Israel Will Accept a Disarmed Hezbollah

[Frodo]

Israel Will Accept a Disarmed Hezbollah:
Envoy Talks of Future As a 'Political Group'

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 23, 2006; Page A13

The United States, Israel, the United Nations and the European Union have reluctantly concluded that despite punishing military attacks, Hezbollah is likely to survive as a political player in Lebanon, and Israel now says it is willing to accept the organization if it sheds its military wing and abandons extremism, according to several key officials.

"To the extent that it remains a political group, it will be acceptable to Israel," Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said yesterday in the strongest sign to date that the Israelis are rethinking the scope and ultimate goals of the campaign. "A political group means a party that is engaged in the political system in Lebanon, but without terrorism capabilities and fighting capabilities. That will be acceptable to Israel."

In a bid to contain Hezbollah, the United States is hoping to persuade Arab allies over the next week -- Saudi Arabia in talks today and Egypt and Jordan at an emergency meeting Wednesday in Rome -- to get Syria to stop arming, funding and facilitating Hezbollah's military operations, U.S. officials said.

Because Syria is also the physical conduit for all Iranian arms and personnel bound for Lebanon, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad could be pivotal to helping end the current hostilities and ensuring that Hezbollah's options are limited afterward.

[dazzleman]

Even if Israel were to destroy Hezbollah as a political organization, it could reconstitute itself.  The sad fact is that the philosophy that Hezbollah espouses has pretty broad popular support in that barbaric section of the world.

Syria is the key to a longer-term resolution of the conflict.  If Hezbollahs arms were physically cut off, then it would be less of a military threat.

That would be a phenomenal outcome to this problem.  It would split Iran from Syria, humiliate Iran, and end the fighting.  I hope it can be worked out, but time will tell.  The key is Arab pressure on Syria, and the various Arab governments have been conspicuous in their non-support of Hezbollah, due mainly to their fear of Iran.