Word: hizballah
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...Still, there is consensus in the Israeli leadership that even if Hizballah agrees to stop pelting Israel with hundreds of rockets every day, calling off the Israeli offensive right now would mean admitting failure. Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar-Ilan University in Jerusalem, summed up the opinion of many Israelis: "If Israel withdraws from Lebanon without striking harder at Hizballah, we will have accomplished nothing for all our suffering...
...source of Israel's dilemma is Hizballah's resilience. In the flush of hubris that accompanied the opening salvos of the campaign, few Israeli decision-makers wanted to believe that four weeks later, the estimated 4,000 fighters of the Shi'ite militia would still be trading punches with one of the world's most advanced armies...
...depth of Hizballah's resistance has seen Israeli leaders scale back their definition of success, from crushing Hizballah as a fighting force to a more limited set of goals. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told TIME that Israel now seeks the release of two Israeli soldiers held by Hizballah, the cessation of all attacks on Israel from Lebanon, and the creation of a "fire zone" along the southern Lebanese border. This swath will be taken over, he says, by a brawny multi-national force, and when that happens, Israel will withdraw. "We want combatants who are allowed to open fire...
...until the foreign force arrives - and the delay lies not simply in assembling volunteers, but in getting Hizballah to agree to a truce, which many prospective troop contributors insist is a precondition for deployment - Israel's leaders must decide just how far into Lebanon Sgt. Yoshua's tank should roll...
...Olmert's caution is reinforced by military experts who note that even if Israel clears a buffer zone - which would require the forced eviction of tens of thousands of Lebanese villagers - Hizballah rockets fired from beyond the Litani River could still reach north and central Israel. And war planners have not forgotten that the last time Israeli forces dug in north of the border, their bases and supply lines were easy prey for Hizballah's guerrilla units...