I write from Israeli occupied East Jerusalem, the gateway of the Palestinian territories stolen from Israel in 1967. Here the fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah is distant, but growing closer--spatially and emotionally. Yesterday, a Palestinian friend from a northern Arab village was told that one Hezbollah rocket --fired fairly indiscriminately--exploded near three Palestinian youths, his cousins, killing them all. This underscored the fact that even if referred to as a defensive move against an Israeli invasion, Hezbollah's rockets (which have killed about 30 civilians, Israeli and Palestinian, thus far) are not being launched with any degree of responsibility.
This I say NOT because Palestinians are being killed by these bombs (at least 5 of the 30 mentioned above have been Arabs) but because the rocket attacks are indiscriminate and civilians of all kinds are being killed.
Needless to say, Israel's attacks against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians is far greater in scale; a far different carnage, qualitatively and quantitatively. But this does not justify Hezbollah rocket attacks that have also killed civilians. In the words of the Human Rights Watch report, declaring Israeli actions the last few weeks as "War Crimes," “War crimes by one party to a conflict never justify war crimes by another,” Executive Director of HRW, Kenneth Roth said.
I concur. My view is that if Hezbollah, recently invaded and subject to these Israeli war crimes, wishes to retaliate against military sites and infrastructure sites within Israel, that would be justified. But under no circumstances should rockets be launched that have the possibility of killing civilians--be they Arab or Israeli.
In other words: "Who is responsible for the civilian deaths resulting from Hezbollah attacks?": Hezbollah. Who is responsible for this large scale fighting and invasion in the FIRST place?: Israel and the United States. The US because nothing Israel does happens without US consent, in one way or another.
To answer the previous entry, right above this one, Israeli progressives opposed to Israel's vicious invasion understand that Israel is serving the vision of the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Bush Axis of evil. An evil that wishes to wage open war against Syria, iran, and their alledged proxies in the region. That hundreds or thousands of innocent Lebanese and Palestinians die in the process matters little to these murderers.
This I say NOT because Palestinians are being killed by these bombs (at least 5 of the 30 mentioned above have been Arabs) but because the rocket attacks are indiscriminate and civilians of all kinds are being killed.
Needless to say, Israel's attacks against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians is far greater in scale; a far different carnage, qualitatively and quantitatively. But this does not justify Hezbollah rocket attacks that have also killed civilians. In the words of the Human Rights Watch report, declaring Israeli actions the last few weeks as "War Crimes," “War crimes by one party to a conflict never justify war crimes by another,” Executive Director of HRW, Kenneth Roth said.
I concur. My view is that if Hezbollah, recently invaded and subject to these Israeli war crimes, wishes to retaliate against military sites and infrastructure sites within Israel, that would be justified. But under no circumstances should rockets be launched that have the possibility of killing civilians--be they Arab or Israeli.
In other words: "Who is responsible for the civilian deaths resulting from Hezbollah attacks?": Hezbollah. Who is responsible for this large scale fighting and invasion in the FIRST place?: Israel and the United States. The US because nothing Israel does happens without US consent, in one way or another.
To answer the previous entry, right above this one, Israeli progressives opposed to Israel's vicious invasion understand that Israel is serving the vision of the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Bush Axis of evil. An evil that wishes to wage open war against Syria, iran, and their alledged proxies in the region. That hundreds or thousands of innocent Lebanese and Palestinians die in the process matters little to these murderers.
posted by thomasabowd at 11:17 PM
3 Comments:
The new US sponsored UN Resolution is pretty atrocious (read the text yourselves). It seems meant to be rejected by Lebanon and, thus to buy the Israeli war crimes machine more time to try to destroy Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, of course, won't be destroyed (for every Israeli massacre and war crime in Lebanon and Palestine, 100 new recruits are no doubt found). That is precisely what Israel does not understand, blinded by its own arrogance and its capacity to murder 50 peoople with one mega-bomb attack).
Further, given the ways in which the resistances in Lebanon are making Israel's invasion costly, the latter could very easily be seen as having failed in its military objectives if Hezbollah simply survives with some rockets and is able to fight another day.
There is much buzz in the Israeli New York Times (Ha'aretz) about how the Olmert/Peretz war criminal duo have only produced for Israel greater isolation in the world while promising much more militarily than they can actually deliver. Much of the Israeli left sees their regime as being used as a tool of US designs on the region. I wish the Thomas Friedmans of the US media were half as perceptive.
The new US sponsored UN Resolution is pretty atrocious (read the text yourselves). It seems meant to be rejected by Lebanon and, thus to buy the Israeli war crimes machine more time to try to destroy Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, of course, won't be destroyed (for every Israeli massacre and war crime in Lebanon and Palestine, 100 new recruits are no doubt found). That is precisely what Israel does not understand, blinded by its own arrogance and its capacity to murder 50 peoople with one mega-bomb attack).
Further, given the ways in which the resistances in Lebanon are making Israel's invasion costly, the latter could very easily be seen as having failed in its military objectives if Hezbollah simply survives with some rockets and is able to fight another day.
There is much buzz in the Israeli New York Times (Ha'aretz) about how the Olmert/Peretz war criminal duo have only produced for Israel greater isolation in the world while promising much more militarily than they can actually deliver. Much of the Israeli left sees their regime as being used as a tool of US designs on the region. I wish the Thomas Friedmans of the US media were half as perceptive.
The new US sponsored UN Resolution is pretty atrocious (read the text yourselves). It seems meant to be rejected by Lebanon and, thus to buy the Israeli war crimes machine more time to try to destroy Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, of course, won't be destroyed (for every Israeli massacre and war crime in Lebanon and Palestine, 100 new recruits are no doubt found). That is precisely what Israel does not understand, blinded by its own arrogance and its capacity to murder 50 peoople with one mega-bomb attack).
Further, given the ways in which
the resistances in Lebanon are making Israel's invasion costly, the latter could very easily be seen as having failed in its military objectives if Hezbollah simply survives with some rockets and is able to fight another day.
There is much buzz in the Israeli New York Times (Ha'aretz) about how the Olmert/Peretz war criminal duo have only produced for Israel greater isolation in the world while promising much more militarily than they can actually deliver. Much of the Israeli left sees their regime as being used as a tool of US designs on the region. I wish the Thomas Friedmans of the US media were half as perceptive.
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