Two fish live in one aquarium. Both are of the same kind, both are aggressive, they are equal insize and strength. One of them (let’s call him Alpha) lives on the left side of the container,the other one (call him Beta) on the right side. Between the two territories there is aninvisible border. They know exactly where it is. What happens?
In a fit of courage, Alpha invades the territory of Beta. The deeper he penetrates, the lesscourageous he becomes. He hesitates. Beta, on the other hand, becomes a hero. He attacksAlpha, who escapes to his own territory. Beta crosses the border in hot pursuit, but thefurther he gets in his rival’s realm, the more his courage evaporates. Now Alpha becomesheroic, attacking Beta and chasing him back home. And so on and on.
This is a scientific experiment, well known to students of ethology, the science of animalbehavior. The pattern seems to be common to all territorial animals, be they mammals, fish orbirds. It certainly is typical for the animal called man.
Our own history is full of examples. The legend of David and Goliath is a typical example: thePhilistines invaded the territory of Israel, Goliath had absolute military superiority,little David won. In another era, the Maccabees, a small guerilla band, vanquished the mightyGreek-Syrian empire, elephants and all.
Human history knows innumerable instances. One of the most remarkable happened in 1939:Stalin attacked little Finland, hoping to subdue it within days. But the world witnessed withawe how the Finnish forces trounced the giant Red Army, which needed several months to gain theupper hand. Hitler was impressed, and after a year he invaded the Soviet Union. But – lo andbehold – the same Red Army that was beaten in the snow of Finland smashed the invincible NaziWehrmacht in the snows of its own homeland.
Lately this happened to the Americans. The primitive Vietnamese chased the modern Frenchcolonialists out of their country. Since nobody ever learns from the experience of others,the Americans joined the fray, full of contempt for the “little yellow bastards”. But the bigwhite supermen, who had the most advanced weapons on earth, were soundly beaten. The last ofthem fled by helicopter from the roof of their embassy in Saigon.
The same happened to the Soviets in Afghanistan. Gangs of fanatical Muslims with blackbeards, clad in rags, made piecemeal of the army that beat Hitler. The Soviets, too, escapedwith their tails between their legs.
What have little David and the Vietnam fighters, Judah Maccabaeus and the Finnish MarshalMannerheim, the Partisans in the Russian birch forests and the gangs in the Afghan mountainshave in common? Only one thing: They fought for the liberation of their homeland from foreigninvaders. In such a struggle, superiority in numbers and firepower counts for little.
The commanders of the invading army cannot understand this. Rafael Eytan, Ariel Sharon andShaul Mofaz are but the latest addition to a long and undistinguished row of generals who wereingloriously trashed by ill-equipped guerilla fighters.
The very word “guerrilla” (“little war”) was born in Spain, when Napoleon’s army did notsucceed in destroying local freedom fighters. This, perhaps, led Napoleon to assert that “Inwar, moral considerations account for three-quarters, the balance of actual forces only forthe other quarter.”
The Hisballah is a classic guerrilla force. It is supported by foreign countries – Iran andSyria – which exploit it for their own purposes. But basically it is an authentic resistancemovement, which came into being in order to fight a foreign occupation (ours) and flourishesthe longer the occupation goes on.
Occupation commanders are unable to understand such a reality, and from this point of viewthere is little difference between the Biblical “Lords of the Philistines” and DeputyDefense Minister Ephraim Sneh. From the officers of Antiochus to General Shaul Mofaz, alloccupation commanders behave exactly the same: brag of their victory every second week,promise the final liquidation of the bandits every month, threaten every now and then to putfire to the guerrillas’ hinterland. But their fate is foreordained: In the end, they will haveto leave. See: Fish.