Cease fire immediately

[IndianaGreen]

Another fine op-ed from Haaretz:

Cease fire immediately

By Uzi Benziman

On the morning of 22 October, 1973, the United Nations Security Council ordered a cease-fire along the Suez Canal, effective at 18:52 PM that same evening. The shooting did not stop at the predetermined hour, and took another day and a half, during which time the Israel Defense Forces made a desperate, but failed effort, to surround and destroy the Egyptian Third Army and conquer the city of Ismailia. Even from this perspective, from the way in which the fighting came to an end, the current war in Lebanon reminds us of the Yom Kippur War.

Just like in October 1973, so it is in August 2006 that the High Command is frustrated by its inability to meet its own expectations and those of the public. During the first days of the Yom Kippur War, the home front hoped for news of the lightning strike that was supposed to smash the armies of Syria and Egypt. People waited for the moment that the secret plan (which everyone spoke of) would be put into effect, engulfing the canal in flames and trapping the Egyptian army on its eastern bank. People attributed the delay in the decisive counter-attack to tactical guile, which was meant to draw more and more of the Egyptian forces into a trap the IDF was preparing for them in Sinai. People blamed the powerlessness of the air force on temporary organizational problems. This was so until, gradually, the reality of the conditions on the battlefront struck home.

In the current war in Lebanon, the expectations are also gradually shrinking. The public really desires an unequivocal defeat of Hezbollah and offer the government and the IDF unreserved support for the way in which they are running the campaign. However, deep inside, a reversal is taking place: In this confrontation, we will not emerge clear winners. Hezbollah is about to emerge from the battle smoke with the aura of one who did not succumb to the IDF.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746700.html

[Erika]

1. Israel with their rambo techniques paid for by our taxes

is losing to the court of world opinion. They've killed too many innocents and isolated a country knowing more innocents will die because of their action. They show and share the arrogance of the W administration.