The picture couldn’t be clearer. Hundreds of civilian deaths in Lebanon, all significant civilian infrastructure damaged, and no sign of slowing down any time soon. The offensive against Lebanon was bound to happen sooner or later. There have been intelligence leaks to the media suggesting that an Israeli army official have been giving media presentations to US diplomats.
If you disagree that the war was planned, then you have to at least agree that the Israeli response was disproportionate. Why bomb the runways of a civilian airport and roads leading to Damascus? What did the poor UN observers do to deserve death? Not to mention Qana, and yet another massacre discovered today near Tyre.
Human Rights Watch, an independent, unbiased, international organization is currently writing a report regarding the civilian casualties in Lebanon. The report examines numerous incidents of civilian deaths, concluding that Israel is committing war crimes. In all the cases studied in the report, none show any evidence of military presence at the time of the bombing.
Meanwhile while as the whole world is working hard to reach a ceasefire, the US is standing in the way. Not only that, but they’re also supplying laser guided missiles to Israel. One of which, is believed to have been used in Qana, according to an article on Alarabiya.net. I guess the IDF had to test the missiles sooner or later.
technorati tags: lebanon, israel, IDF, war, UN, war, crime, Qana
Labels: politics
9 Comments:
At 7/31/2006 7:58 PM,
Fern @ Life on the Balcony said…
"Why bomb the runways of a civilian airport and roads leading to Damascus?"
Are you serious? An intelligent guy like yourself can't figure that one out?
(1) Civilian airports are used to move people and things in and out of countries. Two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and are being held in Lebanon, Israel has an interest in making sure their soldiers are not moved out of the country and that Hizballah is not reinforced by Syria or Iran.
(2) See above.
At 7/31/2006 8:31 PM,
x said…
so Israel has the right to imprison millions of Lebanese in a worn torn country, just to make sure that the soldiers stay in Lebanon. Many Lebanese civilians died because they had no way out of their villages. But of course that's ok, as long as the two soldiers are kept in Lebanon.
Just like many others, you seem to think that an Israeli life is worth thousands of Arab lives.
At 8/01/2006 12:01 AM,
Fern @ Life on the Balcony said…
Actually, I didn't make a qualitative statement one way or the other. I just pointed out the very obvious reason why Israel would bomb an airport and the roads leading from Lebanon to Syria.
At 8/01/2006 12:38 AM,
x said…
sorry for misunderstanding your comment. Sadly an obvious reason that is rarely contested, especially in the media.
Welcome to the blog btw :)
At 8/01/2006 2:02 PM,
Fern @ Life on the Balcony said…
Why should the obvious reason be challenged in the media? There is no evidence or logic to support any other conclusion.
At 8/01/2006 2:41 PM,
SH said…
the Israeli response was disproportionate
I think it's naive to think you can fight guerilla, acting from within a supportive population, with "proportionate" action.
Even NATO had to kill many civilians in Bosnia in order to achieve something.
It's time that the population in Lebanon understands, that if it harbors terror, it has to pay the price.
At 8/01/2006 6:22 PM,
x said…
Fern, what I was trying to say is that the media should be more critical in dealing with actions, like destroying roads and airports. The media focuses on how destroying the infrastructure is a must to prevent re-arming, and smuggling the soldiers, etc. But the media (American media in specific) focus on the effect of destroying the infrastrcture on the Lebanese people. Thus, when the media does not challenge the obvious, it is doing a poor job at giving an unbiased view of the situation.
Shai, first of all you have to understand the Lebanese do not view Hizbellah as terrorist, so you cannot base your hopes on that to ever happen.
Secondly, disarming Hezbullah cannot be done through warfare. With all the bombing and power of the IDF, they have failed, up to this point, to stop missiles from being fired into Israel. Just firing missiles back and forth, is also no the way to disarm them. This why the international community (excluding the US, and Britian of course) is calling for an immediate ceasefire. Israel's and Lebanon's problems will be best dealt with diplomatically. I personally think that the only fair solution to both countries, which would also corner Hezbullah, would be a prisoner trade, deploying international force both on the israeli and Lebanese side, and to give back the Shaba farms. When these conditions are met, Hezbullah will have no more reason to exist as an armed political party. I want the region to have permanent peace and stability, and these will be the first steps towards these two objectives. Giving the Palestinians their own state, and the Golan Heights back to Syria will put the nail in the coffin to this half a century year old problem.
At 8/02/2006 3:06 PM,
SH said…
disarming Hezbullah cannot be done through warfare
True, but warfare is necessary to start the pressure. Hizballa will not disarm itself voluntarily.
When these conditions are met, Hezbullah will have no more reason to exist as an armed political party.
Come on, Hizballa will find another excuse. The Iranians are not that stupid.
Giving the Palestinians their own state, and the Golan Heights back to Syria will put the nail in the coffin to this half a century year old problem.
LOL
Omar, evrey grain of sand in Israel is occupied Arab land. If not since '67, then since '48, and if not since '48 than since 1882.
Even my own university, which is located inside the city of Tel-Aviv, sits on what once was a Palestinian village (el-Muwannis).
If we give all of Israel back to the Arabs, where exactly are 6 million Jews going to live? In your appartment? :)
You see, the solution is not that simple.
At 8/06/2006 1:45 PM,
Anonymous said…
Omar,
I agree with you 100%. The Israeli response is EXTREMELY out of proportion.
Why should Israel get to bomb the crap out of Lebanon over 2 kidnapped soldiers, then everyone gets mad at Hizb Allah for doing the same thing?
What would America do if they still have POW's in Vietnam after the war was over? Much more than Hizb Allah has done for sure.
There is an anti-Arab bias, obviously.
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