From
the Editor: Akhtar
Mahmud Faruqui
August 11, 2006
Courage to
Compromise & Reconcile
As the battle rages in the Middle
East with renewed ferocity and the number of casualties
multiplies, sanity and reason appear to have become
a casualty too. Anger and anguish mount on both
sides. Arguments are no longer restrained or muffled.
The hate campaign gains in intensity and the call
for vengeance is shrill and pronounced.
Noted military historian and Fellow for the Middle
East & Terrorism with the Center for Vision
& Values at Grove City College — Dr. Earl
Tilford — tackles the issue of “proportionality,”
which has been raised following the tragic deaths
of fifty-seven innocents at Kfar Qana in southern
Lebanon and the charge that Israel has employed
a “disproportionate use of force” in
his article entitled “Proportionality in Wars
with Terrorists.” Dr. Tilford’s argument
is that “overwhelming force to achieve a total
war aim is the stuff of total war.” He also
notes that “[g]rowing sympathy for the sufferings
of the Lebanese people must be tempered with the
understanding that Lebanon accommodated Hezbollah
socially and politically while Beirut did nothing
to prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israel from
its border strongholds. Dance with the devil; you
pay the devil his due.”
Dr Tilford elaborates: In the American Civil War,
Abraham Lincoln understood that if the Southern
rebellion was not crushed the union of states would
be undone with the bifurcation of the Republic.
Accordingly, during the war’s closing months,
General Grant hurled his armies at the Army of Northern
Virginia incurring — but also inflicting —
horrendous casualties until the rebels were incapable
of further resistance. Meanwhile, General Sherman’s
“March to the Sea” eviscerated the South,
economically striking at its political center of
gravity in the strongly secessionist states of Georgia
and South Carolina. The totality of objective was
the preservation of the United States and it garnered
a butcher’s bill tallying half of all Americans
killed in wars from colonial times to the present.
This argument mirrors the mood of many today. But
there are always exceptions to the general rule:
Adam Werner, 24, who is currently studying for his
BA in Tel Aviv University, majoring in history and
political science, in his article “Second
Thoughts on Israel’s War Fever” distributed
by the New America Media seems to think differently.
It reads:
TEL AVIV, Israel: Moments after the abduction of
two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah it was clear to
me and other Israelis that outbreak of war on Israel’s
northern border was inevitable. I anticipated the
unleashing of Israel’s military might -- and
the fact that I might be called up for reserve duty
-- not because I willed destruction but because
I saw no other alternative.
The simple and logical view of most Israelis is
that Hezbollah is a fundamentalist, terrorist organization
that violated our sovereignty, captured two of our
boys and killed eight more in the battle that ensued.
We had not provoked Hezbollah, we were not occupying
Lebanon and therefore there could be no plausible
justification for their actions... so they must
be punished.
However, after weeks of dreadfully following the
fighting from the relative safety of Tel Aviv, I
have reached the sobering conclusion that there
is a point where justice transforms into vengeance,
and vengeance cannot be justified. To vengeance
there must be an alternative.
As the war wears on and casualties on both sides
accumulate, each of us must take a moment to ponder
at what price must justice be served. How just is
the displacement of over half a million Lebanese
civilians? If we tear an entire village to the ground,
even if it does harbor terrorists, is that justice?
The public consensus in Israel is quite simple:
yes. Security above all else. Sometimes I wish that
my country’s current surge of patriotic pride
would overtake me, but regretfully I see the ongoing
conflict in blinding shades of gray.
I cannot help but wince when I see my city adorned
in billboards proclaiming “WE WILL WIN”
-- a national rallying cry to a war that can bear
no decisive winner. I cannot rejoice when I hear
of a “successful” air force operation
that wiped out an entire neighborhood in Beirut.
I cannot miss the irony that this Lebanon war followed
the retreat of Israel from Gaza, a retreat many
Israelis viewed as a sign of national weakness.
In a similar way, the invasion of Lebanon in 1982
took place only two months after the evacuation
of Yamit, the largest Jewish settlement in Sinai,
which was returned within the framework of the Israel-Egypt
peace accords -- also seen as capitulation by many
in Israel.
In this part of the world, exerting your power is
believed to be the only means of survival, and showing
restraint is an unquestionable weakness. I cannot
bear the thought that Israel is waging a war that
endangers thousands on both sides for the sake of
flexing its military muscle to all those who oppose
it.
Israel is caught up in war fever. Slogans visible
everywhere include “A United Israel to Victory”
and “Let IDF win.” It’s an understandable
phenomenon, as we are constantly rushing into bomb
shelters and our loved ones are called up to fight
against the source of all this chaos. I absolutely
relate to the fever, but I cannot march blindly
to its beat. I shiver with each news report of another
salvo of Katushya rockets into Israel, another air
force bombing in Lebanon, another action, another
reaction -- and who will remember who started it
all when we are busy counting the dead?
My greatest fear is that the democratic values on
which we pride ourselves will be threatened by this
war fever. Ninety people protested in Haifa against
the operations in Lebanon last week. They endured
verbal and physical abuse from a much larger group
of onlookers and were ultimately arrested for conducting
an illegal protest.
I did not attend or witness the protest -- I am
not brave enough to voice anti-war sentiments at
a time when the country is fighting what the public
perceives as a battle for survival -- but I believe
its outcome serves as a warning. Even in times of
national adversity, we must not sabotage Israel’s
democratic foundations and drown in patriotic sentiments.
It is crucial to take a moment to listen to the
other side -- what it says might actually make sense.
Opinions like mine are marginalized in this fever-ridden
country. I thought I was a traitor for thinking
these thoughts. Maybe I am a traitor, but at least
I know that here I can publish these views without
fear of being arrested for treason. It is this right
that Israelis must fight with equal passion to preserve
-- even in times of war. (Article ends)
In this swiftly spiraling human catastrophe the
question of paramount importance, as we stated earlier,
is: Does Islam or Judaism preach violence and should
the losses suffered by the followers of the two
Abrahamic faiths be incurred on such a large scale
given the fact that both Muslims and Jews have stakes
in the region and neither one could succeed in surviving
at the expense of the other? Israel is a reality.
No sane Muslim grudges its existence today.
In his memorable address to the World Jewry and
American Jewish Congress (AJC) in New York, President
General Pervaiz Musharraf demonstrated both vision
and individual courage when he made a solemn urging
to Tel Aviv: “I have always believed that
courage required to compromise and reconcile is
far greater than that required to confront and I
appeal to Israel to show that courage.”
With its marked military superiority and active
backing of the United States, Israel is undeniably
better poised to take the initiative. It must realize,
as well-known peace negotiator George Mitchell observed
vis-à-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
earlier, that “a military victory is an illusion”
and the two parties should “get back to the
negotiating table.”
- afaruqui@pakistanlink.com
