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Mideast Wonders What Comes Next

Will the ceasefire in the Middle East prove to be a watershed for the region, or will it just lead to more fighting? That is the question many Israelis are asking themselves this week as on Monday morning a United Nations-imposed cease-fire appeared to be holding throughout the day. Both the Israeli government and the leaders of the terror group Hizballah which sparked the war in a cross-border raid on July 12, are claiming victory.

However, with Hizballah not smashed and much of northern Israel damaged after the Israel Defense Forces were unable to stop rocket attacks, Hizballah?s claim will at first seem more honest. Even so, Arab League and Iranian representatives said that the UN Security Council resolution was a victory for Israel, in that Israel should see the Lebanese Army on the borders with Israel instead of Hizballah, which was a key requirement of earlier UN resolutions that the Lebanese government avoided carrying out.

And so the Middle East is holding its breath as what many fear will be another round of fighting remains a distinct possibility. Hizballah, after all, did not declare the war to be over ? quite the opposite. What this means for Lebanon, and what it means for Israel, and what it means for the region as a whole with an Iran in pursuit of nuclear weapons doesn?t seem to be the happiest outcome at the moment.