| How to stop the war in Lebanon |
I have read a lot of Lebanese blogs by now. Most of them go against Nasralla and Hizballa. Some of them also go against Israel. Almost all of them are calling for the cease of violence and attacks.
Well ,here is the basic Israeli stand, which I also support.
Some facts:
- Israel was attacked without provocation by Hizballa, killing 3 soldiers and kidnapping another 2.
- The attack comes after years that Israel already retreated to a UN specified international border recognized by the world.
- UN resolution declaring the border also clearly says it is Lebanon’s responsibility, as a country, to disarm Hizballa and have Lebanon’s army deploy on the border with Israel, instead of Hizballa.
- Lebanon’s government was warned endless times in the past few years that they should apply the UN resolution, disband Hizballa and have Lebanese army posted at the border.
- Lebanon is a sovereign country.
Israel declared 2 goals for this battle campaign:
1. Retrieve kidnapped soldiers
2. Forcing the UN resolution compliance. Which means having Hizballa disarmed and disbanded and have Lebanon’s army on our border.
Both of those targets are fully supported by Israeli citizens and are totally justified, not only by us but by Lebanese and the rest of the world.
The criticizm on Israel comes for it’s “over reacting”. It is an “over reacting” if our goal was only to get the kidnapped soldiers back. It is way below “over reacting” if we’re aiming at the second goal.
I do understand that the government of Lebanon is weak and currently to fight Hizballa. But frankly - it shouldn’t be of any interest to me. That’s an internal Lebanese issue. All I know is that a Lebanese force - and Hizballa is not only controlling the south, it also have seats in the Lebanese government - had attacked Israel. And for that reason, the Israeli attacks on Lebanese targets, and not only Hizballa ones - is totally in place.
I do agree damage to civilians should be minimized. But the Israeli army do not target Lebanese civilians (although civilians do get hurt in the attacks). It does attack Hizballa controlled areas (south suburbs of Beirut) and places where it knows Hizballa ammo is held (including private homes, which is new for IDF - but reasonable. If you choose to have weapons in your house you become a legitimate target).
However, Hizballa is firing missiles on Israel targeting civilians on purpose. We have over 200 missiles hitting cities in Israel, killing people and wounding hundreds, and that’s only in the last 48 hours.
And let me remind you again - All this cause of an unprovoked attack by the hizballa on Israel, when we no longer in Lebanon according to the international borders.
With all due respect - If you want to blame the destruction in Lebanon on someone, you finger should be pointed directly at the Hizballa and Lebanon (and also Syria and Iran, but that’s another matter).
Ho, and about those claims I read in blogs that Lebanon isn’t strong enough to control Hizballa? Well, a year and a half ago, no one thought Lebanon was strong enough to throw Syria out. But the Lebanese public did just that. And it should do it again.
So, to sum this up, there is a very clear way to stop the current battles in Lebanon:
Return our soldiers, and fulfill the UN resolution of disarming and disbanding the Hizballa, having Lebanese army control the south and the borders. As simple as that.
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[…] by Civax. […]
[…] Lebanon: Italy relayed Israeli ceasefire conditions - Lebanon’s government says Italy has relayed Israeli conditions to stop the offensive: the release of captured Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah’s withdrawal from near the Israeli border. (AP) This just highlights what I wrote here: How to stop the war in Lebanon […]
Some more facts:
Israel has been in a state of war with Lebanon since its foundation. After occupying part of Lebanon in 1982 and withdrawing in 2000, Israel did not bother to negotiate a peace treaty, which might have included reparations to Lebanon for the occupation.
In the past, Israel has also resorted to abducting people from Lebanon to be used as bargaining chips
Israel disregards a whole bunch of UN SC resolutions.
While nobody’s questions Israel’s right to strike back at Hizbollah as in any war, killing Lebanese civilians to pressure the Lebanese government to do the ugly job of challenging Hizbollah on the ground for Israel, constitutes terrorism and the responsible Israeli officials should be persecuted internationally.
Israel does not kill civilians for any reason, let alone pressure a government.
Civilians are killed for 2 and a half reasons:
1. Mistake in identity. Those happen in war, unfortunatly and regretably.
2. Being too close to legitimate targets. One of the reasons IDF throws pamphlets before attacking a target within an inhabited area.
And a half reason:
People who harbour terrorists, weapons, or allow terrorists to use their homes or presence for firing missiles are NOT really civilians. People who help hide rockets and missiles are not really civilians. Not in Palestine territories and not in Lebanon. and they are LEGITIMATE TARGETS.
Please notice that even though Hizbulla TARGET civilians in Israel - on purpose - with rockets, we do not go around crying about it.
Regarding the UN SC resolutions - Israel had completed its side completely on the 1559 resolution. We now at the recognized international border. There are NO MORE international demands from Israel regarding Lebanon. It is LEBANON that failed the most important resolution so far and it was LEBANON’s fault for the current situation. Had the Lebanese government took over Hizbulla like it was required to do, all this could have been avoided.
One poetic phrase being thown around by Condi Rice is “birth pangs of democracy in the Middle East”. Birth pangs! Birth pangs!!! This is my American opinion. I can tell the difference between a terrorist and citizens of a country defending their birthright against a more powerful invader. I have to add something here for the sake of history and to shut-up some current misinformation twisting this into Hezbolla’s fault. Fact: Nobody was bombing Israel before Israel bombed Beirut. Its un-American to not be on the underdog’s side here. Shame on a nation of holocaust survivors like Israel to ever regard other human beings as less then human. I’ll have nothing to do with Jewish bigotry, and Israeli apartheid. The war crimes of Israel have been piling up, and have always been disproportionate to the Palestinian and Lebanese victims. That’s the fact in the face of you blind rightwing blog trolls. I’m aghast at Israel and its awfully Nazi war crime here in Lebanon, and I’m even more aghast at my un-American government’s support of this bull. You are your own nemesis Israel and as an American I hope Hezbolla kicks your ass. Its like America calling the resistance in Iraq an “insurgency” when they are just citizens fighting for their own country against an unwelcome foreign invader. I guess that explains my government’s support here since we share something known as blood-guilt, and have long since abandoned any moral leg to stand on. What has my country become when they can look at what’s happening in Lebanon and not be offended at the most essentially American level. We have been fighting our own war with lies for far too long also. When you fight your wars with lies you pit yourself up against reality, and reality should kick your ass because you don’t even know your own enemy. I’m curious of what Israel has been up to in Iraq since the invasion being that they are such a diabolical and invisible participant. I’m fed up with Israel’s games and its time for Americans to get some balls and be fed up with it too. We will be discussing the role of Congress in this and other recent betrayals of the people’s will during the war crimes trials sure to occur in the near future.
[…] here. P.S. - Want to stop the war? It’s still the same way. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
[…] Blog pointer: Civax has made some excellent commentary in a post titled “how to stop the war in Lebanon.” Snoopy the Goon has a post that makes some similar points in a post titled “open letter to Lebanese bloggers.” One of the things I found the most interesting about both of these posts is the belief and that the Lebanese people are a lot stronger than they think and that they have already done some incredibly (internally) difficult things such as booting Syrian troops out the door and that they will find the strength and the reserves to boot Hezbollah as well. […]