By Dick Field
Friday, august 4, 2006
Israel knows the intentions of its enemies. No secret service is required. Israel's enemies have made their intentions clear. The recently elected Palestinian Hamas government enunciated its central platform in a world-wide public statement to the effect that it was dedicated to the total elimination of the State of Israel. Hezbollah has made the same central policy statement. The extremist rulers of Iran support the policy of extermination of the state of Israel and support Hezbollah and Hamas. Syria publicly supports the anti-Israeli cause. Most of the arab world applauds any hurt levied against the Jewish State, or the West for that matter. Israel has no choice but to fight for its survival.
all of us should bear in mind that in 1947 Canada and the United States signed the UN declaration approving the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and Israeli State. For those who today talk about being in lockstep with US policy, remember our policies at the time were more closely aligned with the British and yet they abstained from the UN vote. Why? Because they knew that the Palestinian arabs and arabs generally would not accept the UN decision and that a mutually acceptable agreement must be reached before a peaceful partition could take place. War and strife between the parties has been the result ever since. Unfortunate though the wars may be, the UN decision made on our behalf by our government requires us to support the right of Israel to exist and to defend itself by whatever means necessary. That is the principle we must uphold.
Those who call for an immediate halt to the present war in Lebanon, a peacekeeping force and a peaceful resolution of the current fighting are unrealistic at best or appeasers at worst. Israel must win this present conflict by defeating Hezbollah and Hamas.
a strong start has been made by Israel. The first stage has been to isolate the battlefield. The second has been to destroy or seriously impair the enemy's command and control structures. The first stage has been accomplished by stopping all supplies and reinforcements reaching the Hezbollah militia controlled areas and forcing most non-combatants out of the area. The second stage is partly accomplished, but Israel must act fast because the damage can be quickly repaired.
The third stage is a massive invasion designed to destroy all Hezbollah fighters battling in the area. Those surviving are to be pushed back to the other side of the Litani River, supposedly out of rocket range of Northern Israel. In Gaza in the South, similar tactics will be used to eliminate the Hamas militia.
Israel may care about its casualties and the necessary civilian deaths of both sides but war is war and survival dictates a war to the death, if necessary. Expect an invasion of up to 30,000 Israeli troops and a 10 to 15% casualty rate in this battle before Israel's objectives are met. When the objectives are met, then the world must get off their collective backsides and help arrange a settlement generous to both sides. It will be costly, but the worst thing in the context of a possible World War Three is for the West to forget the festering sore that is the Middle East and the hatreds being engendered.