- "In my judgment, the best way to stop the
violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place."
That one sentence (a surprisingly rare example of a complete sentence spoken
by Cheney spokesman George W. Bush), taken on its own, would fully explain
why the Middle East is now on the brink of regional war. But of course,
Bush always finds a way to engage in Orwellian newspeak. At a news conference
with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, he managed to rewrite
history in the very next sentence by blaming Hezbollah for instigating
the violence by launching rocket attacks into Israel and capturing Israeli
soldiers. But then, George most likely has no idea where Gaza is, let alone
what has been occurring there for decades.
-
- As puppet Bush goes on saying
things like "Every nation has a right to defend itself," referring
to his favorite ally, Israel, his use of the word "every" would
of course exclude Lebanon, since their army is using anti-aircraft guns
against Israeli warplanes. And let us not forget the Iraqi resistance -
as it may never cross his feeble mind that they are defending Iraq from
the American invaders.
-
- Most Arab leaders are refusing
to back Hezbollah, although US-influenced Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
and Jordan's King Abdullah II issued the usual statements demanding "an
immediate halt on attacking civilians and vital infrastructure," saying
that such attacks breach the international humanitarian conventions. As
if Israel will listen. As if the US listens to any calls from countries
demanding similar actions by the occupation forces and Western contracting
companies who are busily raping and pillaging Iraq. As if any country in
war ever abides by the Geneva Conventions nowadays. And without a functional
UN to actually take a stand for human rights or real justice, why should
they?
-
- The typical response among the
people here in the Middle East is to scoff at their leadership - who continue
to cower and bow to US interests.
-
- Friday at the Lebanese/Syrian
border, I spoke with a 50-year-old Kuwaiti man, Emad, as he fled Beirut
with his family. "It's very bad there, as the Israelis are attacking
civilians, bombing police and petrol stations and even the fuel storage
depots," he told me, "In fact, they have even bombed the airport
once again. I saw F-16's bombing and there is smoke everywhere. This is
a big disaster for the Lebanese."
-
- When I asked him what he thought
it would take to end the fighting, he promptly replied, "It looks
like the Arab governments are not moving their asses, so I am leaving."
-
- Yet as consistently as the Arab
governments fail to get busy "moving their asses" toward something
resembling a solution to this crisis, just as consistently are the people
repressed by those same governments raising their voices.
-
- On Friday, tens of thousands
of Arab protestors hit the streets, condemning the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon and their actions in the Gaza Strip. 5,000 angry protesters gathered
at a mosque in Cairo carrying banners that read, "Hey Arab leaders,
you should be united." In Amman, over 2,000 demonstrators gathered
at a mosque after Friday prayers, shouting "Zionists get out, get
out!" and "Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan are one people!"
-
- Thousands marched in Gaza, waving
Palestinian and Lebanese flags.
-
- Meanwhile in Baghdad, thousands
of angry Iraqis marched, praising Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah,
while denouncing Israel and the US for the attacks. Shia cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr hinted that he may be prepared to put his Mehdi Army militia into
action against the Americans due to the Israeli actions in Lebanon and
Gaza.
-
- In an earlier piece titled "An
Alliance of Violence," I detailed how violence perpetrated on the
people of Palestine by the Israeli military has immediate ramifications
in Iraq. The same is now brewing yet again.
-
- In Kuwait, protesters rallied
in front of the parliament building, shouting "Death to Israel!"
and "Death to America!" Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti lawmaker named Musallam
al-Barrak lashed out at his and other Arab governments when he stated,
"Arab countries can do nothing but condemn."
-
- There is a frightening undercurrent
of rage among the people in the Middle East toward their governments: The
Arab world is on fire over the injustice meted out against the Palestinian
people, as well as to the Lebanese. The Israeli people are deeply angered
at their government for failing to provide security (of course our corporate
media would never report on the fact that hundreds of thousands of Israelis
oppose their government's actions in Gaza and beyond) - instead, preferring
peaceful resolutions rather than brutal, unjust, failed occupation and
ongoing acts of aggression.
-
- Predictably, the impotent UN
Security Council goes about its machinations of futility, holding emergency
meetings while hoping for resolutions - which rarely, if ever, change anything
on the ground to stop the needless massacre of civilians on both sides
of the conflict. Ah, the UN - where the US is responsible for eight out
of the last nine vetoes, seven of which had to do with the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. So why pin any hope on the UN, when the US has already vetoed
a resolution demanding that Israel stop its military offensive in the Gaza
Strip?
-
- Meanwhile, the bloodletting continues
as the situation escalates and spins further into chaos while threatening
to spread deeper into the region.
-
- Israel, the only nuclear power
in the region, hopes to completely annihilate Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.
They have now insured total, unending war by demanding Hezbollah to completely
disarm, leave southern Lebanon and hand over the Israeli soldiers, demands
which Hezbollah will surely brush aside.
-
- Let us not forget that both Israel
and the US announced in January that the Palestinian people would be punished
for voting the wrong way by electing Hamas to power. That unjust act, which
began the chain of events leading to our current crisis, may well be marked
as the match that lit this hellish bonfire. Because it certainly seems,
judging from their actions in Gaza and now in southern Lebanon, that the
aim of the Israeli government is to wipe out the Palestinian people, in
addition to Hamas and Hezbollah.
-
- So we naturally have open war
in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. Israel declared it by their act of bombing
and invading Lebanon, then bombing Nasrallah's Beirut offices. Nasrallah,
unhurt by the attack, promptly appeared on television announcing "open
war" against Israel.
-
- On Hezbollah's TV channel in
Beirut, he said, "You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open
war." He announced, "Look at the warship that has attacked Beirut
[referring to an Israeli warship off the coast that was lobbing shells
into Lebanon] while it burns and sinks before your very eyes."
-
- The ship was heavily damaged
and four of its 80 soldiers on board went missing after being attacked
by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah, the first time such a weapon
has been seen from their arsenal.
-
- "Now in the middle of the
sea, facing Beirut, the Israeli warship that has attacked the infrastructure,
people's homes and civilians - look at it burning," Nasrallah mocked,
in his address that aired late Friday night.
-
- In footage aired by the same
channel, dozens of Lebanese danced in the streets of Beirut to celebrate
the announcement of the attack on the Israeli ship. This, of course, contradicts
Israel's goal in pressuring Lebanon: Israel hoped that by punishing the
Lebanese they would force the country to pressure Hezbollah. Despite the
propaganda of the dancing Lebanese aired by Hezbollah TV, reaction thus
far is mixed in besieged Lebanon.
-
- Deepening the crisis, Nasrallah
threatened to attack deeper inside Israel, "beyond Haifa."
-
- And Saturday the bloodshed continued
as the Israeli Air Force bombed bridges, fuel storage tanks, petrol stations
in southern and eastern Lebanon. At least four people were killed in Lebanon's
Bekaa Valley and more bridges south of Beirut were destroyed.
-
- The same day, at least 15 Lebanese
villagers, including women and children, were killed by an Israeli air
strike on their vehicles as they fled their village of Marwahin in southern
Lebanon after being ordered to evacuate by the Israelis.
-
- Leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft
over Beirut warned the Lebanese not to back Nasrallah. Yet, giving further
evidence to the Lebanese army's outwardly opposing the Israelis, after
the leaflets were dropped they were promptly collected and taken away by
Lebanese security forces.
-
- Underscoring this, Saadeddine
Rafik Hariri, majority leader in the Lebanese Parliament and the son of
the assassinated former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, told reporters
in Kuwait on Saturday: "The Lebanese people must remain united. We
must not allow Israel to divide us. The enemy is Israel."
-
- Here in Damascas we're on pins
and needles. The mood is one of both high anxiety and seething anger at
the Israelis' war against both Lebanon and Hezbollah. Like anywhere else,
nobody here supports collective punishment or attacks against sovereign
countries.
-
- As Israeli jets pound the mountains
in Lebanon near the Syrian border, striking radio and satellite antennas,
the concern that Syria will be drawn into the conflict grows daily.
-
- The day before, Reuters reported
that the ruling Ba'ath party in Damascas announced that they and the "Syrian
people"... "are ready to extend full support to the Lebanese
people and their heroic resistance to remain steadfast and confront the
barbaric Israeli aggression and its crimes."
-
- The war is even widening in Lebanon,
as Israeli warplanes, also on Saturday, bombed an area in Tripoli, their
most northern strike thus far. After Israel placed an embargo on Lebanon
and shut down their main seaport in Beirut, 95% of the trade was rerouted
through the port at Tripoli. Today, three bombs were dropped by Israeli
war planes on that port. Other Lebanese ports now shut down include Jounieh,
Amshit and Hamat, as the Lebanese economy has ground to a nearly complete
standstill.
-
- At least 79 civilians have been
killed and over 250 wounded since Israel began its attack against Lebanon
on Wednesday.
-
- Civilians dying aren't only in
Lebanon. Over a dozen rockets were fired by Hezbollah into several towns
in northern Israel, in addition to over 90 fired into a total of 15 towns
in Israel thus far, killing at least four and wounding scores.
-
- Thus, both Hezbollah and the
Israeli government have their "open war." As usual, while the
politicians and the UN wring their hands and twiddle their thumbs, those
bearing the brunt are the civilians on both sides, whether they live in
Israel, Lebanon or Palestine.
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