We should add to Sam Ser’s …sin of arrogance, [Jerusalem Post Magazine Aug 25 ’06), the Sin of the Closed Minded, know it all, ie, not learning from experience, from the past or from anyone else. The sin of being fixated on an idea or concept to the exclusion of reality and ignoring its lack of success or usefulness. There are many areas of policy and action to question and investigate in the honest pursuit of the flaws in latest war in Lebanon. I am surprised at the absence of one important area that is not really being questioned in the several exelent articles in your Magazine section of Aug 25. There is one tactic/strategy which we make use of again and again, that demands reevaluation due to its cost to us and its lack of success. This strategy is also often called forth in an effort to arouse the most aggressive and primitive instincts of our population. The deluded idea is that causing great pain and discomfort to civilian inhabitants of the areas of terror operations works for our goal of protecting our population and in eliminating terror. This is a deeply mistaken proposition. The concept is that in response to our violent actions, these civilians will turn against the terrorists among them. However for many of the local inhabitants the terrorists are often considered revolutionaries and/or heroes. Often they are even family members. This concept did not worked for the French in either Indochina (Vietnam) or Algeria. This was a failed policy of the Americans in Vietnam as well. The Russians tried it in Afghanistan and Chechnya, to no success. The British tried it in Palestine against both Arabs and Jews, again to no gain or advantage. There was even an American Air Force General who threatened to bomb the Koreans (or North Vietnamese) back to the stone age. Far too many statements, and far worse actions of this genre are also manifest in our ongoing battle with Kassams in Gaza, where the same rhetoric is used regarding causing pain to us (Israel). This policy is typified by (but not restricted to) statements by M.K. Eli Yishai, Chairman of the Shas Party, Minister of Trade and Industry and member of the security cabinet. An example, in a reported statements attributed to him at the security cabinets July 12 meeting: “If Hezbollah fires Katyushas, we have to deliver a severe blow to Lebanon’s infrastructure, black out Beirut, cut off electricity, turn off the water, destroy bridges, halt industry and flatten entire villages. He goes on …there is no choice. We cannot be bleeding hearts while our citizens are being hurt. _If Lebanese citizens pay the price, they will rise up against Hezbollah…_! The future will in fact tell us if Lebanese citizens would not permit Hezbollah to live next to them,*”* If there was any serious evidence that this policy worked then surely it would be incumbent upon us to discuss its ethical and moral dimensions. But lacking any element of success, it must just be rejected by those responsible for national security and our responses to terrorism. The continual and persistent lack of success of this policy, along with its destructive effects on our credibility and standing in our own eyes and those of the world demand a through reevaluation of its use. It should also be remembered that at a cost of about 3000nis a bomb, we are wasting valuable resources that could be used to greater benefit to our security. Hopefully this reevaluation will lead to the end if its use entirely. Yoram Getzler
