Archive for July 2006
Hezbollah succeeds in killing … Lebanese
Reports of Hezbollah killing 18 suspected “spies” in Tyre. Also, reports of Hezbollah trying to force Druze villagers to harbor their rocket launchers.
Reminds me of Ahmad (Machmoud? sorry, can’t remember) Tabak in Nablus, first intifada. His men killed more suspected ‘collborators’ then the Israeli army ever did. Most of them were people who did not pay his protection fees.
Terrorist organizations terrorise. That’s what they’re good at.
Observation II
The last time Israel won a war:
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1967. And we still haven’t recovered.
Observation
Israel is doing its best to avoid civilian casualties.
Hezbollah is doing its best to inflict civilian casualties.
Both sides don’t seem to be doing very well.
Time to try something new, perhaps?
hope?
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Pictures of suffering in Lebanon and Gaza dominate the site of Ha’aretz, Israel’s liberal paper.
Ynet, the site of Yediuot Acharonot – the large mainstream paper – reports on anti-war demonstrations across the country. Both report about Amir Fester’s refusal. Israel confirms that it has agreed to a 48 hour halt of aerial attacks. The almost unbearable thought keeps creeping in: 10 killed each day for 10 days will not have the impact of 60 killed in one bombing. Why, why did it have to come to this? By the way, if anyone needs proof that this was not intentional: such a backlash is what you would expect. If the army wants to continue the offensive, this is the last thing it wants to see. |
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First Israeli war hero decorated
The first person to refuse to do army service during the current fighting was sentenced Sunday to 28 days in a military prison. According to the refusal organization Yesh Gvul, more than 10 other people have contacted the organization about the possibility of refusing to serve.
Believe me, it takes a lot of courage.
flashback
Yesh Gvul is calling protestors to a vigil in Paris Sq., Jerusalem, tonight at 18:00.
I can still remember the smell of tear gas and the sound of police-horse hoofs in Paris sq., ’82.
oh god, not again
At least 50 Lebanese citizens were killed, 23 of them children, in the IAF strike on a building early Sunday. Dozens of others were reportedly trapped in the rubble. Several houses collapsed and a three-story building where about 100 civilians were sheltering was destroyed, witnesses and rescue workers said.
In 1996 the accidental bombing of a UN camp in Kfar Qana brought the end of the “grapes of wrath” operation, and subsequently contributed to the falling of the Peres government. 105 civilians were killed.
In 1982 the Sabra and Shatila massecre, commited by pro-Israeli Lebanese melitia, brought the end of the war, and subsequently the fall of the Begin & Sharon goverment. 400 civilians were killed.
No, I do not believe that in any of these cases Israel deliberately sought these results. But damn it, this is war. What did you expect? If you conduct war in a populated area, this is what eventually happens. You don’t need too much brains to figure this one out.
So now the Israeli peace camp will get out of its coma, people will take to the streets (some already have), the war will stop and some sort of agreament will be negotiated. The parameters of this agreament have been known for over a week. And all will go back to ‘normal’.
So why, why, did it have to come to this?
What now? Simple. Ulmert and Peretz are responsible. Ulmert and Peretz must go. If we Israelis want the world to know that this was not done in our name, that’s the only way to go.
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A punch to the gut
A new voice
Let’s declare victory and start talking, says Ze’ev Sternhell in Ha’aretz:
Apparently, we did not learn a thing from the first Lebanon War or from the American defeat in Iraq. If the definition of Israel’s strategic goal given by the head of Military Intelligence at the beginning of the week reflects the government’s position, we are in big trouble.
The importance is not so much in what he says, but in where he’s saying it. Looks like t the first yawns of an awakening of reason. Or at least, I hope it is.
