Analysis: Israel and the forever war

Applying a military ‘solution’ to what are political problems has dragged Israel, step by step, into its present situation.

After a year of comprehensively destroying Gaza, its military using overwhelming force to suppress Hamas fighters, Israel is exhausted and increasingly isolated.

The excessive violence wrought on a civilian Palestinian population, held captive in its own enclave, has weakened support for Israel, despite resolute backing from the United States. Israel’s economy is in tatters, the port of Eilat having filed for bankruptcy. Its agriculture is stagnant and its tourism industry is nonexistent.

Instead of brokering a ceasefire to the Gaza onslaught – the root cause of the violence and rocket and missile barrages both on Israel and international shipping passing through the Red Sea – Israel has embarked on yet another military offensive, this time in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.

The potential quagmire of a war with Hezbollah will drain Israel’s economy and its military. The chimera of the “buffer zone” will only draw Israel into a conflict it can’t win in the long term. The idea that Hezbollah can be somehow removed is naive, yet this idea has been acted on by Israel, the suffering of the Lebanese people and the destruction of large parts of Lebanon being the direct result.

As in 2006, all Hezbollah has to do is survive for the group to claim victory – and while Gaza is ongoing and Israeli troops are in Lebanon, Hezbollah rockets and missiles will continue to fall on Israel.