Ceasefire in Lebanon

I had a hard time sleeping last night. I kept waking up, and at two A.M., I learned that the Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire had been enacted. I practically wept. That conflict cost so many lives and so much infrastructure in such a short time. Lebanon was still rebuilding from a long, drawn-out civil war. When I was there, buildings were still pock-marked with bullets, but the general concensus was "So what? Nobody's shooting now, so lets party!"

I worry about the long-term effects of this conflict. I fear that the overwhelming and disproportionate Israeli response may only serve to strengthen the resolve of Hezzbullah and other militant Islamic groups that have an axe to grind with Israel, be that axe real or perceived.

While we have a cease fire, lets keep the momentum going. Return the Golan Heights, in fact, pull Israeli borders back to the pre-1967 Green Line. Then establish a Palestinian state, and spread the newfound peace to Gaza. The world is horrified and the time for action is now, before humanity moves on to the next attrocity. Act now to build the peace while the momentum is in favor of a long-lasting peace.

Charles Krauthhammer can bitch as loud as he wants opposing peace. (If he was in Synagogue with me and pulled this garbage, I would just wheel his ass outside.) His behavior was not Jewish. It was jingoistic and horrifyingly offensive, but it was certainly now Jewish, and would not have been tolerated in the liberal reform congregation I attend.

But I fear that the United States will interfere, and screw it all up. If I have one wish, it is that Condi stay the hell out of it. It is a UN issue now, and she didn't accomplish anything anyway. In fact, while she was breaking bread with Olmert, he was deliberately keeping her in the dark about the Qana disaster. She found out about it from an email sent by a low-level state department employee in the embasy in Beirut several hours later. She was kept out of the loop because she is not respected or trusted in the middle east. (If I had been in her position, I would have tendered my resignation immediately upon landing in Washington after the first trip.)

ANyway, we have a cease fire. It is time for both sides to wash the blood from their hands and start working toward peace - a real lasting peace that has hope of spreading throughout the region. A peace that respects the cultures involved and is not cast in the image of what we in the western world think peace in the middle east should look like.