The Contemporary Middle East. A Documentary History

The war appeared to catch everyone off guard. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah
later said he would not have authorized the cross-border raid if he had known how
Israel would respond. A subsequent investigation by an Israeli commission found that
the government was ill-prepared for such a war and had rushed into decision making.
Outside powers—notably the United States—also were caught unaware. Washington
struggled to find the right approach. For more than two weeks, the administration of
President George W. Bush blocked moves at the United Nations to impose a cease-
fire, saying that only a “sustainable” cease-fire would really end the fighting. Many in
the Middle East and elsewhere interpreted this position as a “green light” for Israel to
continue its bombardment of Lebanon. On July 21, at the height of the fighting, U.S.
secretary of state Condoleezza Rice described the situation in Lebanon as the “birth
pangs of a new Middle East,” a comment that many Arabs felt reflected a cynical, one-
sided U.S. policy favoring Israel. U.S. officials also joined Israel in rejecting widespread
international criticism that Israel’s attacks in Lebanon were “disproportionate” to the
original Hizballah provocation.
The Lebanese government was powerless to intervene. Its army had no air force to
defend Lebanese territory, nor did it have any soldiers in the southern part of the coun-
try, which Hizballah’s militia essentially controlled. Frantic to halt the bombing, on
July 26 the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora articulated a seven-point plan
centering around a cease-fire and an expansion of the United Nations Interim Force in

366 LEBANON AND SYRIA

Nahariyya

Tyre Marrakah

Qiryat Shemona

Bint Jubayl

Mays al-Jabal

Al-Tayyabah

Marjayoun

Naqoura

M

ed

it

er

ra

ne

a

n

S

ea

Litani River

Lita

ni^ R

iver

ISRAEL

SYRIA

LEBANON

Golan

Heights

(Occupied by

Israel)

Shabaa Farms

EnlargedArea

SYRIA

TURKEY

JORDAN

ARABIASAUDI

CYPRUS

LEBANON

ISRAEL

EGYPT

IRAQ

05 Mi

0 5 Km

UN Blue Line, 2000

UNIFIL Deployment Zone

UNIFIL Deployment Zone Expansion,

August 2006

W E

N

S

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Adapted from information provided by the United Nations.