[WCUSP] Ha'aretz: "Morality is not on our side" by Ze'ev Maoz

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

Morality is not on our side
By Ze'ev  Maoz

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742257.html

There's  practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is 
a just  war and that morality is on our side. The bitter truth must be said: 
this  holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted 
 
worldview, and double standards.

This war is not a just war. Israel  is using excessive force without 
distinguishing between civilian population  and enemy, whose sole purpose is 
extortion. That is not to say that morality  and justice are on Hezbollah's 
side. Most certainly not. But the fact that  Hezbollah "started it" when it 
kidnapped soldiers from across an  international border does not even begin 
to tilt the scales of justice  toward our side.

Let's start with a few facts. We invaded a sovereign  state, and occupied its 
capital in 1982. In the process of this occupation,  we dropped several tons 
of bombs from the air, ground and sea, while  wounding and killing thousands 
of civilians. Approximately 14,000 civilians  were killed between June and 
September of 1982, according to a conservative  estimate. The majority of 
these civilians had nothing to do with the PLO,  which provided the official 
pretext for the war.

In Operations  Accountability and Grapes of Wrath, we caused the mass flight 
of about  500,000 refugees from southern Lebanon on each occasion. There are 
no exact  data on the number of casualties in these operations, but one can 
recall  that in Operation Grapes of Wrath, we bombed a shelter in the village 
of  Kafr Kana which killed 103 civilians. The bombing may have been 
accidental,  but that did not make the operation any more moral.

On July 28, 1989, we  kidnapped Sheikh Obeid, and on May 12, 1994, we 
kidnapped Mustafa Dirani,  who had captured Ron Arad. Israel held these two 
people and another 20-odd  Lebanese detainees without trial, as "negotiating 
chips." That which is  permissible to us is, of course, forbidden to 
Hezbollah.

Hezbollah  crossed a border that is recognized by the international 
community. That is  true. What we are forgetting is that ever since our 
withdrawal from Lebanon,  the Israel Air Force has conducted 
photo-surveillance sorties on a daily  basis in Lebanese airspace. While 
these flights caused no casualties, border  violations are border violations. 
Here too, morality is not on our  side.

So much for the history of morality. Now, let's consider current  affairs. 
What exactly is the difference between launching Katyushas into  civilian 
population centers in Israel and the Israel Air Force bombing  population 
centers in south Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and Tripoli? The IDF has  fired 
thousands of shells into south Lebanon villages, alleging that  Hezbollah men 
are concealed among the civilian population. Approximately 25  Israeli 
civilians have been killed as a result of Katyusha missiles to date.  The 
number of dead in Lebanon, the vast majority comprised of civilians who  have 
nothing to do with Hezbollah, is more than 300.

Worse yet,  bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges 
and other  civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population 
into a victim  and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians. 
The use of  bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal - namely, coercing the 
Lebanese  government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - 
is an  attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF 
 
soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner  exchange.

There is a propaganda aspect to this war, and it involves a  competition as 
to who is more miserable. Each side tries to persuade the  world that it is 
more miserable. As in every propaganda campaign, the use of  information is 
selective, distorted and self-righteous. If we want to base  our information 
(or shall we call it propaganda?) policy on the assumption  that the 
international environment is going to buy the dubious merchandise  that we 
are selling, be it out of ignorance or hypocrisy, then fine. But in  terms of 
our own national soul searching, we owe ourselves to confront the  bitter 
truth - maybe we will win this conflict on the military field, maybe  we will 
make some diplomatic gains, but on the moral plane, we have no  advantage, 
and we have no special status.

The writer is a professor  of political science at Tel Aviv  university.



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