Word: lebanonization
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...would simply maintain the halt to hostilities and even withdraw its forces on an open-ended basis. Israeli leaders saw Operation Cast Lead as an opportunity to restore Israel's "deterrent" power, which it believed had been damaged when it was fought to a draw by Hizballah in Lebanon in 2006. But the Gaza operation, with its almost 100-to-1 ratio of Palestinian to Israeli casualties, has issued a painful reminder of Israel's capacity and willingness to abandon restraints and rain devastation on the heads of all challengers...
...continue even when the Gaza assault ends. That's especially true in France, whose six million Muslims and more than 600,000 Jews constitute the largest of each respective community in Europe. Memories of the violence inspired by Israel-Palestinian clashes in 2002 and by Israel's offensive in Lebanon in 2006, prompted quick appeals for calm after the latest incidents. French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared "our country will not tolerate international tension mutating into inter-community violence", and promised no perpetrator of such trouble would "remain unpunished...
...mood was similar at the start of the 2006 war against Hizballah in Lebanon, but soured when it became obvious that Israeli politicians and generals were bungling the war, and that soldiers' lives were being needlessly lost. That hasn't happened yet, but already a few retired generals are starting to complain that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his cabinet are dithering. Says former National Security Council Chief Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, "Either reach a cease-fire in two to three days, or start a big military operation that will take at least two weeks. We've been beating around...
...opening up a fresh front. The Shi'ite group has done so in the past. In April 2002, during Israel's Defensive Shield operation to reoccupy the West Bank, Hizballah militants staged nearly daily assaults against Israeli military outposts in the Shebaa Farms, a strip of mountainside running along Lebanon's southeast border. This time around, however, Hizballah has confined its actions to fiery statements, speeches and demonstrations of support for the beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza. (See pictures of the heartbreak in Gaza...
...powerful organization has little to gain from triggering a new conflict with Israel at this time, despite having given the Israeli military a bloody nose during the monthlong war in 2006. Lebanon heads to the polls in June for knife-edge parliamentary elections. If Hizballah and its allies in the opposition win and form the new parliamentary majority, it will greatly strengthen the organization's ability to deflect domestic and foreign demands that it dismantle its military wing. But with Lebanon still recovering from the 2006 conflict, few Lebanese, including its core Shi'ite support base, will thank Hizballah...