Israeli army for 11 days and more, has already beenimprinted in the consciousness of hundred of millions of Arabs and Muslims.

From this war nothing good will come - not for Israel, not for Lebanon andnot for Palestine. The "New Middle East" that will be its result willbe a worse place to live in.