Posted by
J.P. Farris on Monday, July 24, 2006 7:38:24 PM
This morning I saw photos from both sides of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The situation is heart wrenching. I saw Lebanese civilians bloodied and battered by Israeli attacks. I saw Israeli civilians, innocent of the conflict going on, with their homes and livelihoods destroyed. Some were bloodied but still had their lives after Hezbollah’s vicious attack. Others were not so lucky.
The following statistics were from yesterday and have probably changed:
Some 17 people were wounded Saturday, two of them seriously, as waves of Katyusha strikes - more than 160 rockets - struck targets across the north of Israel.
Ten rockets land in Haifa Sunday morning, killing two people and wounding several others. Two children hurt in Katyusha rocket strike on Carmiel Sunday morning; more rockets fired at the Upper Galilee, Acre, Tiberias and Kiryat Shmona during Sunday.
Some 37 Israelis have been killed (including soldiers) since the beginning of fighting in the north.
Hospitals in Israel have treated 1,293 people who were injured in rocket attacks since the fighting on the country's northern border began 12 days ago. 19 people are still hospitalized across the country in serious condition. Another 37 people sustained moderate wounds and 325 were lightly injured. The number of people who suffered from shock stands at 875.
Time Magazine lists six keys to peace in the Middle East:
1. Get the U.S. involved
Rice's trip is evidence that the U.S. is involved in the Middle East, whether it wants to be or not. This is not, for once, because it is the world's sole superpower, the policeman to which those in any tough neighborhood eventually turn. It is because it has a unique relationship with Israel and is committed to guaranteeing its security. That means Washington can talk to the Israelis and, occasionally, convince them that their best interests require them to talk to those whose motives and behavior they despise.
2. Don't forget the Palestinians
Like any birth, this one won't be easy. The leading Sunni Arab states, if they are to join the U.S. in opposition to Hizballah and Iran, are likely to ask for something in return, and it is not hard to divine what it would be: a full-hearted U.S. commitment to revive the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
3. Guarantee Israel's security
Israel finds itself in a dilemma. The Jewish state's superb armed forces never failed when asked to fight against massed armies in conventional wars. But Israel is not fighting a standard war now; with Hamas and Hizballah, it is battling against cells of well-trained militias energized by religious fervor. Armies surrender when their leaders tell them to; guerrillas just slip back to a safe house and wait to fight another day. All of that means that Israel has to fight a war that inevitably results in terrible and visible damage to towns and cities -- and costs innocent lives. In the court of world public opinion, that is a fight Israel ultimately can never win.
4. Stabilize Lebanon
By leaving soldiers in the West Bank after any future withdrawal, Israel might hope to be able to guarantee security on its eastern border. But the same tactic wouldn't work to the north; nobody is going to countenance Israel occupying a swath of southern Lebanon again (as it did from 1982 to 2000) to deny Hizballah room from which to fire its rockets -- least of all Israelis themselves, who are horrified by the idea of a re-occupation. That is why the fourth key to peace is to stabilize Lebanon. In part, that means propping up the fragile government of technocrats led by Fouad Siniora and pumping donors to help Lebanon rebuild itself (again). But it also means ensuring that Hizballah can no longer use its strongholds in the south to threaten regional peace.
5. Handling Iran
Assuming Iran was behind Hizballah's raid, what happens next? The U.S. and other powers are discussing how to rein in Iran's nuclear program, and it may be easier to jointly impose sanctions now that Iran is viewed as responsible for mayhem in Lebanon. But what then? European officials talk of a "constructive dialogue" with Tehran that involves recognizing it as an important regional power while maintaining the right to sanction it if it breaks the nuclear rules. But Israel -- along with many supporters in the U.S. -- thinks a dialogue with a nation whose leader has said that Israel "must be wiped off the map" is a waste of breath.
6. Pray for Iraq
The failure of the U.S. to impose order in Iraq after the invasion of 2003 has emboldened all those who believe that more spasms of violence will stop Washington and its allies from pushing for fundamental change. And there are worse possible outcomes than that. Iraq could become the launching pad for a full-on war between Sunni and Shiite, with Iran entering the fray on the Shiite side and the Arab states defending Iraq's Sunnis. Seen in that light, there's little wonder that Rice is off on her travels.{http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/23/time.cover.story.tm/index.html}
Today Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into Lebanon and captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, while two aid convoys carrying food, generators and other badly needed supplies left Beirut for two southern cities.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Beirut with diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the warfare. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said his government hopes to "put an end to the war being inflicted on Lebanon."
The White House has said an international force may be needed to help the Lebanese army move into the south, which the Beirut government has long refused, wary of confronting the guerrillas' power there.
Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia are pushing Syria to end its support for the guerrillas. Israel signaled a policy shift, saying it would accept an international force -- preferably from NATO -- to ensure the peace in southern Lebanon.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said that "We all want to urgently end the fighting. We have absolutely the same goal. But she added that if the violence ends only to restart within weeks, "then all of the carnage that Hezbollah launched by its illegal activities -- abducting the soldiers and then launching rocket attacks -- we will have gotten nothing from that."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/sns-ap-lebanon-israel,0,1799844.story?coll=ny-top-headlinesMeanwhile in Syria there are anti-US and Israel sentiments being stirred up with the situation in Iraq being a key component.
{http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-axis20jul20,0,7792197.story?coll=ny-top-headlines}
Israel seems ready to bring an end to the conflict. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel was interested in a NATO-led force, one consisting of European Union members with combat experience and the authority to take control of Lebanon’s border and crossing points.
“It’s a new idea, we’ll certainly take it seriously,” said John R. Bolton, the American ambassador to the United Nations.
{http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/world/middleeast/24mideast.html?th&emc=th}
However, there are some in the European Union who have not yet reached a consensus that the terrorist organization Hezbollah are indeed terrorists.
{http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200607/INT20060724a.html}
"The fighting in Lebanon has cost the Hizbullah a high price," IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said on Friday evening. "About 100 Hizbullah fighters were killed in IDF operations."
Speaking to reporters about the fighting in the North and in the Gaza Strip, Halutz said that the two facts that "the Hizbullah does not publish its dead or damage and has lied to the media are indicative [of its condition]."
Halutz warned Israelis that the success of operations in Lebanon could take time.
"This war is difficult and complex," he said. "The enemy has no restraints, moral or otherwise, and no responsibility for the country it is destroying. The 'protector of Lebanon' is destroying Lebanon."
As a supposed protector of Lebanon they have no qualms about bringing war down on Lebanese heads. And for those who say they are not a terrorist organization…like any terrorist organization they have sleeper cells beyond Lebanon’s borders that they are calling into activation.
{http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1153291980012}
Here are some words from a blog of an IDF soldier in Israel.
If Hezbollah is not uprooted, if the UN will start to pressure for a ceasefire before enough was achieved against it, the Arab world will perceive Hezbollah and Iran by proxy to be victorious. Lebanon will further loss control over its own country to Hezbollah and the Hamas in Gaza will assume much the same role in the south of Israel. (Iran has been supporting them as well)
{http://israelibunker.blogspot.com/}
If a ceasefire comes about without first disarming Hezbollah then what has been achieved? I read a few columns today from people addressing the conflict:
Suzanne Fields:
{http://www.townhall.com/columnists/SuzanneFields/2006/07/24/appeasing_contempt_of_the_jews}
Michael Barone: {http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MichaelBarone/2006/07/24/this_time_may_be_different}
Paul Greenberg:
{http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PaulGreenberg/2006/07/24/this_war_may_have_just_begun}
There are those that believe Hezbollah is a legitimate government party, and if only they would disarm their military branch they could stay in their government positions. However I learned some disturbing news and will end this blog entry with a list of men that must not be forgotten. Their families lost them when they were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Hezbollah terrorists.
William Rich Huggins
{http://ojc.org/higgins/}
Robert dean Stethem
{http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rdstethe.htm}
William Francis Buckley
{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Francis_Buckley}
If the fighting stops and a ceasefire is achieved then the danger posed by Hezbollah still has to be addressed.