What I am watching in Lebanon each day is an outrage
By Robert Fisk in Mdeirej, Central Lebanon
Published: 15 July 2006
The beautiful viaduct that soars over the mountainside here has become a "
terrorist" target. The Israelis attacked the international highway from
Beirut to Damascus just after dawn yesterday and dropped a bomb clean
through the central span of the Italian-built bridge a symbol of Lebanon's
co-operation with the European Union sending concrete crashing hundreds of
feet down into the valley beneath. It was the pride of the murdered ex-prime
minister Rafik Hariri, the face of a new, emergent Lebanon. And now it is a
" terrorist" target.
So I drove gingerly along the old mountain road towards the Bekaa
yesterday the Israeli jets were hissing through the sky above me turned
the corner once I rejoined the highway, and found a 50ft crater with an old
woman climbing wearily down the side on her hands and knees, trying to reach
her home in the valley that glimmered to the east. This too had become a "
terrorist" target.
It is now the same all over Lebanon. In the southern suburbs where the
Hizbollah, captors of the two missing Israeli soldiers, have their
headquarters a massive bomb had blasted off the sides of apartment blocks
next to a church, splintering windows and crashing balconies down on to
parked cars. This too had become a "terrorist" target.
One man was brought out shrieking with pain, covered in blood. Another "
terrorist" target. All the way to the airport were broken bridges, holed
roads. All these were "terrorist" targets. At the airport, tongues of fire
blossomed into the sky from aircraft fuel storage tanks, darkening west
Beirut. These too were now "terrorist" targets. At Jiyeh, the Israelis
attacked the power station. This too was a " terrorist" target.
Yet when I drove to the actual headquarters of the Hizbollah, a tall
building in Haret Hreik, it was totally undamaged. Only last night did the
Israelis manage to hit it.
So can the Lebanese be forgiven can anyone here be forgiven for
believing that the Israelis have a greater interest in destroying Lebanon
than they do in their two soldiers?
No wonder Middle East Airlines, the national Lebanese airline, put crews
into its four stranded Airbuses at Beirut airport early yesterday and
sneaked them out of the country for Amman before the Israelis realised they
were under power and leaving.
European politicians have talked about Israel's "disproportionate" response
to Wednesday's capture of its soldiers. They are wrong. What I am now
watching in Lebanon each day is an outrage. How can there be any excuse
any for the 73 dead Lebanese civilians blown apart these past three days?
The same applies, of course, to the four Israeli civilians killed by
Hizbollah rockets. But please note the exchange rate of Israeli civilian
lives to Lebanese civilian lives now stands at one to more than 15. This
does not include two children atomised in their home in Dweir on Thursday
whose bodies cannot be found. Their six brothers and sisters were buried
yesterday, with their mother and father. Another "terrorist" target. So was
a neighbouring family with five children who were also buried yesterday.
Another "terrorist" target.
Terrorist, terrorist, terrorist. There is something perverse about all this,
the slaughter and the massive destruction and the self-righteous, constant,
cancerous use of the word "terrorist". No, let us not forget that the
Hizbollah broke international law, crossed the Israeli border, killed three
Israeli soldiers, captured two others and dragged them back through the
border fence. It was an act of calculated ruthlessness that should never
allow Hizbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to grin so broadly at his press
conference. It has brought unparalleled tragedy to countless innocents in
Lebanon. And of course, it has led Hizbollah to fire at least 170 Katyusha
rockets into Israel.
But what would happen if the powerless Lebanese government had unleashed air
attacks across Israel the last time Israel's troops crossed into Lebanon?
What if the Lebanese air force then killed 73 Israeli civilians in bombing
raids in Ashkelon, Tel Aviv and Israeli West Jerusalem? What if a Lebanese
fighter aircraft bombed Ben Gurion airport? What if a Lebanese plane
destroyed 26 road bridges across Israel? Would it not be called "
terrorism"? I rather think it would. But if Israel was the victim, it would
probably also be World War Three.
Of course, Lebanon cannot attack Tel Aviv. Its air force comprises three
ancient Hawker Hunters and an equally ancient fleet of Vietnam-era Huey
helicopters. Syria, however, has missiles that can reach Tel Aviv. So
Syria which Israel rightly believes to be behind Wednesday's Hizbollah
attack is not going to be bombed. It is Lebanon which must be punished.
The Israeli leadership intends to "break" the Hizbollah and destroy its
"terrorist cancer". Really? Do the Israelis really believe they can "break"
one of the toughest guerrilla armies in the world? And how?
There are real issues here. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1559 the
same resolution that got the Syrian army out of Lebanon the Shia Muslim
Hizbollah should have been disarmed. They were not because, if the Lebanese
Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, had tried to do so, the Lebanese army would
have had to fight them and the army would almost certainly have broken apart
because most Lebanese soldiers are Shia Muslims. We could see the restarting
of the civil war in Lebanon a fact which Nasrallah is cynically aware of
but attempts by Siniora and his cabinet colleagues to find a new role for
Hizbollah, which has a minister in the government (he is Minister of Labour)
foundered. And the greatest danger now is that the Lebanese government will
collapse and be replaced by a pro-Syrian government which could reinvite the
Syrians back into the country.
So there's a real conundrum to be solved. But it's not going to succeed with
the mass bombing of the country by Israel. Nor the obsession with
terrorists, terrorists, terrorists.
***
The clause about Israel's record of avoiding civilian casualties is a joke.
The toll in Lebanon last time (1982, Sharon's ingenious plan to get rid
of the PLO) was 18 to 20,000. "Leader of the Opposition" and one-time
advocate of "transfer" Netanyahu said today on MSNBC that it's
necessary to bomb "rocket nests" in urban 'hoods. The bow-tied twerp
Tucker Carlson said, "You're right." -AFS
Note: forwarded message attached
----- Original Message -----
From: Jewish Voice for Peace
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 3:23 PM
Subject: Take Action to Oppose Another Lopsided Bill In Congress
Once again, the House of Representatives is sticking its
unbalanced hand into Middle East affairs and threatening to make
matters even worse.
The House is currently considering a bill that puts all blame for
the current violence between Israel and Hizbullah on one side.
There is no doubt that Hizbullah initiated this round of the conflict
with a blatantly illegal act. Nor can it be doubted, as Human Rights
Watch points out here, that their attacks on Israeli cities are also
criminal. At this writing, 12 Israeli civilians have been killed.
But Israel's response has been a massive attack on Lebanese civilians,
with over 300 killed already. Israel's attack has been overwhelming and
disproportionate, and Israel's refusal to negotiate leaves no other course
but one which will lead to the deaths of more Lebanese and Israeli
civilians. The House bill makes no mention of any of this, other than to
justify it.
Click
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4678
(or click on the attached which includes photos and graphics)
to write your representative and tell her or him that you expect the
United States to take a balanced approach. Tell them that it is in the
best interests of Americans, Israelis, Lebanese and Palestinians for
Israel to accept a cease-fire and begin immediate negotiations to
resolve the issues, including prisoners on all sides and other
grievances, as well as, finally, an end to Israel's 39-year old
occupation of Palestinian lands.
***
Zapatero Slams Aggression on Lebanon
Madrid, Jul 19 (Prensa Latina) Spanish Head of Government Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero heavily criticized the abusive forces killing innocents
and the international community´s silence on the Israeli aggression on
Lebanon, which they could regret tomorrow.
Addressing the Festival of Socialist Youth in Alicante, Rodriguez Zapatero
condemned Israel´s pretext of defense to continue attacking civilians as
punishment for the Hezbollah kidnapping of two of its soldiers.
The head of government also asked nations to speak up against the war on
Iraq where, he said, 6,000 people were killed in the last six months, and
50,000 since the March 2003 invasion.
His ideas were echoed by Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos,
who asserted the Israeli escalation of violence will only be halted by the
UN and EU taking a firm and committed stance.
hr/ccs/ecq/bts
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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