For the second time, the Bush administration has replaced the term “immediate” with “durable and sustainable,” and has done so in support of Israeli military attacks against Arabs.

In both instances, the administration gave Israel a free rein to inflict destruction in Lebanon and Palestine, hoping that Hezbollah and Hamas, two Arab Islamic organizations that refuse to recognize Israel, would be brought to their knees.

The administration’s gamble failed in Lebanon and, based on unfolding events, will meet the same fate in Palestine. Both organizations are more popular and more determined than ever. More important, the United States has, in their view and the view of most Arabs and Muslims, become irrelevant.

Of the many lessons to be derived from Israel’s latest adventure, four have most attracted my attention.

First, embedded logic dictates that the 3,000 rockets lobbed on Israel since 2003 have caused negligible damage to life and property. Yet Israel’s leaders and America’s media continue the tempest in the teacup to justify the murder of Palestinians.

Truth is irrelevant because in the words of Dr. James Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, Israel’s goal is to define the terms of the debate. Hamas was stupid to fire those effete duds because they provided Israel’s global propaganda machine with the opportunity to “parley that into sympathy” and obfuscate the dismal living conditions in Gaza resulting from decades of imprisonment, occupation and the justification for the resistance. That powerful machine succeeded in glossing over and rationalizing the deaths of more than 1,000 and the wounding of over 4,000 Palestinians with American-supplied missiles.

Second, Israeli leaders talk about peace in front of the camera, but act as though that peace will never happen. Israel needs a perpetual war not only to justify its existence but also to maintain the cohesiveness of an evidently fragmented society. By tightening the noose on the inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank, Israeli leaders seem to want Hamas’ belligerence.

Israel used similar provocations on Palestinians of the West Bank. Talking peace can never justify munching away at Palestinian homes, farms and lands under the pretext of thwarting aggression.

Third, in Western society, packaging is the secret to selling any product. Israel’s success in delivering its message depends on presenters who speak to each society in its own language and usually flawlessly. Native English speakers talk to the English-speaking world as do native French, German or Spanish speakers to those societies. More important, they are saying the same thing everywhere.

Arabs, on the other hand, leave a lot to be desired. Listening to some Arab presenters speak really hurts the ears. I constantly see fantastic Arab spokesmen and women interviewed on the global media, but somehow they vanish when they are most needed. Matters are much worse when it comes to substance where many of these guys have no concept of how to debate or talk to the media. Indeed, they do more harm to a just cause than good.

Fourth, huge demonstrations took place outside the Arab world that proved to be much larger than those within. More importantly, the former were far more secular and appeared to be propelled by a desire to combat human rights abuses. Within the Arab world, the demonstrations were much smaller and were in response to religious solidarity calls by Islamists.

Most striking and discouraging was to see so few protestors in the Arab world clamoring for human rights. Effete Middle Eastern dictators have effaced secularism among Arabs. Fearing all forms of opposition and calls for an end to dictatorships prompted these rulers to either ban or tightly control all demonstration.

What these dictators fail to grasp is the importance of secular groups as counterweight to fanaticism. Yet these are the same forces being eradicated by these dictators, limiting the political arena to religious and dictatorial fanaticism.