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Resolution To End Lebanon War Passes, Will Likely Be Accepted By Israel, Offensive To Continue Through Weekend

Which upsets a Bush loyalist more: Joe Lieberman’s defeat on Tuesday or the adoption of a U.N. resolution 1701 calling for end to the war in Lebanon?  At NRJoe, it would be a toss-up.  But in the case of PowerBlog‘s Paul, it’s no contest: The JPost says there’s a good chance that the wobbly Olmert government will accept this […]

Which upsets a Bush loyalist more: Joe Lieberman’s defeat on Tuesday or the adoption of a U.N. resolution 1701 calling for end to the war in Lebanon?  At NRJoe, it would be a toss-up.  But in the case of PowerBlog‘s Paul, it’s no contest:

The JPost says there’s a good chance that the wobbly Olmert government will accept this resolution. Over at NRO’s corner, John Podhoretz contends that this would mean the end of the Olmert government. I’m tempted to suggest that our government, having seemingly lost its will to oppose (or even to let others oppose) our deadliest enemies, deserves the same fate. But let’s wait until the facts are in. 

A Haaretz columnist is calling for Olmert’s resignation.  The neocons have been close to calling for the same thing for weeks, and will probably jump on the dump-Olmert bandwagon with numerous references to the treachery of Chamberlain and the need for a Churchill (read Netanyahu) to save the day.  Will the collapse of Kadima as a governing party be far behind?  In one sense, this is extremely bad news for Israel, but not in the conventional way that most will probably expect: with Olmert and Peres and, by extension, Kadima and Labour significantly discredited on managing Israeli security as people who are trigger-happy but lacking in “resolve,” this returns the initiative to Netanyahu and the sort of reckless nationalists who would have persisted with this campaign had they been in government.  If the major criticism of the Olmert government proves to be that it simply fought the war cackhandedly and ineffectively, there is no guarantee that the lesson of this war won’t be that Israel should launch full-scale invasions in response to future provocations. 

The Israeli Cabinet is set to vote on the resolution on Sunday, and Olmert will recommend accepting it.  Until then, however, the campaign continues.  The resolution calling for an end to the war is good news, but the fallout from this war will be with us for a long time.

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