10 Ways to (Maybe) End Conflict Between Israel and Lebanon
July 26, 2006 — -- ABC News asked a few Middle East analysts about their thoughts on possible solutions to the current conflict between Israel and Lebanon. Here's what they suggest:
Cease-fire
Fawaz Gerges
Professor of International Affairs and Middle Eastern studies, Sarah Lawrence College
"A cease-fire is crucial to preventing the collapse of the Lebanese government and to alleviate the suffering of the people," says Gerges. Beirut is now a ghost town, he says, and "the number of casualties and the destruction is overwhelming."
Peacekeeping force
Gerges
"The Lebanese army must then be deployed in southern Lebanon to replace Hezbollah.. The Lebanese army cannot handle this on its own and needs an international peacekeeping force to do this. The international peacekeeping force must also help the Lebanese government police the Lebanese-Israeli border."
An exchange of prisoners between Lebanon and Hezbollah
Anthony Cordesman
Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies
"There also need to be gestures from Israel, like negotiating the release of some prisoners to help pacify the situation."
Disarming Hezbollah
Alan Dershowitz
Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard University
"To solve this crisis, the key is the creation of a multinational force to disarm Hezbollah by force if necessary."
Humanitarian aid to Lebanon
Gerges
"A major international aid package must be sent to the Lebanese people to help the country reconstruct."
Negotiations with the help of a third party
Judith Kipper
Director of the Middle East Forum at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"There is a solution to every human problem. The solution to this problem will come out of the current efforts at diplomacy. There will eventually be a cease-fire and then there will be negotiations between the two parties, possibly with the involvement of a third party.
Turn focus on Syria and deal with it as Hezbollah's source
Daniel Pipes
Director of the Middle East Forum
"Best option is that the Syrian government needs to be held responsible, as they have armed and trained Hezbollah. Instead of engaging Hezbollah, the focus instead needs to be placed on Syria. It's not perfect, and there are lots of implications, but at least it's a new solution, not retreading in past failures. This will also halt Iran's influence, because they will not be able to use Syria as a conduit."
Declare it a war crime to shoot missiles from and into highly populated areas
Dershowitz
"The first thing that needs to be a done is that a new war crime needs to be declared, through an international consensus, making it illegal to shoot missiles into and from highly populated civilian areas. "
Ensure that force is used in Lebanon only by the Lebanese government
Gerges
"Force must be used in Lebanon only with the authorization of the Lebanese government."
Get this situation under control and then deal with the myriad of larger issues in the Middle East
Cordesman
"This does not deal with the many other problems, like Israel's continuing problems with Palestine and the increasing sectarian violence in Iraq. But it buys the Middle East some time."