Lost Leverage

The air and sea blockade of Lebanon, lifted by Israel at 6 p.m. yesterday, was supposed to be in place until all international forces had arrived and Israel had at least received information regarding its kidnapped soldiers in Lebanon. Only about one-fifth of the planned international forces is in place, there is no mechanism to secure the Lebanese-Syrian border and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev not only remain captive, but the government has received no confirmation regarding their condition.

Why, then, was the blockade lifted?

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said it was lifted because the US asked Israel to lift it. But why would the US ask Israel to ignore the gaping holes in the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701? And why would Israel meekly capitulate on a position so solidly grounded in its national interest and the supposed will and objectives of the international community?

Israel has just fought a war to destroy Hezbollah. It failed in that objective, but it potentially achieved something that could justify the war's great costs: an international commitment and determination to, if not fully disarm, at least prevent the rearming of Hizbullah.

By lifting the air and sea blockade, Israel ceded its primary leverage. Though Israel claims the right to enforce a smuggling embargo from the air, this is unrealistic, given the impossibility of distinguishing between legitimate commerce and a "civilian" truck carrying missiles. The IDF believes that it is impossible to enforce an embargo from afar, which was a primary reason for its opposition to lifting the embargo.

The US and Israel should have turned the responsibility for lifting Israel's blockade back on to Lebanon and the UN, by insisting that a mechanism be put in place to at least prevent the smuggling of weaponry through official border crossings. Yet even now, after that opportunity has been squandered, the responsibility remains on Israel and the international community to achieve this purpose. Now that its primary leverage on enforcing the embargo and returning the kidnapped soldiers has been given up, it is hard to see how the government can prevent the rearming of Hezbollah. But it is vital.