Israel: losing control

To most Israelis, the bitter conflict now playing out in Lebanon is an essential requirement for Israel's security. It may be the sixth war Israel has fought in less than sixty years (as well as suppressing two Palestinian intifadas) but the effects of Hizbollah's incursions and the many hundreds of rocket strikes into northern Israel mean that there is no alternative.

The Israeli government and the Bush administration may well believe that Hizbollah can be crippled if not destroyed, and Israel made safe again. The reality may actually be very different, and there is now a strong argument that what Israel is doing in Lebanon is actually going to make it substantially less secure, especially if the process is measured over the next decade rather than weeks or months. To appreciate this, it makes sense to put the current crisis in the perspective of those previous conflicts.

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