The biggest mystery of this conflict so far is the reaction of the Arab street ... the Arab leaders. The silence resounding around the Middle East is deafening. For the first time, there is no phalanx of Arab leaders lined up to condemn Israel.
Rather, word is gradually being leaked in Israel that something different is afoot. A leading Israeli newspaper reports one moderate Arab leader with no relations to Israel sending the government a secret message to carry on, wipe-out Hezbollah for us once and for all. They are all mostly Sunni, and they would say that about the powerful Shiite resistance group tied to powerful Shiite Iran.
A senior western diplomat with intimate knowledge of the efforts to find a solution tells me that Lebanese and other Arab leaders privately are asking, "How could Hezbollah have incurred such Israeli wrath if it genuinely is a domestic movement?" In other words, they are worried about Iran. They are worried that an early ceasefire would not only make Hezbollah much stronger in Lebanon, but their patron --Iran -- much stronger in the Middle East.
They are also worried about the U.S. administration's hands-off policy giving the green light to Israel to go ahead and weaken what both call a terrorist organization. But it's a gamble with potentially dangerous consequences -- the mounting Lebanese casualties, the potential disaster that a full-scale ground invasion by Israel could turn the whole region into a raging cauldron. The United States is the only nation with the clout and credibility to stop this and help hammer out a real political solution to resolve this particular tinderbox.
Hezbollah may cry uncle ... Then again, it may not.
