Lessons to learn from Israel

While Arabs are still divided over the July 2006 war on Lebanon, Israelis seem to have closed the chapter with the release of the Winograd report, which highlighted the lessons that Israel must learn from the war.

The report pointed at failure in almost all aspects of the planning and execution of the war, and admitted that Israeli forces waged war against a Hezbollah that was not ready for it. And some Arabs still blame Hezbollah for provoking the war!

Retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, who headed the committee assigned by the government to assess Israel's shortcomings in the war against Hezbollah some 18 months ago, criticised every unit in the army.

He was quoted as saying that the military, especially the ground forces, had failed to perform most of the missions and challenges they had been assigned and the overall performance was bad.

The 610-page report, submitted simultaneously to both the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak and released to the public an hour later on Wednesday, is not expected to have a great impact on Israeli political life because the balance of power seems to have stabilised since the war, and public anger, which had prompted the formation of the committee right after the war, seems to have cooled down.

I hope the report will have a positive impact on Arabs, as far as their handling of major issues is concerned.

But I am not optimistic because it might take Olmert and other Israeli politicians quite some time to read and digest the contents of the report - and it will definitely take Arabs much longer to enforce a similar practice of questioning the performance of their leaders in a transparent manner.

Not to be admired

This does not mean that the report was a noble piece of work that must be admired and imitated by the Arabs. On the contrary, it has emphasised the criminal way Israelis perceive Arabs and they way they see peace in the region.

The report that claimed to have identified failures itself failed to criminalise numerous crimes committed by the Israeli army against innocent civilians in Lebanon.

The war crimes committed by the failed army resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 people, including women and children. Pictures of their suffering moved the world, and helped end the war.

The report seemed to encourage the army to prepare itself better for the next war against the Arabs. The report painted a picture of a sense of disappointment and missed opportunity to the public.

The "missed opportunity" was not defined clearly. It gives the impression that the army should have killed more Lebanese, especially those near Israel's northern borders, in order for members of the Israeli public to feel safer and satisfied with the performance of their army.

A big event like Israeli's July 2006 war against Lebanon and the way it has divided Arabs since then should have prompted the formation of an independent and dispassionate investigation committee to help Arab politicians and members of the public derive the right lessons from it.

It should have not been left for leaders from opposing camps to settle their scores based on their stand during the war, without being challenged.

Debates

Analysts and observers who followed the countless debates about the war in the media know very well the stark divisions amongst Arabs about this particular war. For the past 18 months, the camp supporting the idea of "divine victory", after a ceasefire was arranged by the Security Council, is jubilant about the outcome of the war.

They believe that Hezbollah, with its limited resources, achieved an unprecedented victory in modern Arab history against the Jewish state.

Those in the opposite camp, who felt that the war was an "uncalculated adventure" are still unconvinced about the reasons that prompted Hezbollah to abduct two Israeli soldiers. They are suspicious of the motivations behind its move.

Even more dangerous is the fact that the long-standing disagreement over the issue and the severity of the accusations between the two camps have caused a serious rift among Arabs. This will impact relations for years to come.

The Winograd report has, however, strengthened the stance of the Hezbollah camp against its opponents, but there is still no clear, independent evaluation of the war and the lessons that Arabs should learn.

The establishment of an Arab committee to probe the war has become a must after Winograd issued its findings.

If the Lebanese Cabinet cannot form an independent committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the war because of its rejection of Hezbollah's action right from the beginning, and if the Arab League cannot do the same because it represents the official stance of member states, it is the responsibility of Arab judges and a number of legal and social non-governmental organisations to conduct a professional investigation into the war, and tell the Arab masses whether it was an uncalculated adventure or a divine victory.

After the publication of such a report no one should feel ashamed of their stance. No one should be allowed to call the other party a traitor or an agent of foreign interests. Arab should learn that there should always be different views. They should set up mechanisms to resolve their disagreements and move forward.

This is a nice article, it should open the closed eye of Arabs but unfortunately they will think it's a waste of time to go through such wealthy information. But from your side the duty is performed ... thanks.
Ashaq
Jeddah,Saudi Arabia
Posted: February 03, 2008, 11:22

Some Arab leaders do not accept any kind of criticism. They have been dictating the lives of their people. Most of their actions and decisions be it internal or foreign affairs are against the opinion of their own people. While the majority of Arab mass was happy about Hezbollah's victory to the mighty Israel, the Arab leaders instead were criticising Hezbollah!.
Qamar
Toronto,Canada
Posted: February 03, 2008, 07:39