Posted on 08/17/2006 9:47:15 AM PDT by annalex
LEBANON-BENHUR Aug-17-2006 (990 words) xxxi
Israel's ambassador to Vatican says Lebanese conflict had no victor
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Israel's ambassador to the Vatican said the Lebanese conflict had no victor, but it served to focus world attention on the threat of global Islamic terrorism.
At the same time, the aftermath of the fighting offers an opportunity for the West -- and the Catholic Church -- to support moderate Muslims by helping to rebuild Lebanon and resettle refugees, the ambassador, Oded Ben-Hur, said in an interview with Catholic News Service Aug. 16.
The ambassador also encouraged church leaders to promote a new wave of pilgrimages to the Middle East, which he said would send a calming message and help restore normality in the region.
A U.N.-brokered cease-fire was being implemented in mid-August after a monthlong Israeli offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. The fighting killed more than 1,200 people, most of them Lebanese civilians, and destroyed homes, roads, bridges and factories throughout the country.
Ben-Hur lamented the loss of life and destruction on both sides and said the war had "no winners or losers."
"We don't need to claim victory because there is no room for victory. Let (Hezbollah) claim victory. We would like to claim peace," he said.
He said Hezbollah fighters had hidden behind civilians during the conflict, using the inevitable victims as instruments of propaganda in the media. As a result, he said, Israel's image was damaged.
But the ambassador said some good had come out of the Lebanese fighting. For one thing, he said, the West can see more clearly that the actual root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict is "extremist Islam and terrorism."
Ben-Hur said Hezbollah was part of a larger terrorist phenomenon that stretches from Hamas in the Palestinian territories to al-Qaida in southern Asia and other groups in Indonesia.
"We have a problem on a world scale, and we have to deal with it. The Western world should react with a relentless, unyielding war against terrorism, uprooting them, stopping all their financial sources and looking for them wherever they are," he said.
The ambassador said the fighting had also opened the West's eyes to Hezbollah's activities as a "state within a state" and the "true warlords" of Lebanon. With a cease-fire in place, the country's legitimate government has a golden opportunity to exert national sovereignty over its own territory, he said.
"Before they were threatened by Hezbollah, but now everybody is watching," he said.
He said the key to defusing Lebanon is to make sure Hezbollah disarms. Unless that happens, he said, the war will have been futile, and Israel will have to "go back and uproot this cancer again, only the next time around we'll have to deal with Hezbollah armed with nuclear weapons, which should terrify the whole world."
Ben-Hur said that in the aftermath of the fighting there could be a major role for the Catholic Church: sending relief, helping people rebuild and resettle, and even promoting religious visitors to the region.
"While it might sound strange to you, I think at this point it is extremely important to start with a new wave of pilgrimages to the Middle East, to send a pacifying, calming message to the whole world," he said.
"We know that the Christian community in the Middle East has always been a positive, bridging factor between populations, and we would like to see this happening again," he said.
The ambassador acknowledged Vatican concerns that a huge influx of reconstruction aid from countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia could, in fact, help turn Lebanon into a more militant Islamic country. But he said the assistance Christian communities offered to many Muslim refugees during the Lebanese fighting should help Lebanon remain "a model of Christian-Muslim coexistence."
"The greatest Christian response to the Muslim threat will be to show the force of good over evil, to embrace this area," he said.
Ben-Hur, who spoke with Vatican officials during the 32 days of fighting in Lebanon, said he disagreed with an argument often made by church leaders -- that the root cause of the region's problems is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"I do not believe that if we solve the problems with the Palestinians, Hezbollah will lay down their weapons. The Palestinian cause is a pretext for Hezbollah and Iran," he said.
He said he thinks Israeli-Vatican relations have not been damaged by the Lebanese conflict, even if Israel's image was tarnished because of widespread coverage of civilian casualties.
As for Pope Benedict XVI's comments during the fighting, Ben-Hur said he found them very balanced. He said Israel in particular appreciated the pope's endorsement of a declaration by the Group of Eight industrialized nations in July that criticized the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah for fueling an escalation in fighting, urged Israel to exercise restraint and called for demilitarization of all armed groups in Lebanon.
The pope also called repeatedly for an immediate cease-fire, which was refused by Israel. Ben-Hur said that as time went on he thought the Vatican better understood the reasons for the Israeli position -- that "an immediate cease-fire and a withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from our positions in the south would have created a vacuum, which very quickly would have been filled by Hezbollah and their weapons."
He said that on the bilateral level Vatican-Israeli meetings were expected in the near future to try to move ahead the long-stalled negotiations on the legal and financial status of church institutions in the Holy Land.
Israel has invited the pope to visit the Holy Land, and Ben-Hur said his understanding was that the pope had intended to make the trip in 2007.
"We hope that it's still on," he said. He added that the pope's recent comment that he hoped to visit the Holy Land at a time of peace was open to interpretation.
"We hope the church itself will help create the conditions for his coming," he said.
END
Ping, please.
Finally some straight talk about the war. Someone tell our president this conflict was/is, at best, a draw.
You are too generous.
Israel bombed a largely Christian country, implicating the US which just a few months ago celebrated the Cedar Revolution with the Lebanese; failed at the legitimate objective of routing Hesbollah; and propelled Hesbollah into worldwide recognition as a guarantor of Lebanese sovereignty.
Osama wouldn't have designed it any different.
Well... I did say "at best"...
I agree with your assertions.
Terrorist supporters, you mean. Israel will just have to do it again, soon.
Hesbollah supporters are in Syria and Iran.
Lebanon is about 30% Christian that used to be Israeli allies.
It was a real dumb move by Olmert.
Ohlmert is going to have to do it right next time.
I don't think Olmert will be doing much of anything in the future.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.