Soldiers' rescue only a pretext for Israel's offensive
Does the name Gilad Shalit ring a bell? For two weeks, the Israeli corporal taken captive by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip last month was mentioned almost daily in newspapers around the world.
The Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip eventually captured the world's attention and Corporal Shalit's name disappeared from public view.
Last week, the two Israeli soldiers captured on the Lebanese border did not have enough time to become known to their countrymen before the massive military attack on Hezbollah made them an obscure footnote.
But the marginalisation of the three soldiers, who are ostensibly the reason for the current display of Israel's military might, is entirely justified. Their capture has little to do with what is going on, other than having served as a trigger.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli leaders still demand the captives' release, but they make clear the real goal of the military operations is to change the rules of the game on both fronts.
In Gaza, where Israeli pressure continues in the shadow of the Lebanese flare-up, Israel is intent on putting an end to the daily rocketing by militants of Israeli towns and villages on the periphery. In the past, Israel has attempted to handle the problem with air or artillery strikes at missile teams or by targeted assassinations. Although many militants were hit in the latest flare-up, the rockets kept coming.
Israel has now used Corporal Shalit's capture as a lever with which to put pressure on the civilian population in Gaza, without whose support the rocket teams would find it difficult to operate.
If the pressure can be kept up long enough, Israeli officers believe, Gaza's residents may conclude that the pleasure of watching rockets explode on Israeli territory is not worth the misery it causes them.
Likewise on the Lebanese front, Israel did not launch a military undertaking involving 1,300 air-force sorties in the first five days only to bring back two soldiers. The main objective cited by leaders is the displacement of Hezbollah from the border and the deployment of the Lebanese army in its place.
Both the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah, who had expected a desire by Israel to strike a quick deal, found Israel uninterested. Ignoring the groups' calls for a prisoner exchange, Israel mobilised reserves and launched powerful attacks on both fronts, although the Gaza attack takes the form of continuous pressure rather than the all-out war Hezbollah is encountering.
Driving home their miscalculation is the isolation Hamas and Hezbollah find themselves in even in the Arab world, except for the support of Iran and Syria.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have expressed clear displeasure at the organisations' incursions into Israel, which threaten stability in the region. The international community has called for Israeli restraint but has not made any serious attempt to effect a ceasefire.
The most important element from the Israeli government's point of view is that its own public, despite the pummelling by 1,000 missiles so far, is encouraging continued attacks until Hamas and Hezbollah are worn down.
