Should Hezbollah prevail in Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections next month, it could place Lebanon in Israel’s crosshairs.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel TV a Hezbollah election victory would render the terror group more vulnerable than in the past to the Israel Defense Force (IDF) because Israel would have freer rein in the event of a conflagration.

If the Iranian-financed terror organization were to become significantly stronger and were to hold a majority in the Lebanese government, Israeli security sources say Israel would directly retaliate against Lebanon in the event of a war along its northern border.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said if Hezbollah were to win the Lebanese parliamentary elections: “[T]hat would be a troubling development, and our deployment will be in kind.”

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Israel Defense Minister Barak also remarked on that issue, saying: “At present, Hezbollah already holds a third of the ministerial posts in the Lebanese cabinet. If Hezbollah receives a bigger chunk in the upcoming elections, that will expose it more than it was in the past to the IDF’s might, and will allow us freedom of action that we didn’t fully have in July 2006, during the Second Lebanon War.”

The Strategic Affairs Minister said he did not see any chance an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, or in the Gaza Strip, would be able to maintain an independent economy or be able to maintain its internal security.

Mr. Yaalon referred to the experience gained from Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, which occurred two months after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon removed him as IDF chief.

“It could be presumed with certainty that any territory that Israel would evacuate in Judea and Samaria would immediately turn into a second Hamastan,” Mr. Yaalon said.

Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the seminar attendees Israel should stop trying to seek favor in the eyes of the world and work to get them to see the truth.

“The Palestinians are not even willing to recognize the state of the Jewish people, because they want to eliminate the Jewish people,” Mr. Yishai said.

Former Israel National Security Council director Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said, commenting on the seminar, that an independent Palestinian state would not be an ideal solution for the Palestinians.

“Many senior Palestinian figures would support the idea of establishing a Palestinian confederation under Jordanian rule. They realize that a Palestinian state would be controlled by Hamas and would prefer to be under Jordanian rule,” Maj. Gen. (res.) Eilan said.

Following the seminar, some members of Israel’s Knesset suggested turning Jordan into a Palestinian state, which Israeli President Shimon Peres called “ridiculous,” even though he is not supposed to express himself politically in his non-partisan position.

After Mr. Peres’ comment, Jordan’s ambassador to Israel filed an official complaint against the government of Israel for allowing a member of Israel’s Knesset to suggest replacing the Jordanian kingdom with a Palestinian state.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

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David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.