Lessons from lebanon.By Dr Salim Nazzal

from Dr Salim Nazzal -

The war between the Lebanese resistance and Israel has provided Arabs with major lessons that they need to learn from.

Lessons from Lebanon
By Dr Salim Nazzal




The war between the Lebanese resistance and Israel has provided Arabs with major lessons that they need to learn from.
The first lesson that it is possible to defeat Israel even with a small organized army as is the case now in Lebanon. This war has revealed beyond any doubt that the power of the land to land rockets can compensate for the weakness of air power which according to many military analysts was the prime reason behind the Arab defeats in the previous wars with Israel.
The heavy resistance the Israeli army face in south Lebanon has led to confusion inside the Israeli military and political institutions. In the 25th day of the war, the Israeli military machine is still fighting only one kilometer from the border, this has been reflected in the confusion in the Israeli plans. First Israel said they will occupy one to two kilometers along the border, and then they said they will widen it to reach the litany river which is 35 kilometers inside the border. If the Israeli generals went crazy and thought they could reach the litany river, this would result in heavy resistance against the Israeli army, in that case, I predict that Israel would be the big looser in this battle.
The Arab regimes must think twice about any further steps towards establishing any diplomatic contact with Israel. Israel is not the fierce enemy which frightens the area.
More than that, Arab governments should take the opportunity to send a clear message to Israel that its existence in the region is linked with its respect to the UN resolutions and not to its military power. Arabs must learn that the Us considers Israel as its only true ally. Arab leaders need to know that the united States look at them more as puppets than true friends. This means that Arab leaders must know that their power must be derived from their people and not from the Whitehouse. It is their choice to decide whether they want to be the puppets of America in the region or the true representatives to their people.
Palestinians should perhaps be the first of the Arabs who benefit from the Israeli failure.In order to win the war of independence Palestinian needs to revise much of the political culture which was uselessly done. Arabs have no more reasons to appease the state of Israel. Palestinians and Arabs in general did many concessions which they called it the strategic choice of peace. The philosophy of the strategic peace is not wrong in it self, yet to build a strong defensive force to deter Israel would make their strategic choice more convincing.

Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian researcher. He has written extensively on social and political issues in the Middle East.