Modest Proposal: A Plan for a Lasting Peace
August 1, 2006— -- As Israel's war in Lebanon enters its third week and the Lebanese civilian casualties increase by the hour, international diplomacy has gone into full swing. A consensus appears to have finally emerged that the fighting must stop before negotiations can resolve the underlying differences between Israel and Lebanon.
The Bush administration and Tony Blair's government lean toward a United Nations resolution that calls for a cease-fire in a package deal that calls for a U.N.-mandated multilateral force to separate combatants in southern Lebanon.
The best hope for a viable settlement of the unfolding Israeli-Lebanese crisis lies in the peace plan of the Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, which has been approved by the Cabinet, including the two Hezbollah ministers. The Siniora peace plan, which was praised by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, provides a way out of the deadly embrace, a deadly embrace that has wrecked the Lebanese civilian infrastructure, killed almost 600 Lebanese civilians, injured 2,000, and displaced another 750,000 people from their homes. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 19 civilians.
What does the Siniora plan offer? First and foremost, the plan calls for an immediate stop to the killing and bloodshed that has taken a huge toll on the civilian population and has undermined the democratically elected Lebanese government. Second, there would be an exchange of Israeli and Lebanese prisoners. The two Israeli soldiers would be delivered to the Lebanese government which, in turn, would repatriate them to Israel. Three Lebanese prisoners, who have spent 15 years in Israeli jails, would also be freed.
Third, the Lebanese army would be deployed to southern Lebanon and would replace Hezbollah on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The goal is for the Lebanese government to expand its sovereignty over the whole country. The Siniora plan welcomes a multinational national force in southern Lebanon to supplement the Lebanese army.
