"The Gaza boys, all that holy stuff" - the saga, very sadly, continues
And I do not mean to be flippant about this very serious conflict at all.
As anyone not living on the moon for the past week must have observed, Israel are at present bombing Lebanon back to the stone ages. The week-old war, which is the worst flare-up in at least 10 years in the conflict between Israel and it's arab/muslim-neighbours, boasts a death toll which is currently hovering around 200 for the Lebanese and the Palestinians, and about 30 on the Israeli side. Other casualties should be on a ratio at least as favorable to the Israleis as concerning deaths.
It all started with Hamas kidnapping 19 y.o. Israeli soldier (a certain 1985 Paul Hardcastle song springs to mind) Gilad Shalit in late June, which sparked the Israeli kidnapping of about a third of the Palestinian cabinet, quite a few of their parliament, and the demolishing of the Palestinian Foreing Ministry (the building, situated on Gaza - at least it used to be until last week.. ). Lebanese freedom-fighters Hezbollah (constituted as a response to the long 1982 Israeli siege and occupation of Lebanese capital Beirut) apparently wanted to get in on the action, and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Well, Hezbollah, if you wanted to draw attentions away from the plight of the Palestinians, you certainly got what you wanted - but at what price and for what possible reason??
In any event, Israeli retaliation overkill ensued, and is still both ongoing and escalating. So now Israel is bullying and terrorizing both the Palestinians and the Lebanese (who, for the most part, can not be held responsible for the actions of the Hezbollah, and who are also now left with little reason to support the Isreali offensive into their beautiful meditteranean homeland). Of course there are the occasional responses from Hezbollah, but nothing on the scale of destruction that Israel is pursuing at the moment.
I feel sorry for the Isreali people, but my strongest sympathies go without a doubt to the civilian populations of Lebanon and Gaza. May I remind readers that Israel is a nationstate and a territory awarded to the Israel by UN resolution (picking up on the Brits and their Balfour-declaration from the days of Word War One), and that is now the country that is cleraly the number one violator of UN resolutions. It seems that it's gotten to the point where the UN doesn't even bother to make resolutions against Israeli offensives anymore - instead Bush and Blair talk over some chow and arrange the main outline of the coming western response all by themselves (and to an open microphone, which clearly wasn't their intention, but it won't pull them down).
The numbers speak for themselves. And it should be added: The Hezbollah, which neocon US ambassador to the UN, Mr. Bolton, observes is causing all this (sic!), actually do have a few excuses and explanations: Part of their land has for a while been occupied by Israeli armed forces, and quite of few of their members are being held imprisoned under Israelian custody - without trial by law.
For the last year or so I have noticed a quite heavy barrage of commercials on CNN advertising the Lebanon - and Beirut in particular - as the new hot spot for tourism and leisure. I had a feeling that all the usual mideast troubles were behind them, and they were joining the western civilization as open-minded, enterprising and pleasure-loving Club Med-regulars. "Come to Lebanon", the commercials said (and I paraphrase), "where the sun is shining and the people know how to have a good time".
These commercials were the first images I thought of, as I watched the escalating military terror being forced upon Beirut, and more and more other parts of the Lebanon, on the first days of the terror. My eyes almost watered. I have never before really gotten emotionally engaged in the Israel-related conflicts between jews and arabs, but now it's gotten, within the space of a few days only, almost to the point where I'd want to go down there and fight on the side of the Lebanese and/or the Palestinians. If only I'd have thought it would have helped...
Ps. Those Beirut-commercials, so frequent until very recently, are never shown anymore. But although they were quite lengthy (At least a minute I believe, also presenting viewers with business and shopping facilities etc.; all that leisure- and business-life could offer to those with cosmopolitan and/or languid inclinations), and ran quite frequently, I'd wager that Beirut is on display at CNN several tenfold times longer per day at present. Albeit for all the wrong reasons...
As anyone not living on the moon for the past week must have observed, Israel are at present bombing Lebanon back to the stone ages. The week-old war, which is the worst flare-up in at least 10 years in the conflict between Israel and it's arab/muslim-neighbours, boasts a death toll which is currently hovering around 200 for the Lebanese and the Palestinians, and about 30 on the Israeli side. Other casualties should be on a ratio at least as favorable to the Israleis as concerning deaths.
It all started with Hamas kidnapping 19 y.o. Israeli soldier (a certain 1985 Paul Hardcastle song springs to mind) Gilad Shalit in late June, which sparked the Israeli kidnapping of about a third of the Palestinian cabinet, quite a few of their parliament, and the demolishing of the Palestinian Foreing Ministry (the building, situated on Gaza - at least it used to be until last week.. ). Lebanese freedom-fighters Hezbollah (constituted as a response to the long 1982 Israeli siege and occupation of Lebanese capital Beirut) apparently wanted to get in on the action, and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Well, Hezbollah, if you wanted to draw attentions away from the plight of the Palestinians, you certainly got what you wanted - but at what price and for what possible reason??
In any event, Israeli retaliation overkill ensued, and is still both ongoing and escalating. So now Israel is bullying and terrorizing both the Palestinians and the Lebanese (who, for the most part, can not be held responsible for the actions of the Hezbollah, and who are also now left with little reason to support the Isreali offensive into their beautiful meditteranean homeland). Of course there are the occasional responses from Hezbollah, but nothing on the scale of destruction that Israel is pursuing at the moment.
I feel sorry for the Isreali people, but my strongest sympathies go without a doubt to the civilian populations of Lebanon and Gaza. May I remind readers that Israel is a nationstate and a territory awarded to the Israel by UN resolution (picking up on the Brits and their Balfour-declaration from the days of Word War One), and that is now the country that is cleraly the number one violator of UN resolutions. It seems that it's gotten to the point where the UN doesn't even bother to make resolutions against Israeli offensives anymore - instead Bush and Blair talk over some chow and arrange the main outline of the coming western response all by themselves (and to an open microphone, which clearly wasn't their intention, but it won't pull them down).
The numbers speak for themselves. And it should be added: The Hezbollah, which neocon US ambassador to the UN, Mr. Bolton, observes is causing all this (sic!), actually do have a few excuses and explanations: Part of their land has for a while been occupied by Israeli armed forces, and quite of few of their members are being held imprisoned under Israelian custody - without trial by law.
For the last year or so I have noticed a quite heavy barrage of commercials on CNN advertising the Lebanon - and Beirut in particular - as the new hot spot for tourism and leisure. I had a feeling that all the usual mideast troubles were behind them, and they were joining the western civilization as open-minded, enterprising and pleasure-loving Club Med-regulars. "Come to Lebanon", the commercials said (and I paraphrase), "where the sun is shining and the people know how to have a good time".
These commercials were the first images I thought of, as I watched the escalating military terror being forced upon Beirut, and more and more other parts of the Lebanon, on the first days of the terror. My eyes almost watered. I have never before really gotten emotionally engaged in the Israel-related conflicts between jews and arabs, but now it's gotten, within the space of a few days only, almost to the point where I'd want to go down there and fight on the side of the Lebanese and/or the Palestinians. If only I'd have thought it would have helped...
Ps. Those Beirut-commercials, so frequent until very recently, are never shown anymore. But although they were quite lengthy (At least a minute I believe, also presenting viewers with business and shopping facilities etc.; all that leisure- and business-life could offer to those with cosmopolitan and/or languid inclinations), and ran quite frequently, I'd wager that Beirut is on display at CNN several tenfold times longer per day at present. Albeit for all the wrong reasons...
posted by Agile | 7:14 PM
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