???????Israel has besieged and ravaged our country.???????? ???????For all this carnage and death???????we demand an international inquiry into Israel’s criminal actions in Lebanon and insist that Israel pay compensation for its wanton destruction.???????? ???????We also insist that Israel be made to respect international humanitarian law…which it has repeatedly and willfully violated.????????

Are these the words of a raging terrorist? Mr. Nasrallah perhaps or another Hezbollah fighter? No. They were written by someone to whom George W. Bush said only four months ago, in reference to his leadership: ???????There’s no question in my mind that Lebanon can serve as a great example for what is possible in the broader Middle East.???????? The man is Lebanon????????s Fouad Siniora and the comments come from a letter he wrote in The Washington Post yesterday.

Why then would the leader of the only Arab grown democracy (or aspiring democracy) say such things? It is because this democratic revolutionary believes that Israel????????s actions are working at cross-purposes to their long-term goal of peace.

In April, after the Prime Minister returning from the U.S. and just after he met with Tony Blair, I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Siniora at Chatham House in London. His speech pointed to the numerous accomplishments achieved by the Lebanese: the withdrawal of Syrian troops; a functioning government which was actually democratically elected; and the newly instated liberties of free speech and free political organization.

Yet Mr. Siniora acknowledged that much work still needed to be done. Specifically, he noted the need to restore the sovereignty of the state, especially in Southern Lebanon. Further, he pointed out that relations with Syria were complicated by Syria????????s inability to recognize Lebanon as fully independent. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister was optimistic that Lebanon could surmount these challenges and he was encouraged by the progress of the national dialogue.

That was Mr. Siniora then. Yesterday, he wrote that the Lebanese were indeed still united. But not against Hezbollah, Lebanon was firmly united against Israel. ???????Israel seems to think that its attacks will sow discord among the Lebanese. This will never happen. Israel should know that the Lebanese people will remain steadfast and united in the face of this latest Israeli aggression — its seventh invasion — just as they were during nearly two decades of brutal occupation. The people’s will to resist grows ever stronger with each village demolished and each massacre committed.????????

In other words, instead of encouraging Lebanon to develop and mature its nascent democracy, Israel has successfully driven the Lebanese people into the arms of Hezbollah ???????? and perhaps Syria and Iran. If this is the reaction of Hariri????????s successor and the leader of the Cedar Revolution????????s Lebanon, then what are the feelings in other less moderate Lebanese actors?

Israel may win the physical battle, but they are dangerously close to losing the war for democracy. Yes, Israel was provoked. Yes, it is intolerable that a group of radicals have their own independent army. That Israel has faced these problems is not a new development ???????? its been this way for decades. Democracy in the Arab world, however, is new. And Israel has decided, for whatever reasons, that a brief military campaign is more important than lasting peace.

If Israel was unable to rid itself of Hezbollah and extremists during its last occupation of Lebanon, then why does it think this operation will be more successful? No, Israel has made a catastrophic miscalculation. It should have been more patient with Lebanon. Just as democracy looked as though it had a chance, Israel????????s offensive has done much to destroy an opportunity for lasting peace.

But Mr. Siniora and perhaps others are still not deterred. The Lebanese Prime Minister wrote yesterday that it was still possible to find ???????a final solution ÄtoÅ the wider Arab-Israeli conflict, which has plagued our region for 60 years????????, but only through a ???????political solution.???????? I think he????????s right. Democracy is the only answer to the problems in the Middle East. But let????????s hope that when a cease-fire is finally called that Mr. Siniora and the people of Lebanon still have the will and ability to implement the values of the Cedar Revolution.

www.JonathanTaylor.eu