Posted by
J.P. Farris on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 4:20:57 PM
I have just finished watching video coverage from both sides of the Israel/Lebanon conflict. I saw the faces of people pained as they ran in fear as their homes were destroyed by Katyusha rockets in Israel. I saw the fear in Lebanese eyes as they fled their homes with heated angry words. US citizens in Lebanon are upset that the evacuation is not moving fast enough.
I read some blogs from Israel and they clearly state that Israel’s fight is not against Lebanon, but the Hizbollah terrorists that like so many of their “predecessors” hide among the innocent civilians (in a sense using them as human shields.).
Every important party in the region and in the world, except the radical Islamists in Tehran and their clients in Damascus, wants Hezbollah disarmed and removed from south Lebanon so that it is no longer able to destabilize the peace of both Lebanon and the broader Middle East.
Which parties? Start with the great powers. In September 2004 they passed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, demanding that Hezbollah disarm and allow the Lebanese army to take back control of south Lebanon.
The resolution enjoyed the sponsorship of the United States and, yes, France. As the former mandatory power in Lebanon, France was important in helping the Lebanese expel Syria during last year's Cedar Revolution, but it understands that Lebanon's independence and security are forfeit so long as Hezbollah — a lawless, terrorist, private militia answering to Syria and Iran — occupies south Lebanon as a rogue mini-state.
Then there are the Arabs, beginning with the Lebanese who want Hezbollah out. The majority of Lebanese — Christian, Druze, Sunni Muslim and secular — bitterly resent their country's being hijacked by Hezbollah and turned into a war zone. And in the name of what Lebanese interest? Israel evacuated every square inch of Lebanon six years ago.
The other Arabs have spoken, too. In a stunning development, the 22-member Arab League criticized Hezbollah for provoking the current crisis. It is unprecedented for the Arab League to criticize any Arab party while it is actively engaged in hostilities with Israel. But the Arab states know that Hezbollah, a Shiite militia in the service of Persian Iran, is a threat not just to Lebanon but to them as well. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have openly criticized Hezbollah for starting a war on what is essentially Iran's timetable (to distract attention from Iran's pending referral to the Security Council for sanctions over its nuclear program). They are far more worried about Iran and its proxies than about Israel. They are therefore eager to see Hezbollah disarmed and defanged.
{http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/krauthammer071906.php3}
Israel was forced into this fight and is standing up to liberate Lebanon from the Syrian-linked Hizbollah. Here are a few words and comments for the Lebanese from Israeli bloggers.
I’m an IDF soldier stationed at the Lebanon is border, but got back home for a funeral of someone I knew. We can’t see all the bombing on Lebanon here from Israel (naturaly we’re focusing on bombs at Israel), so you’re pretty much updating me on what’s going on. I don’t want to start arguing about who’s right and who’s wrong, the finaly word is that it’s not right that civilians get hurt in the process, from both sides.I’m sending you my best wishes from here, and hope that you and your family will be strong and be alright until this horrible situation will be over.
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So to sum up: The Israelis want Hizbullah gone. The Lebanese want Hizbullah gone.
Why don’t the Lebanese army and the IDF team up to jointly squash Hezbullah like a bug??!!
If this was coordinated between them the strength of each could counter-act the weakness of the other for success with very little loss of civilian life.
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Until the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the businessman-politician who financed much of the reconstruction of Beirut, it was impossible to imagine a Lebanese government taking action against Hizbollah, because of its Syrian patrons. But the assassination unleashed a powerful anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon and something deeper, a sense that the time had come for Lebanese, rather than sectarian interests to rule. Hizbollah, the last of the ethnic-religious militias, is an obstacle to that newfound sends of Lebanese nationalism said to be the new mood in Lebanon. Thus, the declared goals of the Israeli military moves, as enunciated this morning by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, is to make the Lebanese government send its army to the Israeli border to replace the Hizbollah positions there. If Beirut won’t do so, he said, Israel would make sure that Hizbollah does not return to the border.
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{http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/07/18/this-week-in-israel-war/}
Two brothers, three year-old Muhammad Taluzi and seven-year-old Rabiya Taluzi, were killed on Wednesday evening when several Katyusha rockets fell on the Arab Israeli town of Nazareth.
At least nine people were wounded from shrapnel, while 28 others were evacuated to hospital for shock. A number of wounded were evacuated to the city's Italian and English hospitals.
A Mazda automotive repair shop was hit along with a three-story residential building, both in the densely-populated Arab neighborhoods of lower Nazareth.
According to witnesses, the rockets hit in the street while the children were playing outside, in defiance of Home Front Command instructions.
Northern residents are ordered by Home Front Command to remain in their bomb shelters at all times, particularly when alert sirens are sounded.
{http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1150886033419}
The UN has sent more peacekeepers to Lebanon, but it is my understanding that they already had them there. Will peacekeeping forces be affective as long as Hizbollah remains armed and dangerous?
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went within range of Hizbollah rockets Tuesday night, to visit the northern town of Haifa for talks with mayors and local authority heads, and said that the Hizbollah's attacks on Israel's northern border were designed to divert the world's attention from Iran during the G8 meeting in St. Petersburg; according to Olmert, the plan worked. Was that the plan all along to divert attention from Iran’s activities? With the Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hizbollah connection it’s certainly possible.
The Israeli army dropped leaflets on areas of southern Lebanon warning the civilian population "to stay clear of areas from which rockets are launched against Israel" The leaflets warned that these areas would become targets for the Israeli Air Force and that civilians remaining in those areas "are endangering their lives."
The leaflets also stressed that any truck or pickup truck traveling south of the Litani River (about 15 miles north of the Israeli border) would be suspected of transporting weapons and rockets and would therefore be a potential target for the Israeli army.
{http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200607/INT20060719c.html}
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE ISRAEL WANTS TO BE THE AGGRESSOR AS MANY TRY TO LABEL THEM? I DON”T THINK SO.
Should Israel be allowed to continue until Hizbollah is driven out of Lebanon? Some would say that is the case.
{http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/JonahGoldberg/2006/07/19/why_a_cease-fire_makes_no_sense_for_israel?page=full&comments=true}
Is Hizbollah a threat to Israel? YES! Is Hizbollah a threat to Lebanon? YES! Is Hizbollah a threat to the united states? Yes! Is Hizbollah a threat to the world? Most definitely YES!
{http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=hezbollah_is_here&ns=MichelleMalkin&dt=07/19/2006&page=full&comments=true}