Oct 24, 2006 -- The title of a talk by former United States Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer, “The ‘Summer Vacation’ War: Implications for Israeli Security and Diplomacy,” at Yeshiva University on Oct. 24, was not chosen frivolously, the former emissary to Egypt and Israel told his audience at Weissberg Commons. It derives from a quote by an Israeli child who told a reporter that he lost his summer vacation because the recent war with Lebanon began just after school ended and ended just before school began. The quip, Amb. Kurtzer said, is a reminder that “even as we engage in a discussion of significant national, international, regional, strategic, political, and military views, that there is a human dimension” to the conflict. Amb. Kurtzer currently holds the S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Middle East Policy studies at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. His talk was sponsored by YU’s Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International Affairs. Amb. Kurtzer reminded his listeners of Hizbullah’s kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers in October 2000, five months after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon. Hizbullah claimed it was exercising its right to self defense against Israeli overflights, but according to the ambassador, Hizbullah’s true intent was to negotiate the release of terrorist Samir Kuntar, who was imprisoned in Israel for 27 years for a heinous attack that resulted in the deaths of several Israelis. They included a child smothered by her mother during her desperate attempts to avoid being discovered. Kuntar’s release was also the impetus behind this summer’s murder and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers stationed on the Lebanese border. To explain Israel’s unexpected reaction to these provocations, the ambassador posited that the Israelis hoped that a large-scale action—as opposed to the minimized reaction to similar incidents during the past six years—would precipitate a short-term confrontation and then a long-term resolution that would involve other Arab nations. Amb. Kurtzer also said that even though the Arab “street” regards Hizbullah as the victor in its recent confrontation with Israel, there are other ways of looking at who won: a significant number of Hizbullah’s best forces were killed; it is evident that Israel destroyed the long-range missiles that threatened Tel Aviv and beyond; and the war demonstrated that Israelis are still prepared to fight and die for their country—a deterrence that Hizbullah had misjudged and that, according to the ambassador, would serve to persuade other Arab nations that the cost of fighting Israel would be too great to sustain. On the Gaza front, the ambassador called this summer’s Palestinian troublemakers “rogue groups,” who at best are loosely aligned with the Palestinian resistance, and who are interested in creating problems within Palestinian decision-making circles. As for the full implications of this summer’s conflict in Lebanon, Amb. Kurtzer said it was too soon to know, though some of the issues intrinsic to the conflict—such as how to deal effectively with Iran and Iraq—are now front and center on the international agenda. “If we have a role to play in the Middle East peace process,” he said referring to the United States, “then we ought to act out that role for the betterment of peace in the region, as well as for the safety and security of our friends in Israel.”