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The Israeli government is positive that it is only targetting Hizbollah and not targetting civilians. This must mean that Hizbollah was running Beirut International airport and the lighthouse near the port. The Israeli ambassador to the UN even made the extraordinary claim that civilian homes are being used as launchpads for Hizbollah rockets. The idea of katyusha rockets being launched from somebody’s living room sounds like bullsh1t to me. No doubt people will believe him though.
Its a known fact that Hezbollah are in Southern Lebanon, so why are all news pictures showing Northern cities in ruins…….. Rotten shots. :?:
All the Palestinians have got to do is weed out the terrorists , denounce them , get them to lay down their weapons , instead of voting them into Government – then we can get on with some sort of peace process
We might be horrified at what Israel is doing but we shouldn’t lose sight of what they are fighting – an extremist genocidal organisation, Hizbullah (virtually the Iranian foreign legion) that has an agenda going far beyond righting the wrongs that Israel might have done over the years. Remember what Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently about ‘wiping Israel from the map’. This could be the beginning of his plan.
Israel went into Lebanon to root out the PLO in 1982 and this invasion spawned Hizbollah. There is no defence for what Israel is doing, they have sophisticated weapons and are capable of precision strikes yet we’re seeing strike after strike against clearly civilian targets, killing scores of totally innocent civilians. These are war crimes so it’s not just hizbollah that should be criticized. Until recently, Hizbollah was only involved in minor skirmishes over disputed territory following the withdrawal by Israel in 2000. This doesn’t sound like a “genocidal” group. It was events in Gaza that sparked Hizbollah into taking action.
Hamas came into existence during the first uprising against the Occupation in 1987, so yet again we see that Israel’s military presence on Arab land spawned one of their deadliest enemies. If Israel had taken steps to implement resolution 242 in 1967 then Hamas and Hizbollah would probably not exist now. Israel rejected a peace deal offered by the Arab League a few years ago. It rejects the idea of an international peace keeping or monitoring force in the occupied territories, it rejects the road-map without it being amended with several preconditions and it has tried to reject the Geneva convention saying it doesn’t apply in the Occupied Territories.
If the definition of terrorism is the use of military force against innocent civilians then Israel is guilty of terrorism too. Israel is acting as a law unto itself. It makes no effort to observe international law. Israel was told almost 40 years ago to leave the arab territory it took in the 6 day war instead it continued to annex more land. Israel has thousands of arab prisoners many of whom have never been charged let alone convicted of any crime.
The IDF has no concern for the lives of Arab civilians, something that has been displayed in the Palestinian territories for decades. It was also shown when Israel bombed the UN compound in Lebanon in the 1990s killing around 100 refugees. Not to mention the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla which Ariel Sharon allowed to happen. The barbarity of Israel towards arab populations is what fuels militancy. If you were Lebanese, how would you feel about Israel?
Israel needs to sit down with the arabs and hammer out a comprehensive deal to resolve all outstanding issues and finally bring about an end to this conflict. There is no alternative to a negotiated settlement. There is no military solution to this conflict.
So was Britain’s declaration of war on Germany in 1939 a war crime? Did Londoners blame Chamberlain and then Churchill for the German bombs that rained down on their city?
Israel needs to sit down with the arabs and hammer out a comprehensive deal to resolve all outstanding issues and finally bring about an end to this conflict. There is no alternative to a negotiated settlement. There is no military solution to this conflict.
I don’t think Hamas, Hizbullah, Al Qaeda or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would even consider negotiations with Israel even if it offered to give up all its territory! Not even if every last Jew offered to drown themselves in the Med would the jihadists sit down and negotiate.
Under the 4th Geneva convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians in times of war, it is illegal to carry out collective punishment, to wantonly destroy property or to deliberately target civilians. The nations who signed up to that convention, including Israel, have an obligation to protect the lives and human rights of non-combatants. Undoubtedly, Israel’s disproportionate response constitutes a grave breach of this convention.
Secondly, Hizbollah was involved in negotiations with Israel before regarding the exchange of prisoners and Hamas has said that it would be willing to recognize the 1967 borders and cease its armed campaign if Israel withdraws from Palestinian territory. Israel keeps making excuses to avoid negotiations so that it can keep its grip on stolen Arab land.
People warned Israel and the USA that if they didn’t support the moderates in Fatah then the hardliners would take over. Did they listen? No. People are now warning Israel and America that if they don’t support the moderate regime in Beirut then the government will collapse and the hardliners will take over. Are they listening now? No.
People warned Israel and the USA that if they didn’t support the moderates in Fatah then the hardliners would take over. Did they listen? No. People are now warning Israel and America that if they don’t support the moderate regime in Beirut then the government will collapse and the hardliners will take over. Are they listening now? No.
The way I see it, the hardliners are taking over anyway. Their agenda is independent of anything that the west or Israel do. Yes, they can tailor responses to cynically heap blame on us, like with the 7/7 London bombings. But such acts were on the cards anyway, they were the whole raison d’etre of the Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan that operated through the 1990’s, culminating in 9/11/2001 and the resulting invasion of Afghanistan.
These terrorists know how to commit outrages that wrongfoot the west, forcing western governments to make unpopular decisions.
@Mr Bigstuff wrote:
..that if they didn’t support the moderates in Fatah then the hardliners would take over. Did they listen? No. People are now warning Israel and America that if they don’t support the moderate regime in Beirut then the government will collapse and the hardliners will take over. Are they listening now? No.
I told you! Now look what you’ve made me do! These are the arguments of a wife beater.
Look at the facts, there was a moderate Palestinian government that recognized the state of Israel. They told their electorate to have faith in them and told them that by choosing a path of peace they could deliver results. That government didn’t get the support it needed from the West, the Israelis refused to negotiate, they continued their persecution and killing of the Palestinians and they weren’t able to deliver any results.
Then there was Hamas, who claimed responsibility for making Israel’s presence in Gaza untenable, who promised to wipe out corruption and who took a much more defiant stance towards Israel.
The Hamas victory could have been avoided if there had been true support for the peacemakers but there wasn’t and the people got sick of holding out an olive branch when the other side was holding an m-16.
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