Israel's real plans for Lebanon and the Middle East?

As Israel's assault and siege of Lebanon goes into its second week, the president's talk of supporting the fledgling democratic government of Fuad Siniora sounds more and more rediculous. Last year the world was amazed to see hundreds of thousands of young Lebanese out in the streets demanding the removal of Syrian troops. Although the uprising that led to the Syrians leaving had everything thing to do with the killing of former prime minister Rafik Hariri and nothing to do with W.'s march of democracy, W. is taking credit for it now. Yet strangely, he's doing nothing to keep the Lebanese government form collapsing. I guess, he's just hoping what the Israelis told him about their quick little foray into the south of Lebanon will work out. (The Israelis have been known for telling the Americans one thing and doing another on many occasions.)

But as he crosses his fingers and hopes the Saudis or some other Arab country will step into this mess and talk some sense into the leadership of Hezbollah, Lebanon is being torn apart. What you could very soon wind up again with, is a divided Lebanon based on a sectarian districs. The Shiite parts of the country are getting a real going over, but the Christian parts are relativly untouched. Ethic groups not so happy about Hezbollah's unilateral actions against Israel could turn on the Shiites and it could result in another civil war. Perhaps, a weak and contantly waring Lebanon is what Israel ultimelty wants:

Oded Yinon, a former foreign ministry official, wrote back in the 80's, in the World Zionists Organizations's periotical Kivunim, that Israel's long term objectives for the Middle East were to break the countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq into geographical districts to be more easily controled. In Lebanon he wrote:

"The total disintegration of Lebanon into five regional, localized governments is the presedent for the entire Arab world. . . The dissolution of Syria, and later Iraq, into districts of ethnic and religious minorities following the example of Lebanon is Israel's main long-range objective on the Eatern Front. The presenet weakening of these states is the short-range objective. . . The oil-rich but very divided and iternally strife ridden Iraq is certainly a candidate to fit Israel's goals. . . Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will help us to preserve in the short run and will hasten the achievements of the supreme goal, anely breaking up Iraq into elements. . . There will be three states or more, arounf three major cities, Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, while Shiite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni north, which is mostly Kurdish. . . The entire Arab Peninusula is a natural candidate for dissolution."