Sunday, July 16, 2006
The War of Words
So Israel is threatening to devastate all of southern Lebanon nowadays, with the Israeli Army saying it has warned civilians to leave southern Lebanon. Hezbollah rockets struck Haifa and killed about ten people. So far about 16 Israeli civilians have perished in hundreds of rocket attacks mounted by Hezbollah over the past several days.
On the Lebanese side the death toll is about 100. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud maintained on Sunday that Israel has used “phosphorus incendiary bombs, which are a blatant violation of international laws” against Lebanese civilians. Zeev Boim, Israeli minister of immigration and political ally of Ehud Olmet, said that the leader of Hezbollah “had better pray to Allah” because Israel was going to “wipe him out.” Saudi Arabia and Kuwait pledged a total of $70 million to help rebuild the devastated infrastructure of Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the United States opposed a Security Council resolution of any kind and Great Britain opposed one calling for a ceasefire. Lebanon criticized the United States for obstructing the resolution proposed by Qatar calling for a ceasefire, for the protection of civilians, etc. Nouhad Mahmoud said, “It sends very wrong signals not only to the Lebanese people but to all Arab people, to all small nations that we are left to the might of Israel and nobody is doing anything.”
It does indeed send a very bad signal to Arab nations that the UN is unwilling to even issue a ceasefire resolution. US obstructionism is disgracing both itself and the entire UN.
Meanwhile, the Bush Administration continued its PR offensive against Hezbollah and Lebanon, insisting that “Hezbollah...is at the root of the problem” and working to convince other G8 nations to adopt a resolution “blaming Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria” for the violence.
And so the Bush Administration master plan unfolded, a plan to blame anyone for the violence except the people actually doing the vast majority of the killing.
Indonesians protested Israel’s actions (about 85% of Indonesia’s 220 million citizens are Muslim). Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, criticized Israeli action:"Bombs are exploding, innocent people are being killed, infrastructures are being destroyed ... The powerful continue to crush the weak, but unfortunately those who hold the power in the world are keeping mum.” The Arab League unanimously condemned the Israeli action. The European Union was critical.
Gaza has seemingly been forgotten, even as Israeli raids continue. Israel’s campaign to free its captured soldier has led to 82 Palestinians and one Israeli solider dead.
# posted by BitterHarvest @ 11:52 AM 
