Today, July 12, marks another controversial anniversary: it is the third anniversary of the start of the Second Lebanon war, as it is known by Israelis, or the July War, as it’s called by the Lebanese.

(See our factbox on the war here).

Three years on, Israelis are still divided as to whether their government made the right decision in undertaking the 34 day conflict in 2006.

Columnist Eitan Haber, of Yedioth Ahronoth, sums it up this way: “Everyone is right in the war that followed the Second Lebanon War. Those who believe it was an untimely and unsuccessful war that led to the erosion of our deterrent power, especially vis-à-vis Hezbollah, are right. Those who argue that the war led to absolute calm in the rocket-battered north, pushed Hezbollah’s men away from the border, and prompted the deployment of an international force in south Lebanon are also right.” (Read his whole article here).

As the Israeli public sorts out its feelings about the war, IDF officials also spoke up today at a conference marking the war’s third anniversary. Dan Halutz, the former IDF chief who resigned in the wake of criticisms of his actions in the war, defended the choice to launch a campaign: “I believed that if we crave life in this Mideast arena, we have to sometimes just ‘go crazy’. “

He also said that he had been against citing Hezbollah’s abduction of two Israeli soldiers as the impetus for the attack, as he considered it to have been a long term strategic need for Israel to curb Hezbollah’s capabilities.

Giora Eiland, former head of the Israeli National Security Council argued that Israel’s attack was mistake. It should have only launched a two- or three-day attack against Hezbollah in 2006, he said, and then accepted an internationally-backed truce: “That kind of action would have restored  Israel’s deterrence … The achievement might have been limited, but so would the price.”

Israel’s northern neighbors are also taking stock of the war. Some Lebanese offered sharp criticism of Hezbollah, their political adversary. Take this from the NOW Lebanon website: “There has been no act of epic contrition and no disarming in recognition of the misery, heartache and destruction wrought on the country. Instead, the party consolidated what it perceived as a tactical advantage, and for the next three years stymied the running of the country.”

Hezbollah’s newspaper, al-Intiqad, has published several articles praising the war, with one writer calling it the war which “the enemy wanted to be remembered as a regression and a defeat, but the opposition transformed into a liberation day and a victory.” The author does acknowledge that the sacrifice for this “freedom” was “costly”. (Note: the articles are in Arabic).

This analysis from the Foreign Policy Association has a pretty interesting review of the war. Author Patrick Vibert considers the 2006 war ” Hezbollah’s “coming out party” and that it launched the group into worldwide renown. Never before had an Islamic resistance group been so successful against the IDF. Hizballah’s credibility was now unsurpassed in the Arab world, he writes.

Vibert also muses on the possibility of future concurrent Hamas-Hezbollah assaults: “it is not clear how well [Israel] would perform in a sustained war with two fronts”.

Arrests this summer of Lebanese who have allegedly spied for Israeli intelligence further proves that tensions are far from over. Read Reuters’ reports on that situation here.

PHOTOS: Top Left: Bombed neighborhood in south Beirut. July 23, 2006. REUTERS/Yannis Berakis. Middle Right: Katyusha rocket fire in the outskirts of northern Israeli town Kiryat Shmona.  July 23, 2006. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun.