HIZBULLAH: SHOULD RELEASE KIDNAPED SOLDIERS, IMMEDIATELY! It would not only be a humane act, but a smart international public relations move also!

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Hizbullah’s continued holding of the two Kidnaped Israeli soldiers has lost both it’s perceived and intrinsic values. It can no longer be considered, as it was initially, a valuable bargaining tool since Israel has shown it will not be “black mailed“ this time into releasing any- much less all-of the purported 10,000 Lebanese prisoners that Hizbullah and the Lebanese government accuse Israel of unlawfully incarcerating.

Israel showed a willingness to go to war, although based pre-textually on the kidnaping incident, to achieve a greater objective: to eliminate the existence of Hizbullah, period. However, Israel failed to accomplish that goal. Thus, in the eyes of many, pros and cons, Hizbullah came out the victor. Hizbullah was able to sustain a thirty-four day defensive against an Israeli mass offensive that was unprecedented in the history of that region since Israel came into existence in 1947. No other foe, neither Egypt or Syria- individually nor collectively, put up such a formidable fight for no more than two weeks or so-at the most. The entire international community came to the conclusion that Hizbullah shattered the invincibility image of the powerful Israeli armed forces. No doubt, Hizbullah has won, not only in a military since, but psychologically as well-regionally and internationally.

However, Hizbullah has yet to gain any sympathy or significant grounds in the area of diplomacy. Or is such a politic possible being that Hizbullah is not a sovereign nation, but a state within a state? It is clear Hizbullah is here to stay, at least in the immediate future and probably long after because it will not disarm easily. And will probably become fully integrated into the main Lebanese democratic governmental system, cultural and social institutions, with its fighting forces assimilated into the military system or retained as a militia under the control, supposedly, of the Lebanese government. But we all know that once power is attained, it is extremely difficult to relinquish(?).

In the immediate presence to show its humane side, it eould be wise for Hizbullah to release the two captive soldiers and return them to their families, respectively, and to their country due to obvious diminishing returns of holding them indefinitely. Hence, playing the diplomacy card- for which it holds the aces at this juncture, could serve to be of benefit in the future.

No doubt, such a voluntary and willful humane act will not salvage Hizbullah’s classified status as a terrorist organization in th eyes of the West, especially, but it will give them immediate advantage and put Israel on the defensive as far as-possibly- offering to reciprocate through a negotiated release of some-if not all-of the Lebanese prisoners due to increased national and international pressures. You decide!
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UPDATE: As reported by the JTA Daily Briefing, Iran wants Italy as go-between on soldiers. Iran wants Italy to help negotiate the release of two Israeli soldiers kidnapped in Lebanon.
Italy has been told the soldiers are alive but not in great condition, said Sergio De Gregorio, head of the Italian Senate’s Defense Committee. Ali Larijani, Iran’s national security chief, told De Gregorio that he would ask Hezbollah to conduct negotiations through Italy. The reservists, Eldad Regev, 26, and Ehud Goldwasser, 31, were kidnaped July 12 in a cross-border raid that sparked a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

SOURCE: http://www.jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=4350&ref=daily_briefing