The Conundrum

Israel's Foreign Minister Lipni has warned Lebanon that they must disarm Hizbullah pursuant to the terms of UN SCR 1701. That has been the 800 pound gorilla lurking just out of sight of all those diplomats who were cheering that they succeeded in stopping the fighting. All a halt in the fighting did was give Hizbullah breathing room unless the Lebanese and UN peacekeepers were disarming Hizbullah and dismantling Hizbullah's weapons caches throughout Southern Lebanon. The UN has been reluctant to use force to do so, and Kofi has repeatedly said that he would not allow force used to disarm Hizbullah. Nasrallah and Hizbullah have repeatedly said that they would not lay down their arms, and so the charade of peace continues.

Since passage of the resolution, 4,000 international troops have moved into southern Lebanon, as has the Lebanese army, and U.S. officials say arms shipments have been halted. But Hezbollah's leader, Hasan Nasrallah, said this week that Hezbollah fighters are still in southern Lebanese towns near the border with Israel.

If Israel is attacked again, "we are not looking again to find these terrorists among the civilian population," Livni added. "We are going to face a state which does not implement its responsibility or maybe does not exercise its sovereignty. And so in French, they say tant pis " -- which translates as "too bad."

Asked specifically if Israel would attack Lebanon, Livni replied: "It is the responsibility of the state of Lebanon. I don't want to say so clearly that next time this is what we will do. But we will take it into consideration that this is part of their responsibility."

Separately, Livni expressed concern that a proposed unity government in the Palestinian territories will not explicitly recognize Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who supports peace talks with Israel, is attempting to reach a deal with the radical Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, which won legislative elections earlier this year. The victory of Hamas led to a broad cutoff of international aid, leaving much of the Palestinian territories increasingly destitute.

Livni says that the Lebanese must continue the arms embargo against Hizbullah as a central point of compliance with UN SCR 1701.

Meanwhile, tant pis is wholly appropriate for the Palestinians in Gaza. They chose poorly and must live with the repercussions of their actions. They chose a terrorist regime knowing that the world community would cut off funds.

That the Europeans have already signaled that they would recognize the unity government shows that they cannot distinguish between a real partner in a peace process and one whose intent is the destruction of Israel. Hamas and Fatah both have never renounced the destruction of Israel as central tenets of their charters. Fatah has paid lip service to the notion of a 2-state solution, which takes the diplomatic pressure off them, but by keeping the annihilation of Israel enshrined in their charter, their ultimate intentions remain clear. Hamas will not even go the symbolic route.

Indeed, that's precisely what Haniyeh has explicitly stated. Hamas and the unity government will not recognize any prior deals with Israel, which means that they consider the Oslo accords null and void. If that's the case, then Israel along with the rest of the world, should discard the whole notion of land for peace as the Palestinians themselves have abandoned the concept.

And yet, Abbas is expected to meet with President Bush in the US next week to brief the President over the situation. I find this quite distasteful and hope that the Administration reconsiders. Abbas has done nothing to quell the violence, and his unity government deal with Hamas is a sham that legitimizes another terrorist group that calls for the destruction of a US ally, Israel, along with carrying out attacks against US interests in the region.

Abbas is worried that the US doesn't like the unity government's program. Well, that should be obvious to any rational observer. For there to be a peace process, both Israel and the Palestinians have to actually want peace. Israel has repeatedly declared its intentions to have peace with the Palestinians, and Hamas and other elements of the Palestinian Authority want Israel in pieces.

Via the Jerusalem Post, Saudi papers are reporting that a deal on Gilad Shalit is imminent, but as anyone reading this blog would note, we've heard this before. It remains to be seen whether this involves a prisoner swap, or whether the release of the Hamas members of parliment (which were held up by the IDF) might be related to a deal.

Haniyeh says that there's been movement on a deal, but unless this deal is an unconditional release, and we actually see Gilad handed over to Israel, I'd discount all the talk.

UPDATE:
Hizbullah demands that the UN do all that it can to restrain Israel from attacking Lebanon and ignore all the other requirements under UN SCR 1701. How nice of them. Considering that Hizbullah attacked Israel and unilaterally began a war from Lebanese territory into Israel, it's ironic that they're calling on the UN to restrain Israel from exercising its sovereign right to deal with existential threats such as Hizbullah's continuing and ongoing presence in Lebanon. Of course, expect the UN to cave on this, and their prior conduct is a guide to show that the UN is unwilling or incapable (or both) of imposing and verifying the conformity with UN SCR 425, 426, 1559, and 1701. For if the UN did verify and conform to those resolutions, Hizbullah would be but a memory for the Lebanese people, and there would have been no 34 day war between Israel and Hizbullah fought largely on Lebanese soil.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Regev, Goldwasser, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.