– WAG the Dog

Israel May be Forced to Accept U.N. Cease-Fire
By John Waage

CBNNews.com – Israeli forces are engaging their enemies throughout southern Lebanon, but not with the numbers they could have. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, under heavy pressure from Washington, has held off on a large-scale ground attack.

Israel’s leaders are caught in a dilemma: they’ve approved the massive ground invasion that could defeat Hezbollah, but they may be forced to accept a U.N. cease-fire that leaves them with more trouble in Lebanon.

The cease-fire plan, authored by the U.S. and France, would call a halt to the fighting and put U.N. forces and the Lebanese army in south Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel’s military leaders are strongly opposed to the cease-fire plan. The plan reportedly makes no mention of Israel’s kidnapped soldiers. It was the capture of two soldiers in Israel during an unprovoked attack by Hezbollah on July 12 that instigated the conflict.

The U.N. agreement would also keep Hezbollah intact. That would allow Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah and his backers in Iran to claim a victory over Israel. Israeli forces would then have to begin preparing for another fight with Hezbollah in the future.

In the feverish activity at the U.N., many diplomats seem to be putting Hezbollah on a moral par with Israel, which is a sovereign nation.

“You have a situation where two parties are at war with each other, with very divergent views on a whole range of things, and you need to bring them to some common denominator. So it is a very difficult diplomatic task,” said Vitaly Churkin, Russian U.N. Ambassador.

This week, President Bush said that the airport threat in London should remind the west that it is at war with Islamic fascists. But the Israeli troops actively engaged in a branch of that war may be denied a chance for victory.