Israelis seeking new course as death toll mounts in Lebanon

JERUSALEM, Feb. 28 (JTA) — Some Israelis believe the army should withdraw unilaterally from southern Lebanon — others say the fighting there should be expanded to include raids on Beirut. But whatever their differences, most Israelis believe something has to be done to get Israel out of the Lebanese quagmire. According to a recent poll, some two-thirds of Israeli respondents believe their government is not doing enough to end the fighting there. The poll was given added urgency Sunday, when an Israeli general was among three soldiers killed by a roadside bomb planted by Hezbollah gunmen in the southern Lebanon security zone. Brig. Gen. Erez Gerstein, 38, was the head of a liaison unit with the South Lebanon Army, Israel’s ally in the region. Killed along with him were Sgt. Imad Abu Rish, 34, and Staff Sgt. Omer Elkabetz, 22. A reporter for Israel Radio, Ilan Roeh, 32, was also killed in the bombing, which came after three Israeli officers were killed last week in a Hezbollah ambush. Sunday’s casualties — which brought to seven the total number of Israeli deaths in Lebanon since the start of the year — reignited the ongoing public debate regarding the wisdom of Israel’s continued presence in Lebanon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to news of the latest fatalities. “Israel cannot tolerate these kinds of repeated attacks on its territory, on its citizens, on its soldiers,” he said. Hinting at swift retaliation, he added that the Israeli army “will know what to do in response.” Retaliation appears to be the most likely course for Netanyahu to follow, given the ongoing Israeli election campaign, observers said. Some members of his government have called for an expansion of the fighting to include targeting major infrastructure sites in and around Beirut as part of an effort to get the Lebanese government to back off from its stance that any withdrawal from the region be unilateral. Last year, Lebanon and Syria, the leading power broker in the region, rejected an Israeli proposal, based on U.N. Security Council Resolution 425, calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon alongside security guarantees from Lebanon that attacks would not be launched on Israel from its soil. While hawks are backing escalation, the steady toll of Israeli casualties in Lebanon prompted a demonstration Sunday by several dozen people outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, where they demanded a unilateral Israeli withdrawal. Gerstein was the highest-ranking Israeli casualty in Lebanon since 1982, when Israel launched a war there. In a radio interview last June, Gerstein warned that talk of a unilateral pullback endangered Israeli forces in the security zone by raising doubts among the South Lebanon Army about the depth of the Jewish state’s commitment in the region. “Discussion of a unilateral withdrawal causes us damage” with our allies there, he said at the time. “Someone who is afraid you will unilaterally pull out, leaving them behind, is not going to fully cooperate with the present effort,” he said. Sunday’s attack occurred when an army convoy was on its way to pay a condolence visit to the family of a South Lebanon Army officer killed in recent fighting. No other members of the convoy were injured by the mine blast. The head of the Israeli army’s northern command said an initial inquiry did not show that Hezbollah gunmen knew in advance that Gerstein was in the convoy. Sunday’s attack heated up an already-tense border. Lebanese sources reported heavy exchanges of fire Sunday in the security zone, where Israeli jets and artillery hit suspected Hezbollah targets. Earlier Sunday morning, two Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel, causing light property damage and sending one Israeli woman into shock. A relative of the woman said it was the fourth time her house had been damaged by Katyusha rockets or mortar shells fired by Hezbollah gunmen. In a related development over the weekend, Israeli bulldozers tore down barbed wire from a southern Lebanese village on the edge of the security zone. The Israeli army strung the wire around Arnoun two weeks ago, saying Hezbollah gunmen had been using the village to launch attacks against Israeli soldiers operating in Lebanon. The army’s move had prompted protests, including one from Lebanon’s prime minister, that Israel was seeking to expand its 9-mile-wide security zone.