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Lebanon crisis / Waiting for the third bell By Zvi Bar'el The relative quiet in Lebanon yesterday was like the quiet before the bell marking the end of a round in a boxing match. Each side counts its bruises and its achievements. These will be displayed today when the Arab League foreign ministers convene an emergency session in Beirut to propose another mediation attempt. By then the initial outlines of the country's new political map may be apparent: Hezbollah's assault on government positions, the shooting in the streets of Beirut, Sidon and other cities, and especially the threat to continue the assault, are meant to lead to the next step. In deciding yesterday to reverse last week's cabinet resolutions that set off the fighting, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora took a necessary first step. The resolutions were to dismantle Hezbollah's private telephone network in the South and and a few other sites and to dismiss airport security chief Major General Wafiq Shukeir, who has ties to Hezbollah. Advertisement The second step will be renewing national dialogue to form a new government and to finally appoint a new president after nearly a year and a half of postponements. To achieve the first goal, Siniora may have to resign or agree to a unity government in which Hezbollah and its allies will be big enough to have veto power over the cabinet's cardinal decisions. The government is totally opposed to this, but it could pave the way to the appointment of the presidential candidate, Lebanese Army commander Michel Suleiman. In the absence of such an agreement, an alternate proposal will likely be offered: Suleiman will be named acting prime minister, instead of president, and will call new elections on condition that a new election law that conforms with Hezbollah's demands is passed. Without the adoption of one of these compromises - which constitute a major concession on the part of the cabinet and the parliamentary majority - the political crisis that began over a year ago will continue to feed the threat of a new civil war. At the same time, Hezbollah will have to decide whether to transfer to army control the positions it took last week. Lebanese commentators believe Hezbollah wants to prove it is a national, not sectarian, organization and thus will obey army directives while making its own demands. These could include making the army responsible for deciding whether Hezbollah has a military need for an independent telephone network. Hezbollah is gambling that the army will decide in its favor, dealing another tactical loss to the government. But the army's real test will be its will and ability to drive the armed militants from the streets. For the army, 30 percent of which is Shi'ite, that will truly test its capability as a national force. In any event, Hezbollah has already achieved its goal of being the catalyst for the next political round of the match, in which it is hoping for a knockout: achieving formal control of Lebanese politics, not just de facto control of the streets. That would definitely be good news for Syria, which this weekend was sentenced to another year of U.S. sanctions. After all, Syria has the key to the success of any Lebanese compromise deal, a key that has grown rusty over the past year. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Siniora vs. Hezbollah The Lebanon prime minister accuses Hezbollah of staging a coup. Plant down - again Palestinians say tha Gaza power plant has closed due to a fuel shortage.

Read & React Hezbollah fighters start withdrawing from Beirut Responses: 601 British PM: Israel`s creation one of 20th century`s `greatest achievements` Responses: 328 Ahmadinejad: Israel is a 'stinking corpse' doomed to disappear Responses: 350 Key witness 'fears Olmert may seek to harm him' Responses: 96 Jews bend over backward to stay neutral in U.S. vote Responses: 127 Jerome Segal: Through tough love, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be ended Responses: 141 More Headlines 01:57 Hezbollah claims victory as Lebanon gov't U-turns 02:12 ANALYSIS: Clashes in Lebanon have yet to affect Israel 22:48 Olmert to appeal move to hear early testimony from key state witness 22:16 21 Qassams hit the Negev on Saturday, lightly hurting five 22:30 Palestinians: Gaza power plant closes due to fuel shortage 01:16 Jewish Republicans are jockeying to win McCain's favor 01:06 ANALYSIS: Hezbollah, Lebanon gov't are boxers girding for next round 22:24 Rabbi testifies in support of Hamas-linked imam facing U.S. ban 14:01 Palestinians: Gaza-Egypt border opens temporarily 07:32 ANALYSIS / Olmert probe shows the media really is the message Previous Editions Select Day 09 may 08 may 07 may 06 may 05 may 04 may 02 may 01 may 30 apr 29 apr 28 apr 27 apr

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