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A fallout with consequences...and possibilities

"Now, Jewish Israelis as a group are faced with the momentous choice of whether they want to continue to live as an embattled, isolated outpost within a predominantly Arab part of the world, and an outpost that is prepared to pay the heavy costs--particularly in terms of the conscription burden for young people-- associated with that... Or, are they prepared to look to other, more creative and potentially long-lasting ways to assure their security, primarily through building relationships of peace and cooperation with their neighbors in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon?"

So writes Helena Cobban in her blog - republished, here, in The Nation. The piece follows on from the first Winograd Commission Report on the Israel-Lebanon war last August.

Overnight, one Israeli cabinet Minister has already resigned in the wake of the damning Report.

In its editorial on the Commission's Report, Haaretz says:

"With all due respect to Judge Winograd and his committee members, the conclusions being published in the committee's interim report - after months of hearing witnesses and working intensively - are the very conclusions that most of the Israeli public had reached by the end of the Second Lebanon War. Some people even reached these conclusions in the first days of the war."

Its conclusion leaves no one in doubt what the newspaper thinks:

"Israel is now facing the risk of masses of ballistic missiles targeting its cities from Lebanon and Syria, and the threat of Iran's continuing nuclear armament. After the painful experience of the Second Lebanon War, we cannot trust the present leadership to prepare adequately for these dangers. It is time for a change at the top."

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