From DPA, Aug. 31:

Damascus- Around 595 Druse clergymen from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights crossed into Syria Thursday for an annual pilgrimage to the holy Habil shrine at Zabadanto, a Red Cross official in Damascus said. The clerics crossed the Israeli-Syrian border at the Quneitra checkpoint, around 65 kilometres south of Damascus, in two groups and walked for about 300 metres while elderly men were transported by by UN buses, which was broadcast live on local television.

In the wake of the Lebanon aggression, Uri Avnery invokes the image of Israel as Washington's attack dog—as he has before. Online at Gush Shalom, Aug. 26, emphasis added:

America's Rottweiler
IN HIS latest speech, which infuriated so many people, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uttered a sentence that deserves attention: "Every new Arab generation hates Israel more than the previous one."

This July 29 report online at The American Muslim argues that an hisotric peace dialogue between Hamas leaders and Orthodox Israeli rabbis was (by strong implication, consciously) sabotaged by the Lebanon aggression. It also repeats the oft-heard claim that the July 12 abduction of two Israeli soliders which sparked the crisis actually took place on the Lebanese side of the border, contrary to the official story of a cross-border raid by Hezbollah.

This Aug. 17 New York Times by Scott Atran op ed ends on an ominous note, but is generally an offering of much-needed optimism. The highlighted passage notes an historic compromise in Hamas' traditionally rejectionist position.

Is Hamas Ready to Deal?
WHATEVER the endgame between Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas, one thing is certain: Israel’s hopes of ensuring its security by walling itself off from resentful neighbors are dead. One lesson from Israel’s assault on Lebanon and its military operation in Gaza is that the missiles blow back.

Mike di Paola writes an excellent summary of the environmental and archeological damage from the Lebanese war for Bloomberg, Aug. 15. One of the coastal areas affected by an Israeli bombing-induced oil slick is the ancient Phoenician Canaanite harbor of Byblos. Di Paola writes:

Seymour Hersh's latest feature in the Aug. 21 New Yorker openly portrays Israel's Lebanon adventure as Washington's test war for an attack on Iran. Like most of his recent journalism, it relies overwhelmingly on anonymous sources. One "US government consultant" told him that earlier this summer, before the Hezbollah kidnappings, several Israeli officials visited Washington, separately, “to get a green light for the bombing operation and to find out how much the United States would bear." The consultant added, “Israel began with Cheney. It wanted to be sure that it had his support and the support of his office and the Middle East desk of the National Security Council." After that, “persuading Bush was never a problem, and Condi Rice was on board," the consultant (reportedly) said.

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli soldiers fanned out across the Litani river, and between 10 - 30,000 may remain in Lebanon, creating certain logistics problems. According to Ha'aretz, Aug. 14:

IDF general: Soldiers may steal food from south Lebanon stores
"If our fighters deep in Lebanese territory are left without food our water, I believe they can break into local Lebanese stores to solve that problem," Brigadier General Avi Mizrahi, the head of the Israel Defense Forces logistics branch, said Monday.

Online at Media Monitors, but forwarded to us from Gush Shalom (which we like a lot better):

What the Hell has happened to the Army?

So what has happened to the Israeli army?

This question is now being raised not only around the world, but also in Israel itself. Clearly, there is a huge gap between the army's boastful arrogance, on which generations of Israelis have grown up, and the picture presented by this war.