Israeli General’s Comments Reveal Lebanon Rift

Israel’s political establishment was outraged Wednesday over an extraordinary public statement by the commander of Israeli troops in southern Lebanon that the army would “not permit” Prime Minister Shimon Peres to stop “Operation Grapes of Wrath” before the military had achieved its goals.

The prime minister’s office called the declaration “scandalous,” Israel’s chief of staff said it was “stupid,” and the commander, Brig. Gen. Giora Inbar, spent much of Wednesday apologizing for his insubordination to Peres, who also serves as defense minister.

The general’s remarks revealed the view held by many in the Israeli military--and by some hard-line civilians--that the week-old operation in neighboring Lebanon should not be ended too hastily.

The Israeli bombing campaign is in retaliation for attacks on northern Israel by guerrillas of the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah.

Peres has stated that the goals of the offensive are to pressure the governments of Lebanon and Syria--the de facto ruler of Lebanon and overseer of Hezbollah--to rein in the guerrillas.

Peres’ primary demands for halting the operation are that Hezbollah stop firing Katyusha rockets at civilians in Israel and cease hiding behind Lebanese civilians. He also wants Syria and Lebanon to guarantee a written agreement.

But Inbar said that is not enough. He and others in the military want to keep pounding suspected Hezbollah targets in Lebanon with jet fighters and helicopter gunships until an agreement is reached that also prevents the guerrillas from attacking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. In effect, they want a cease-fire.

“We do not permit a situation in which Peres should suddenly stop us before we have completed our operation,” Inbar said on Israeli radio. “The understandings that will be obtained at the end of the operation must include the security zone as well.”

Israel occupies a 440-square-mile swath of southern Lebanon that it calls a security zone to keep guerrillas and combat away from its own border. The area is inhabited by about 200,000 Lebanese civilians and ostensibly is run by Israel’s allies in the South Lebanese Army.

“What we want, what is desirable,” an Israeli military source said, “is that Hezbollah gives up totally for at least a long period of time any activity in the south so peace talks [with Syria] can proceed without being interrupted every two days or two weeks. . . . You can’t talk to someone who is killing you.”

Israel is a country with a relatively large and beloved citizens army that is clearly subordinate to civilian rule, as in the United States and other Western democracies.

The government sets the political objectives of military operations such as this one and decides when they end; the military follows orders.

Nonetheless, many in the Israel Defense Forces believe that their high-tech air war has given them the military initiative and, therefore, the political might to demand more than the government seems willing to accept. They also believe that the relatively mild international condemnation of the operation allows them to continue.

Their view reportedly has been put forth by Foreign Minister Ehud Barak, a retired general who only recently entered politics.

“The army, backed by Barak, wishes to cause the greatest possible damage to Hezbollah,” wrote military analyst Hemi Shalev in the Tel Aviv newspaper Maariv. “It is, therefore, asking for more days to bomb distant targets and to track down Katyusha launchers and destroy them. Peres, on the other hand, understands that the operation has already achieved its strategic goals: The Lebanese government is urging the Syrians to reach a speedy agreement.”

Syrian President Hafez Assad keeps more than 35,000 troops in Lebanon and controls supply routes from Iran to Hezbollah. Israeli officials believe that Syria could force Hezbollah to stop fighting Israel.

Syria wants Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon just as Hezbollah does, and for the disarming of Hezbollah to be determined in bilateral negotiations between Syria and Israel some time in the future. Hezbollah is the Syrians’ high card in their negotiations with Israel, and they are not ready to play it.

The U.S government has presented a cease-fire proposal to the Syrian and Lebanese governments that apparently incorporates the Israeli government’s main demands.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said Wednesday that he was awaiting a response.

Some military leaders acknowledge that Hezbollah remains armed and relatively intact after seven days of bombardment and that the guerrilla group can be disarmed only in an agreement with Syria.

Even so, Peres could find himself at the end of Operation Grapes of Wrath in much the same situation as President Bush after the Persian Gulf War--having won the battle but facing the charge that he did not let the army finish the job.

In fighting Wednesday, two people were killed and 17 wounded, including two U.N. peacekeepers caught in the cross-fire in southern Lebanon, police said. Hezbollah fired three salvos of rockets into northern Israel, wounding one person.

In all, 48 people have been killed and 187 wounded in the fighting.