amman, jordan | In the wake of Israel’s war with Hezbollah, there is both great anger and hope in the Arab world.
There is anger at Israel for laying waste to Lebanon and bombarding its civilians. There is anger at the United States for its role in the crisis. And there is anger at Arab governments for standing by while Lebanon was being destroyed.
But there also is renewed hope among Arabs all over the Middle East — hope that Israel can be defeated.
“The 1967 war created the myth of Israeli superiority,” said Hani Hourani, director general of the Al-Urdun Al-Jadid Research Center in Jordan. “This war is telling us it is a myth, it is not a reality. Israel can be defeated.”
If Hourani is right, then the Middle East may be entering a new era, one in which Arabs may forego grudging acceptance of Israel as an unwanted reality and in which growing numbers of Arabs will try to resolve the issue by force of arms.
This new way of thinking is troublesome not only for Israel, but for Arab regimes aligned with U.S. policy in the Middle East.
“Without a doubt, the Arab world realized Israel is vulnerable to a certain type of war. I am less certain this battle strategy can be brought to other areas,” said Shlomo Avineri, a political scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and former director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Aside from exposing Arab regimes as ineffectual and passive, the war in Lebanon has strengthened hard-line positions in the Arab world and embarrassed moderates who support reconciliation with Israel.
Support for peace with Israel was always paper-thin. The perceived barbarity of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon has enraged the Arab street and even has some relative moderates describing Israel in the harshest of terms.
“I used to think Israel was a civilized people. But this was a racist war. As long as you are not Jewish, you are a target,” said Samir Barhoum, editor of the Jordan Times, an English-language daily published in Amman.
This shift in thinking among Arab moderates is a reminder of what has served as the foundation of the relationship between Israel and the Arab world: Israeli military supremacy.
If Israel can be beaten, however, then the equation changes.