In many ways, Israel’s war against Hizbullah last summer was a “fiasco,” said Middle East expert Moshe Ma’oz.

Ma’oz, emeritus professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a former director of the university’s Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, was in Princeton Nov. 6 to discuss The Recent Lebanon War: Causes and Repercussions.

“The war was not necessary,” Ma’oz told some 40 faculty members, graduate students, and guests gathered around a conference table at a Brown Bag Lunch Series program sponsored by Princeton University’s Department and Program in Near Eastern Studies.

“It’s a waste,” he said. “Hizbullah is not a friend…. But to destroy civilian infrastructure and kill people? I don’t get it. I don’t get it,” he said, holding his head in his hands. “ It’s caused a great deal of animosity for Israel in the Arab world.

“We want to live in the Middle East, not die in the Middle East,” he said. “Many of my Arab friends ask, ‘Why did you do it?’ It’s such a setback to this kind of good will on both sides.”

The author of more than 15 books, including Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking, and Asad, The Sphinx of Damascus: A Political Biography, Ma’oz is serving as a scholar in residence during the fall semester at the Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. He is also involved in establishing a department of Middle Eastern studies at Netanya College, he noted in a conversation before his talk. “One makes his living from the tragedies of the Middle East,” he said.

Over the following hour, Ma’oz delivered a rambling account of the roles various Israeli leaders have played in making war or peace with Lebanon over the years. It wasn’t until the question-and-answer period that his audience pushed him to focus on the war with Lebanon that unfolded last summer.

Calling the war a very complex issue, Ma’oz said that one would have to be a psychologist to understand the reasons behind the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz in response to Hizbullah’s kidnapping of two IDF soldiers at the southern border of Lebanon in early July.

“There was, I think, very hasty decision-making after the kidnapping of the soldiers,” said Ma’oz, who is a colonel in the IDF reserve. “There is a tendency of Olmert and Peretz to want to show they are strong people. There was also an element of arrogance, and this is true of leaders all over.

“Halutz thought he could solve all problems by air power,” he added. “Ask any sergeant in the infantry: Can you move against guerillas with air power? No,” he said. “I think there was no strategy.”

Most Israelis do not approve of the war waged by Olmert and his military leaders, according to Ma’oz.

“My idea is, you cannot settle this by a military way. You have to have a political solution, in my opinion,” he said. “There are political solutions, but they are very difficult to reach, and leaders are not courageous enough to reach political solutions. It’s easier to fight, and this is a tragedy.”

Asked by New Jersey Jewish News to assess the costs of the war to Israel internally, Ma’oz said, “Internally, as far as I know, people don’t regard Olmert and Peretz as reliable leaders. There is a very strong call to fire them.

“There is a very deep disappointment from Israelis for the war — among the troops, too, but also for typical Israelis. Some Israelis are getting very pessimistic, saying that Israel is doomed — which, of course, is nonsense. It’s a very strong country — because Hizbullah could give the IDF, the best army in the world, a bloody nose. You hear it, but it’s very unsophisticated.”

At the crux of this issue — for Israel, for the Palestinians, for the Arab world, and for the United States, is the creation of a separate, safe, prosperous Palestinian state, said Ma’oz, who formerly served as an adviser to Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.

“Israel has to be more flexible regarding the Palestinian issue,” he said. “It’s not a question of love. There is no love in the Middle East. I’m saying the Palestinian issue is very, very important, because it is in the serious interest of no one to increase this antagonism, this hatred.”

Ma’oz referred sarcastically to Olmert as “a very good politician.”

“He goes to see Mr. Bush. He goes to see Mr. Blair. But he has not yet seen Abu Mazen,” he said, referring to Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority.

“Abu Mazen is our partner next door. Talk to him,” he said. “My point is, let’s keep trying. If it doesn’t work, try again. Because what’s the alternative? Bloodshed.”