Last summer's Israeli aggression against Lebanon still causes serious ripple effects among Israel's political establishment, reports Lucy Fielder from Beirut It was 13 August 2006, the last day of the Lebanese-Israeli summer war, as Lebanon tentatively waited for a ceasefire. "The first shock is not that your home has been destroyed, but fear for the safety of relatives and neighbours that were inside," said Amal Turmus, a student, as she stood by the massive crater where approximately eight apartment buildings once stood in the southern Beirut suburb of Roueiss. "We all thought the war was over, and lots of people returned home that day. The majority were women and children who were completely innocent. At least 45 people were killed in the apartments, on the same day," she said. Israel's ferocious and relentless pounding of Roueiss lasted about a minute and a half and shocked even the battle-hardened southern suburbs, which are mainly Shia and host Hizbullah's headquarters. Hostilities were scheduled to cease, in UN parlance, the next morning, but in addition to hammering Roueiss, Israeli planes rained cluster bombs on the south. More than a million unexploded bomblets were waiting for rural southerners as they returned to their villages. An Israeli government- appointed commission into the conduct of the war, glaringly failed to even mention the death and destruction wrought upon southern Lebanon. A heated debate in the Israeli Knesset followed the preliminary findings of the Winograd report which accused Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of "a serious failure in exercising judgement, responsibility and prudence." Furthermore, the report found that Olmert's declared goals in going to war -- to free the two soldiers seized by Hizbullah and to destroy the organisation were "overly-ambitious and impossible to achieve." Two days later, 100,000 Israelis gathered in a Tel Aviv square demanding that Olmert step down, in addition to the pressure he was already under from his own foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. Defence Minister Amir Peretz intimated that he would resign, but at a later stage. About 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilian, and 163 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed in the 33-day war. "The Israelis aren't thinking of Lebanese casualties," Turmus said. "But many in Lebanon and the Arab world aren't either, so what can we expect from Israel?" Turmus and a friend, Layla Al-Mir, both believe the blame game inside Israel is part of preparations for a new war, once the Jewish state works out where it went wrong. "If Israel comes back they won't win," Al-Mir said. "We were defending our rights with our dignity intact and our heads held high. But they are without dignity." Hizbullah's successful resistance to an overwhelming stronger Israeli campaign to crush it earned the group's disciplined fighters and charismatic leader, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, adulation across the Middle East. This sealed an already fearsome reputation following the guerrillas' decade- long war of attrition which forced the Israeli military out of the south following 22 years of occupation. Many are watching Israel's internal wrangling with a sense of triumph. In a disused lot across the road from the massive crater in Roueiss, a group of elderly men played cards on sofas someone had thrown out. "This is Israel's catastrophe," said Hassan Haidar, whose sons fought Israeli forces in the south. "Israel's recognition of our victory is evident following the release of the report, but our own unpopular government doesn't even recognise this. It is scheming with the Americans and Israel to attack us. "Usually wars are between two fronts, but this was a war by an expansionist state against women and children," said Haider. Lebanese differences over the report reflect the polarisation of society since the killing of former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri in February 2005. Last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah guerrillas brought tensions to boiling point, with the government accusing the Iranian and Syrian- backed Hizbullah group of dragging the country into war in July by seizing two Israeli soldiers. While the Shia guerrilla group and political party alleged the government had collaborated with its US backers, and Israel, in the bombing of the south. Soon after the war, the two sides locked horns over power-sharing and an international tribunal to try suspects in Hariri's killing. Nasrallah issued veiled attacks against Arab and Lebanese leaders in a speech in the southern suburbs by offering Israel rare, if ironic, praise. The report, he said, talked about a "major defeat" and used the word "failure" 100 times. "It is worthy of respect that the prime minister of the enemy's government formed an investigation committee." When this hostile entity acts with honesty and commitment, despite the injustice of its cause, we cannot but respect it. Especially when we look at the other side which neither investigates, examines, brings to account, nor establishes an investigative committee, as if nothing had happened. What is even worse is when the other side also ignores the great historical victory achieved by one faction of its government and then proceeds to stab it in the back," Nasrallah added. "The Israelis are studying their defeat to learn important lessons and regain their strength, while our government does not even recognise our victory in order to pinpoint its strengths so as to achieve another victory in this long battle that has been imposed on us," he said. He concluded, "because of our ignorance and backwardness, we now have to look at our enemy to learn lessons." Lebanon's "14 March", anti- Syrian leadership condemned Nasrallah's remarks, with right-wing Christian leader Samir Geagea saying that the level of destruction wrought in Lebanon could hardly be termed a victory. Many in the southern suburbs, fiercely proud of Hizbullah's "divine victory", echoed Nasrallah's admiration for the way Israel took its leaders to task. "The Winograd report was a great thing," said one middle-aged man who could not give his name because he was a state employee. "I wish the Israelis would investigate our lot next." However, Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora said the Winograd report failed to learn one significant lesson. "These wars have shown that they do not guarantee the security of Israelis and they do not lead to peace," he said. Furthermore, Satah Nureddin wrote in the leftist daily As- Safir last week that post-war angst was little more than a ritual for Israel. "From time to time, Israel engages in a big war, which is then followed by investigative committees as a way of placating public shock. Despite this, the Israelis never relinquish their militaristic way of thinking which relies on their superior strength or their "well fortified castle" mentality which keeps Israel in a state of permanent mobilisation. "Israel has maintained its traditions of democracy, being part and parcel of a militaristic state prepared for war at any given moment".
