Major Lesson

Think about it. You need (as I argued in my recent article in Al-Akhbar) to analyze the Arab-Israeli conflict in long terms and intervals. Short-term analysis is meaningless, really. And with that in mind: who can deny this important change in the MILITARY (not only psychological) (im)balance between the two sides: back in 1948 or in 1967 or in 1982 (although there were great and stiff resistance in the refugee camps despite the treachery and incompetence by that Fath leader Yasir `Arafat--when I think of him, i can only think that he is not dead enough, I think of a line of poetry by Khalil Hawi: "Deepen the grave hole, o grave digger. Deepen it" Damn it (Damn it is not part of the verse but I added it for extra effect), the Arab soldier was more scared of the Israeli soldier than vice versa. Compare that to now, notwithstanding the clear military superiority of Israel and its utilization of billion of dollars in propaganda among the Arabs. Would you not say categorically now that the individual Israeli soldier (mano a mano) is far more scared of the individual Hizbullah and even Hamas fighter than vise versa? Do you realize how significant that is on the long term? This is why 2006 was a watershed. People in South Lebanon report that their entire percpetion of the Israeli military changed when they heard the screams and shrieks--literally, as Joe Biden would say--of Israeli soldiers fleeing the gunfire of Hizbullah fighters.