Israel Update for May 2006

While the internal Palestinian clashes were escalating, Ariel Sharon's successor was visiting the American capital city, where he held long meetings with President Bush and other senior government leaders, and also addressed US legislators in the Congressional chambers on Capital Hill-an honor only accorded to America's closest allies. The two leaders held a joint press conference after their White House meeting, where Bush surprised many Mideast analysts by expressing full support for Olmert's controversial "Convergence Plan" to carry out further unilateral withdrawals from Palestinian-dominated land north and south of Jerusalem, and to then draw up Israel's final borders without Palestinian input.

Bush commended the Israeli leader for his "bold ideas" after making clear that America's "preferred option" is still a negotiated settlement, as Olmert had earlier stated as well. Until Bush publicly supported the Israeli leader's planned unilateral moves if no viable Palestinian peace partner emerges in the coming months, US officials had expressed strong reservations about further one sided Israeli action, holding out for a resumption of joint Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations instead. Olmert later told Israeli journalists that he was "very satisfied" to receive the President's endorsement, which some American analysts said reflected Bush's conviction that Hamas will not change its basic positions and will continue to dominate Palestinian politics for some time to come.

In his official speech the following day, PM Olmert told the assembled senators and congressmen that Israel would be a "willing partner in peace with the Palestinians" if they really wanted to end their long and bitter conflict with the world's only Jewish state. But with radical forces on the ascendancy in the Palestinian zones, Olmert indicated that he sees no other choice than to unilaterally draw up Israel's final boundaries in the disputed hills of Judea and Samaria, Israel's ancient biblical heartland.

"Our deepest desire is to build a better future for our region, hand in hand with a Palestinian partner, but if not, we will move forward, but not alone." The last comment was an apparent reference to desired American support for such a unilateral move, which is bound to be rejected by the entire Arab world and most other countries on earth.

Jerusalem's former mayor received a sustained standing ovation when he vowed that Israel would "not yield to terror." This came after Olmert referred to Daniel Wultz, a Florida teenager who perished in mid-May from severe wounds he received during the Passover holidays when a Palestinian terrorist attacked a restaurant in Tel Aviv. The 16 year old American, ordering food near the suicide bomber, was severely wounded in the stomach and elsewhere while visiting Israel with his father. Daniel was related to Eric Cantor, a prominent Jewish Republican congressman from Virginia.

Israel's new Premier plans to shift his diplomatic efforts to Europe to gain broader international support for his withdrawal plan. He is scheduled to visit the UK and France in June. Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni will support his efforts during a speech before the European Union Parliament in Strasbourg, and then hold meetings with her foreign minister counterparts at EU headquarters in Belgium. The Israeli government efforts are designed to lessen stated EU opposition to the unilateral Convergence Plan, with European officials particularly opposed to Olmert's declared intention to establish final Israeli borders somewhere in the disputed West Bank.

More Violence In Lebanon

In what was widely alleged to be a Mossad undercover response to April's deadly Tel Aviv terror attack that has so far claimed 11 innocent lives (with others still hospitalized in critical condition), a powerful car bomb killed Nidal Majzoub on May 26th, a top commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad wing stationed in Palestinian refugee neighborhoods in southern Lebanon. The group, which receives most of its funding and operating instructions from Syria and Iran, claimed responsibility for the Passover atrocity, as it has for over six other homicide attacks carried since early 2005.

Two days later, major clashes erupted between Israeli and Lebanese Shiite forces along the Israel-Lebanon border, where thousands of Hizbullah militiamen are stationed. After dozens of Hizbullah mortar shells and rockets reigned down on several Israeli communities and army bases all along the border, Israeli Air Force jets and attack helicopters were ordered to respond more powerfully than at any time since army troops were withdrawn from the troubled country six years ago. They not only struck known Hizbullah positions all along the border-reportedly killing a number of Hizbullah fighters and wounding many others-but they also bombed two bases belonging to the radical Palestinian Popular Front group based in Damascus. One of the bases, located just a few miles south of Beirut, was believed to have been struck to send a loud message to the Lebanese government to quickly reign in the rogue fighters attacking along the border with Israel. The Air Force strike on the other base, a mere three miles from the Syrian border, was designed to send the same message to the Assad regime in Damascus.

The Lebanese government, at least, seemed to quickly get the message. Fearing further escalation of the conflict, officials in Beirut requested an immediate ceasefire via United Nations channels, although they later protested what was termed "Israel's warlike aggression" in response to Hizbullah's assaults. The truce went into effect later the same day after senior Israeli government officials accepted the offer, halting artillery and air bombardments of Hizbullah positions. Two Israeli soldiers and at least two Hizbullah fighters were killed in the exchanges.

The fierce May 28th action began when Hizbullah forces suddenly opened fire during the morning at an Israeli army base, wounding one soldier. Subsequent assaults on several border kibbutz communities prompted a general alert, sending thousands of Galilee residents scrambling into sweltering bomb shelters. The Hizbullah operation was interpreted by army leaders as probable revenge for Nidal Majzoub's death two days earlier.

Israeli analysts say the militant Lebanese Shiite group has been working ever more closely in recent years with the radical Palestinian Sunni Islamic Jihad terrorist network at the behest of Iran and Syria.

Responding to the Hizbullah attacks, PM Ehud Olmert warned that Israel would respond even more intensely if Iran's proxy Lebanese force continued firing on civilian and army positions in the Galilee panhandle. Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Olmert said Hizbullah would "receive a clear and harsh response with no hesitation if they do not stop," terming the attacks "provocative and dangerous."

Many Israeli analysts say a major Israeli military "clean-out operation" against the radical Lebanese border force is long overdue. In fact, security sources say such action has been planned two times earlier-during the 2003 US-British invasion of Iraq and in early 2005-but was postponed for various reasons. Many anticipated that a reelected Ariel Sharon would launch such action this year, but some are uncertain that Olmert intends to follow through since he hopes to carry on with his unilateral withdrawal plan, which could be scuttled by such an operation since it has a high potential to lead to direct Israeli clashes with Syria, if not an all out war between the two neighboring Middle East countries.

A leading defense expert in the opposition Likud party, the former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee, Yuval Steinitz, maintained that the relatively tough Israeli military response should have been directed almost exclusively at targets in the Lebanese capital city, instead of mainly upon Hizbullah positions. He averred that the only effective way to fight a terrorist organization in a neighboring country was to attack the national interests of that country, prompting government officials themselves to take action to rein in illegal forces operating there.

Just two days before the short but intense battle, Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed that his group will continue its "jihad struggle" against the dreaded Zionist entity. He also vowed to raise funds to help keep Hamas in control of the Palestinian Authority. He was speaking at a rally in the biblical Lebanese town of Tyre to mark the sixth anniversary of what he termed "Israel's defeat" in southern Lebanon. He also pledged support for Iran in its "struggle with the international community to fulfill its right to produce nuclear energy," which Israeli leaders in May again stated was actually a clandestine nuclear weapons program that will have to be dealt with sooner or later if international political negotiations over the serious issue continue to produce no positive results. At his joint press conference with PM Olmert, President Bush stated that "all options remain on the table" if negotiations fail.

As continuing violence and strife troubles the biblical Promised Land, it is good to recall that it is the Lord God of Israel who pledged to restore His ancient people to their land inheritance in days before Messiah's reign from Jerusalem: "Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, oh virgin of Israel." (Jeremiah 31:4).