"Groundbreaking", "Historical", "A P.R. and political triumph", these are but some of the words used to describe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Lebanon; some, such as Rajab Safarov (Director of the Russian Centre for Modern Iran Studies) have gone as far as likening the President's visit to Beirut and South Lebanon to JFK's 1963 journey to Germany, during which he uttered the "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
Of course one can discount some of the most enthusiastic appraisals of the Iranian, Lebanese and Middle Eastern press as skewed by pro-persian and pro-shiite bias, but the evaluation given by a knowledgeable and impartial political scientist as Safarov still stands testimony to the fact that Ahmadinejad's one has not been "just another state visit".
The reaction of the pro-israeli camp, on the other hand, has been exceedingly meek and understated: some criticism on Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, some smug declarations by the ultra-rightist israeli head of Foreign Affairs Avi Lieberman, and a pitiful demonstration along the israeli-lebanese borders, where slightly less than 100 israeli rightists (almost entirely settlers), released clusters of white-and-azure balloons which dwarfed their already scarce ranks with their size. The external observer definitely got wind that the jewish state, at the current state of affairs, lacks the conviction or the boldness to wrestle with his most direct and vocal denouncer "mano-a-mano", perhaps already weakened by the divisive legislation passed last week about the "oath of fealty" to Israel which would be required to some of its citizens on a racist ethnic and religious basis.
Israeli voters elected the current right-wing government into office hoping that it would have fostered a more resolute stance which would have improved the security and the international standing of the zionist state; instead they helped a squabbling and insecure coalition to reach power only to find that they have no cohesive or concerted idea of how to employ it, save for resorting to excessive measures (like the aforementioned oath or the piratical raid on the international Gaza-bound aid flottilla, which resulted in the slaying of unarmed activists) which add to israeli embarassment on the international stage rather than improving its standing.
On the other hand Ahmadinejad has not only strenghtened his position on the internal iranian political stage (his fellow citizens can't deny that Iran is stronger and more respected on the Middle Eastern stage now more than ever, thanks to its uncompromising stance on matters ranging from relationship with the West to the nuclear issue), but added clout to the image of the Islamic Republic toward any observer wishing or dreaming for an independent and autonomous way to modernity, without having to reach an appeasement with the global powers-that-be.
The example of the different roads followed by the Lebanese Shia and the Hamas Palestinians and the ANP Palestinians are there to prove it: the first two refused compromise and appeasement toward israel and, while having suffered or suffering its armed aggression and retailatory policies are still standing, Hezbollah having managed to best the vaunted israeli army in open confrontation; the ANP Palestinians, on the other hand, still suffer from israeli "settlement and harassment" policy and have garnered nothing of the advantages they hoped for, as the u.s., which would have had to oversee the enactment of the reached deal, are too weak and partial to rein the jewish state in, no matter how grave and blatant its mistreatment of the rump government of the West Bank may ever eventually get.
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