Israel: Searching for an end game.

Only the most devoted supporter of Israel could pretend that she has not committed war crimes. "Wanton destruction of property" and "collective punishment" are both war crimes and have both been carried out by the IDF.

Now Israel has been accused of using phosphorus shells in a manner human rights organisations claim is in breach of international law.

Western diplomats in Beirut admitted they were 'baffled' by Israel's targeting policy. Ambulances, refugee columns and civilian homes, infrastructure and UN posts have all been hit - and evidence has begun to emerge that civilians may have suffered phosphorus burns.

Footage has also emerged of the increasingly widespread use of cluster munitions in areas with civilian inhabitants. Concern has been further heightened by the delivery to Israel by the US of at least 100 GBU-28 'bunker-buster' bombs containing depleted uranium warheads for use against targets in Lebanon.

Human rights organisations are also examining whether Israel's 'order' for hundreds of thousands of Lebanese residents south of the Litani river to abandon their homes is a breach of international law and UN conventions.

A field researcher from the American based Human Rights Watch (HRW), Lucy Mair, sent pictures to military experts at the organisation's New York office of munitions being transported to Israel's northern border and fired into Lebanon from howitzers. She was shocked to discover they were cluster munitions.

Mair said researchers on the other side of the border documented an attack using the munitions on the village of Blida last week which killed one person and injured 12 and that the explosives - which disperse after impact - are 'inaccurate and unreliable', and should not be used in populated areas.

And yet, despite using tactics that have alienated the entire world, if not the ever faithful US of A, all evidence points to the grim reality that Israel is continuing to lose this war.

Further proof of this came yesterday when Israel announced it was withdrawing from Bint Jbeil. Israel may claim they have "achieved their objectives there" but Hizbullah still hold this village. A withdrawal is not a sign of victory.

All the signs are that Israel greatly underestimated the strength of Hizbullah, approaching them with the same attitude that Israel approaches fighters in the West Bank and Gaza, where Israeli victory is always guaranteed. There are signs that Israel is waking up to that reality.

General Udi Adam, head of Israel's northern command, made a revealing slip of the tongue when he referred in a briefing to Hizbollah 'soldiers', quickly correcting himself to say 'fighters' instead. Israelis who sneer at rag-tag Palestinian 'terrorists' armed with little more than Kalashnikovs compare the Lebanese group to Iranian special forces that have studied their enemy's tactics and battle doctrine. 'This isn't like the war we fight in the territories [the West Bank and Gaza],' said another senior officer. 'This is a real war.'

Israel's failure to achieve any tangible military success greatly complicates Bush and Blair's plans for imposing peace through a UN resolution which declares Israel victorious.

Without some obvious victory on the ground there is no way that Syria, Iran and Hizbullah are going to agree to the terms that Bush and Blair envisage for ending the conflict.

Indeed, such is the disquiet amongst the ranks that, here in the UK, open revolt has broken out in the British cabinet.

Jack Straw, now Leader of the Commons, said in a statement released after meeting Muslim residents of his Blackburn constituency that while he grieved for the innocent Israelis killed, he also mourned the '10 times as many innocent Lebanese men, women and children killed by Israeli fire'.

He said he agreed with the Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells that it was 'very difficult to understand the kind of military tactics used by Israel', adding: 'These are not surgical strikes but have instead caused death and misery amongst innocent civilians.'

Such open revolt will only add to Blair's problems as he continues to attempt to hold the Labour Party to what is essentially a neo-con policy.

The worry now is what action Israel will take to ensure that the Bush/Blair line holds when they approach the UN. As things stand, they have no chance of success. My worry is what Israel will now do to reverse this balance.

Shocked by its losses, Israel is displaying a new determination to see this through, though nobody can say exactly what that means. 'What's our endgame?' said one senior government official. 'We're working on it now.' But before the end there looks like being a lot more bloodshed - cheered on by the public and media. 'Before any international agreement, Israel must sound the last chord, launching a massive air and ground offensive that will end this mortifying war, not with a whimper but with a thunderous roar,' urged the influential Haaretz columnist Yoel Marcus.

Faced with defeat, the Israelis have only one option left open to them. And that is to use it's military muscle to inflict horrendous damage upon the civilian population of Lebanon.

And that is what I fear they are about to do. As far as war crimes go, we ain't seen nothing yet.

Tags: Olmert, Bush, Blair, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Hizbullah, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, UN resolution,