COMMENTS: 56
Our Willful Blindness in Lebanon
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Israel had just put out an S.O.S. to the United States government to rush over several more bombs. "The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration," according to the New York Times. Although always well-equipped with sophisticated U.S.-made weapons, Israel was evidently running out of munitions to drop on the Lebanese people.
Washington loses no opportunity to scold Iran and Syria for providing weapons to Hezbollah. Yet during the Bush administration, from 2001 to 2005, Israel received $10.5 billion in foreign military financing -- the Pentagon's biggest military aid program -- and $6.3 billion in U.S. arms deliveries. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign military assistance.
The U.S. Arms Export Control Act stipulates that foreign countries receiving weapons from the United States must use them solely for defensive purposes or to maintain internal security. During the last major Israeli incursion into Lebanon, in 1981, the Reagan administration cut off U.S. military aid and arms deliveries for 10 weeks while it investigated whether Israel was using weapons for "defensive purposes."
Last week, both houses of Congress, mindful of the importance of retaining Jewish votes and campaign contributions, passed resolutions stating that Israel was acting in self-defense. The vote in the Senate was unanimous; the House vote was 410 to 8. Walking in lockstep with Bush, neither resolution calls for a ceasefire. The Senate resolution praises Israel for its "restraint" and the House resolution "welcomes Israel's continued efforts to prevent civilian casualties."
U.S.-provided Israeli bombs have killed nearly 400 Lebanese, of whom the overwhelming majority were innocent civilians. The bombing has displaced half a million people and caused an estimated $1 billion in damage.
After Israel ordered people in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes, several vehicles filled with evacuating Lebanese civilians were bombed by the Israeli military.
An Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a white minibus carrying 19 people fleeing Tairi. Three people were killed and several wounded.
A green Mercedes with a family fleeing Mansuri was struck by an Israeli missile. Three lay dead, while others were severely injured. Eight-year-old Mahmoud Srour's face was burned beyond recognition.
As Zein al-Abdin Zabit evacuated with his wife and four sons, his white Nissan was hit by an Israeli missile. "It's nothing more than revenge, revenge on civilians," Zabit said as he lay in bed with broken ribs.
Human Rights Watch confirmed yesterday that Israel is using artillery-delivered cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon. "Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "They should never be used in populated areas."
The use of cluster munitions in populated areas of Iraq caused more civilian casualties than any other factor in the U.S.-led coalition's major military operations in March and April 2003, killing and wounding more than 1,000 Iraqi civilians, HRW reported. HRW photographed U.S.-produced/U.S.-supplied cluster bombs among the arsenal of Israel Defense Forces artillery teams stationed on the Israeli-Lebanese border during a July 23 research visit.
Independent journalist Dahr Jamail reported that the Lebanese Ministry of Interior has confirmed the Israelis have used the incendiary white phosphorous gas. This is a chemical weapon, much like napalm, that can burn right down to the bone. The U.S. military used white phosphorous in Fallujah, Iraq.
Article 35 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions prohibits the use of weapons "of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering." Cluster bombs and white phosphorous fall into this category.
Bilal Masri, assistant director of the Beirut Government University Hospital, told Jamail, "The Israelis are using new kinds of bombs, and these bombs can penetrate bomb shelters," Masri added. "They are bombing the refugees in the bomb shelters!" Masri also said that 55 percent of the casualties are children under 15 years of age.
It is a violation of the laws of war to target civilians. "A fundamental rule of international humanitarian law is the obligation to distinguish between civilians and civilian property on one hand and military targets on the other," Nada Doumani, Middle East spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Aljazeera.net. "Under no circumstances can civilians and public and private property be deliberately attacked. All parties in the conflict have to abide by these rules."
Doumani quoted ICRC Director of Operations Pierre Krahenbuhl, who said: "The high number of civilian casualties and the extent of damage to essential public infrastructure raise serious questions regarding respect for the principle of proportionality in the conduct of hostilities."
Nearly every report from the corporate media seeks to find symmetry in this war. When an outlet covers the massive devastation in Lebanon and increasing numbers of Lebanese civilians killed by Israeli bombs, it is careful to juxtapose reports of Hezbollah rockets fired into Israel.
Jan Egeland, the United Nations emergency relief chief, however, called the "disproportionate response" by Israel to Hezbollah's actions "a violation of international humanitarian law." Egeland, who characterized the devastated areas of Lebanon as "horrific," said Israel is denying access to relief operations.
At least 384 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters. Israel's death toll is at least 40, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 23 soldiers killed in the fighting.
On Monday, a high-ranking Israeli Air Force officer told reporters that Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, had ordered the military to destroy 10 buildings in Beirut in retaliation for every Katyusha rocket strike on Haifa by Hezbollah.
Last week, several Jewish organizations and Christian Zionists lobbied the White House to support Israel. Bush complied, giving Israel at least another week to continue slaughtering the Lebanese people.
While Bush stood by and watched the humanitarian catastrophe Israel is wreaking in Lebanon, Condoleezza Rice traveled there and met with Fuad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister. Rice's visit was an "important show of support for the Lebanese public and the Siniora government," a U.S. official said Monday. The official told reporters traveling with Rice, "The fact we are going to go right into Beirut after all that has happened is a pretty dramatic signal to Lebanon and their government."
It would be much more dramatic for Bush-Rice to call a halt to the carnage. When Helen Thomas asked White House spokesman Tony Snow why the president opposed a ceasefire, he rudely thanked her for her "Hezbollah view."
Bush could stop Israel in its tracks with a snap of his fingers. But why would he? Israel is doing Bush's bidding -- redrawing the map of the Middle East to facilitate U.S. domination. Bush began that task with Iraq; Israel is following suit with Palestine and Lebanon. Indeed, Bush is hoping Israel's next stop will be Iran or Syria.
A July 21 list of talking points from the White House Office of the Press Secretary referred to a Los Angeles Times op-ed by Max Boot titled, "It's Time to Let The Israelis Take Off the Gloves." The White House release contained this quote from Boot's piece: "Our best response is exactly what Bush has done so far -- reject premature calls for a cease-fire and let Israel finish the job."
That quote was preceded by this language: "Iran may be too far away for much Israeli retaliation beyond a single strike on its nuclear weapons complex. (Now wouldn't be a bad time.) But Syria is weak and next door. To secure its borders, Israel needs to hit the Assad regime. Hard. If it does, it will be doing Washington's dirty work."
We turn a blind eye at our peril.
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Posted by: BackintheRed on Jul 26, 2006 12:44 AM
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» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: helenwheels
» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: gazooks
» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: BackintheRed
» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: Smiggsy
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Posted by: thinkprogress on Jul 26, 2006 1:34 AM
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We have seen what happens when Israel takes the word of Palestinian terrorists. Palestinian terrorist said ‘please give us Gaza back, we promise we won’t use the land to attack you again’ and soon as Israel gave them Gaza they started launching rockets at Israel and they built tunnels which they sent suicide bombers through and they killed and kidnapped Israeli soldiers. The same goes for the Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. The terrorists said ‘we promise, if you just give us the land we won’t use it to attack you’ then once they got the land they used it for exactly that, the latest event kidnapping Israeli soldiers and launching so far over a thousand rockets into Israel.
The nations of the world recognize Israel’s right to exist via the UN but the blood thirsty Palestinian terrorists and the Hezbollah terrorists want nothing short of Israel’s total destruction, the last thing they want is peace with Israel. Anyone doubting this needs to do a search for Hezbollah’s charter which calls for the total destruction of Israel and while you are at it read how Hamas, which controls the Palestinian government also has an official policy of bye-bye Israel.
How can Israel make peace with neighbors that are proven time-honored liars and have an official policy of Israel’s total destruction? History has proven such a suggestion is absurd.
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» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: browngoddess
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: thoughtcriminal
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: robinka33
» The same tired cliches yet again
Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: Whistler
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: thinkprogress
» RE: Israel haters
Posted by: Arvy
» RE: Israel haters
Posted by: marklar
» How do you converse with a neocon/TROLL who wants to destroy you?
Posted by: russianblue1
» You could start by not living in their house.
Posted by: Bic Pentameter
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: helenwheels
» RE: You can't but here's how you try...
Posted by: marklar
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: jbloggz
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: dkbpeace
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Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Jul 26, 2006 2:21 AM
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This story, posted on June 21, describes a major shift in the stance of Hamas:
"Hamas performs about-turn on Israeli state
· Document recognises Israel's right to exist
· Shift away from founding goal of an Islamic state
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday June 21, 2006
The Guardian
Hamas has made a major political climbdown by agreeing to sections of a document that recognise Israel's right to exist and a negotiated two-state solution, according to Palestinian leaders.
In a bitter struggle for power, Hamas is bowing to an ultimatum from the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to endorse the document drawn up by Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails, or face a national referendum on the issue that could see the Islamist group stripped of power if it loses."
This was a huge chance for peace, which Israel immediately dismissed, and which apparently led to a deep division in Hamas. We also know know that an Israeli military officer was showing slides of a Lebanon invansion around Washington nine months ago - this was a planned action, and a successful peace process would have brought it to a halt. Hezbollah was also planning for such an action, or was at least well-prepared for it. (see http://www.juancole.com/). I can't help thinking that there were people on both sides who wanted a major outbreak of violence.
Furthermore, sane people don't hate Israel - we just want them to stop using military force in place of diplomacy, especially when US tax dollars and US armaments are allowing them to bomb civilian targets all over Lebanon. The US should be supporting Israeli elements that are actually interested in peace, not the desperate warmongers. The real threat is a sudden outbreak of war on a much larger scale, which would mean a great many more deaths of innocents on all sides. A ten-day halt in all military and financial aid to the Israeli regime would send the right message - your irrational actions are going to have unintended consequences.
Sure has taken the media focus off that pesky illegal domestic spying scandal, hasn't it? If only a cute intern had been sexually involved - then it'd be on the front page every day!
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» RE: Did the Hamas offer to recognize Israel lead to the current bombing of Lebanon?
Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: Did the Hamas offer to recognize Israel lead to the current bombing of Lebanon?
Posted by: marklar
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Posted by: marklar on Jul 26, 2006 4:58 AM
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We are now a willing partner in Izraels OCCUPATION of Arab lands and destruction of their societies. Our OCCUPATION of Iraq is exactly like Izraels in Palestine and now Lebanon.
Americans are blinded by corporate media propaganda, AIPAC, AIE and The Heritage Institute, aka THE ISRAEL LOBBY, into believing that sensless war and atrocities against Arabs are protecting us. Wider war is coming, all out war, and China and other nations will not sit idle while their oil resouirces are threatened by ideolgical and religious crackpots wage war for war's sake. We have become the Evil Empire, like it or not.
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Posted by: rsaxto on Jul 26, 2006 5:06 AM
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» RE: pretty soon they call themselves USRAELIS
Posted by: marklar
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Posted by: Whistler on Jul 26, 2006 5:10 AM
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"Bush could stop Israel in its tracks with a snap of his fingers."
Bush does not have the power to do that. Such a move would put him in the same place as the growing pile of dead bodies in the Enron affair. Accidents, suicides, heart attacks (oh, how coincidental and such perfect timing).
Tel Aviv runs the United States - not the other way around.
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» RE: Hate to Burst Your Bubble Ms. Cohn
Posted by: yellow
» RE: Hate to Burst Your Bubble Ms. Cohn
Posted by: ng1944
» RE: Hate to Burst Your Bubble Ms. Cohn
Posted by: yellow
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Posted by: Dee1276 on Jul 26, 2006 5:12 AM
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Posted by: snoringbear on Jul 26, 2006 5:17 AM
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» RE: just a thought
Posted by: ConnecttheDots
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Posted by: kgs1947 on Jul 26, 2006 5:47 AM
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Posted by: cynyk on Jul 26, 2006 5:47 AM
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» RE: History and Irony
Posted by: Arvy
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Posted by: srqwolf on Jul 26, 2006 8:12 AM
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Posted by: fiskhus on Jul 26, 2006 8:53 AM
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The Israelis have been known to use such knowledge for blackmail in the past - most notably, they used evidence of Standard Oil's dealings with the NAZIs to silence Nelson Reockefeller's opposition to the formation of the State of Israel
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» RE: FAMILY'S NAZI PAST HAUNTS BUSH
Posted by: Conservasaurus
» RE: FAMILY'S NAZI PAST HAUNTS BUSH
Posted by: cottontail
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Posted by: bj on Jul 26, 2006 9:54 AM
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Posted by: robinka33 on Jul 26, 2006 12:14 PM
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We do not live in a world where everyone is equal in understanding, compassion, intelligence, humanity. Israel has been the focus of HATE from the surrounding Arab countries since its inception in 1948.
When Hamas said they would honor Israels right to exist, it was countered with a kidnapping of Isreali soldiers and much to all of our horror and chagrin, Israel's response was to raise a mighty hand back with destruction of Hezbollah as its goal.
It is very sad, too too bad that innocent loving human beings in Lebanon are being killed, maimed and displaced from their homes. The other side is that Hezbollah is suffereing many losses. I wish we lived in a world where war was not utiized to solve differences and that diplomatic solutions always worked. I am aware that it won't stop until the players in the game stop using the same old strategies that keep on not working. Perhaps we can somehow communicate with those who would rather rid the world of people unlike themselves than try to create peace. But that takes time, and patience for the state of the human race.
Until that time, let's muster up all the compassion we can for peoples whose lives are destroyed by the consequences of ugly repulsive war. NO matter which side they are on.
Thanks,
Robin, happy to be Jewish in New York
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» RE: Israel supporters ignore simple truth - OCCUPATION
Posted by: marklar
» RE: Israel supporters ignore simple truth - OCCUPATION
Posted by: robinka33
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Posted by: hotlipsin61 on Jul 26, 2006 4:54 PM
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Lebanon, a country with a weak army, surely cannot match Israeli firepower blow by blow, as it will lead to its self-destruction.
Meanwhile, the world winces and sits on its asses as the United States says to the boy, "go ahead and do what you must with our toys. We love you and we want you to have these toys. If you need more, just holler."
Four "blue helmets" were killed and Israel says-"Oops, they got in the way. My bad."
The Lebanese are screaming for the shelling to stop. Apparently Israel's toys crippled its northern neighbor. All this for two captured soldiers. Pathetic.
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Posted by: harpy on Jul 26, 2006 5:06 PM
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Looks like their aim is to help Israel commit genocide of the Arab people.
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Posted by: Aussie Kim on Jul 26, 2006 5:49 PM
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Iran funds Hezbollah to attack Israel in order to piss off the US.
The US funds Israel and sits back letting Israel destroy Lebanon because this pisses off Iran.
That's my theory, anyway. Sorry if everybody already realised this long ago...
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Posted by: Aussie Kim on Jul 26, 2006 5:52 PM
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"Q & A: The 15th Day
0 Who is winning this war?
On the 15th day of the war, Hizbullah is functioning and fighting. That by itself will go down in the annals of the Arab peoples as a shining victory.
When a featherweight boxer faces a heavyweight and is still standing in the 15th round - that is a victory, whatever the final outcome.
0 Can Hizbullah be pushed out of the border area?
The question is based on a misunderstanding of the essence of Hizbullah.
Not by accident is the organization call Hizb-Allah ("Party of Allah") and not Jeish-Allah ("Army of Allah"). It is a political organization, with deep roots in the Shiite population of South Lebanon. For all practical purposes, it represents this community. The Shiites are 40% of the Lebanese population, and together with the other Muslims they form the majority.
Hizbullah can be "moved" only if the whole Shiite population is moved - an ethnic cleansing that (I hope) no one is thinking about. After the war the population will return to their towns and villages, and Hizbullah will continue to flourish.
0 What would happen if the Lebanese Army were deployed along the border?
That has been one of the slogans of the Israeli government from the first moment. They will announce this as the main victory. That is very convincing - for anyone who has no idea about the complexities of Lebanon.
Anyone who was in Lebanon in 1982 and saw the Lebanese Army in action knows that it is not a serious army. Furthermore, many of its officers and soldiers are Shiites. Such a force will not fight Hizbullah.
Its deployment in the South would depend entirely on the agreement of Hizbullah - and that also applies to every day it stays there.
0 Would an international force help?
Ditto. That is a slogan especially tailored for diplomats, who look for an idea they can easily agree on. It sounds nice, especially if one adds the word "robust".
What exactly is the robust international force supposed to do?
It is proposed that it will remove Hizbullah from the border area. Not by words - like the hapless UNIFIL, that everyone ignored right from the beginning - but by force.
If the deployment of this force were to take place with the agreement of both sides - Israel and Hizbullah - alright. It may serve as a ladder for the Israeli government to climb down from the tree it has climbed up.
But if the force is placed there contrary to the will of Hizbullah, a guerilla war against it will start. Will the international force stand up and fight in a place which the mighty Israeli army fled with its tail between its legs?
For Israel, there will be a special dilemma: what will happen if Hizbullah attacks Israel in spite of the force? Will the Israeli army enter the area, risking a clash with the international force? With German soldiers, for example?
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» RE: If anyone's interested...(continued)
Posted by: Aussie Kim
» RE: If anyone's interested...(part 3)
Posted by: Aussie Kim
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Posted by: Aussie Kim on Jul 26, 2006 7:32 PM
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Posted by: ng1944 on Jul 27, 2006 9:42 AM
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Elections are in november.
Bush badly needs anything that will divert attention
from Irak. Why do You think Israels PM was here,
and what they were talking about.
For couple of billion dollars this client state will do anything.
This is only prelude to bombing Iran and Syria.
Thats why constantly You can hear: Hesbollah is here,
they are going to Nuke us, bomb Iran, bomb Syria.
Our Knesset, sorry Congress, sits and doing nothing,
they are pretty comfortable with all this crime
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Posted by: shyguy709 on Jul 31, 2006 6:40 AM
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Ceasfire is unevitable yet the death toll of innocent civilians is evitable. Didn't the Isreali UN ambassador called Hezbollah a cancer that had to be rooted out...then he calls the death scene in Qata a 'tragic mistake' tey acknowledges that the 'would be dead persons already' and thos who manage to survive where co-habitting with missiles 'unknowingly'
Can someone answer my 8 yr old cousin who asked me after watching and hearing that most of those kileld in the Qata 'tragic bombing mistake' where Children? And why children die most during conflicts? Don't ask me where that knowledge come from?she saw it on TV and she needs answers
I could not provide it at that time...can someone tell me what i should tell her?
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Posted by: BackintheRed on Jul 26, 2006 12:44 AM
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BackInTheRed.com
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» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: helenwheels
» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: gazooks
» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: BackintheRed
» RE: The definition of hypocrisy
Posted by: Smiggsy
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Posted by: thinkprogress on Jul 26, 2006 1:34 AM
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We have seen what happens when Israel takes the word of Palestinian terrorists. Palestinian terrorist said ‘please give us Gaza back, we promise we won’t use the land to attack you again’ and soon as Israel gave them Gaza they started launching rockets at Israel and they built tunnels which they sent suicide bombers through and they killed and kidnapped Israeli soldiers. The same goes for the Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. The terrorists said ‘we promise, if you just give us the land we won’t use it to attack you’ then once they got the land they used it for exactly that, the latest event kidnapping Israeli soldiers and launching so far over a thousand rockets into Israel.
The nations of the world recognize Israel’s right to exist via the UN but the blood thirsty Palestinian terrorists and the Hezbollah terrorists want nothing short of Israel’s total destruction, the last thing they want is peace with Israel. Anyone doubting this needs to do a search for Hezbollah’s charter which calls for the total destruction of Israel and while you are at it read how Hamas, which controls the Palestinian government also has an official policy of bye-bye Israel.
How can Israel make peace with neighbors that are proven time-honored liars and have an official policy of Israel’s total destruction? History has proven such a suggestion is absurd.
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» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: browngoddess
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: thoughtcriminal
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: robinka33
» The same tired cliches yet again
Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: Whistler
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: thinkprogress
» RE: Israel haters
Posted by: Arvy
» RE: Israel haters
Posted by: marklar
» How do you converse with a neocon/TROLL who wants to destroy you?
Posted by: russianblue1
» You could start by not living in their house.
Posted by: Bic Pentameter
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: helenwheels
» RE: You can't but here's how you try...
Posted by: marklar
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: jbloggz
» RE: How do you make peace with terrorists who want to destroy you?
Posted by: dkbpeace
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Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Jul 26, 2006 2:21 AM
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This story, posted on June 21, describes a major shift in the stance of Hamas:
"Hamas performs about-turn on Israeli state
· Document recognises Israel's right to exist
· Shift away from founding goal of an Islamic state
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday June 21, 2006
The Guardian
Hamas has made a major political climbdown by agreeing to sections of a document that recognise Israel's right to exist and a negotiated two-state solution, according to Palestinian leaders.
In a bitter struggle for power, Hamas is bowing to an ultimatum from the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to endorse the document drawn up by Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails, or face a national referendum on the issue that could see the Islamist group stripped of power if it loses."
This was a huge chance for peace, which Israel immediately dismissed, and which apparently led to a deep division in Hamas. We also know know that an Israeli military officer was showing slides of a Lebanon invansion around Washington nine months ago - this was a planned action, and a successful peace process would have brought it to a halt. Hezbollah was also planning for such an action, or was at least well-prepared for it. (see http://www.juancole.com/). I can't help thinking that there were people on both sides who wanted a major outbreak of violence.
Furthermore, sane people don't hate Israel - we just want them to stop using military force in place of diplomacy, especially when US tax dollars and US armaments are allowing them to bomb civilian targets all over Lebanon. The US should be supporting Israeli elements that are actually interested in peace, not the desperate warmongers. The real threat is a sudden outbreak of war on a much larger scale, which would mean a great many more deaths of innocents on all sides. A ten-day halt in all military and financial aid to the Israeli regime would send the right message - your irrational actions are going to have unintended consequences.
Sure has taken the media focus off that pesky illegal domestic spying scandal, hasn't it? If only a cute intern had been sexually involved - then it'd be on the front page every day!
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» RE: Did the Hamas offer to recognize Israel lead to the current bombing of Lebanon?
Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: Did the Hamas offer to recognize Israel lead to the current bombing of Lebanon?
Posted by: marklar
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Posted by: marklar on Jul 26, 2006 4:58 AM
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We are now a willing partner in Izraels OCCUPATION of Arab lands and destruction of their societies. Our OCCUPATION of Iraq is exactly like Izraels in Palestine and now Lebanon.
Americans are blinded by corporate media propaganda, AIPAC, AIE and The Heritage Institute, aka THE ISRAEL LOBBY, into believing that sensless war and atrocities against Arabs are protecting us. Wider war is coming, all out war, and China and other nations will not sit idle while their oil resouirces are threatened by ideolgical and religious crackpots wage war for war's sake. We have become the Evil Empire, like it or not.
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Posted by: rsaxto on Jul 26, 2006 5:06 AM
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» RE: pretty soon they call themselves USRAELIS
Posted by: marklar
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Posted by: Whistler on Jul 26, 2006 5:10 AM
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"Bush could stop Israel in its tracks with a snap of his fingers."
Bush does not have the power to do that. Such a move would put him in the same place as the growing pile of dead bodies in the Enron affair. Accidents, suicides, heart attacks (oh, how coincidental and such perfect timing).
Tel Aviv runs the United States - not the other way around.
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» RE: Hate to Burst Your Bubble Ms. Cohn
Posted by: yellow
» RE: Hate to Burst Your Bubble Ms. Cohn
Posted by: ng1944
» RE: Hate to Burst Your Bubble Ms. Cohn
Posted by: yellow
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Posted by: Dee1276 on Jul 26, 2006 5:12 AM
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Posted by: snoringbear on Jul 26, 2006 5:17 AM
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» RE: just a thought
Posted by: ConnecttheDots
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Posted by: kgs1947 on Jul 26, 2006 5:47 AM
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Posted by: cynyk on Jul 26, 2006 5:47 AM
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» RE: History and Irony
Posted by: Arvy
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Posted by: srqwolf on Jul 26, 2006 8:12 AM
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Posted by: fiskhus on Jul 26, 2006 8:53 AM
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The Israelis have been known to use such knowledge for blackmail in the past - most notably, they used evidence of Standard Oil's dealings with the NAZIs to silence Nelson Reockefeller's opposition to the formation of the State of Israel
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» RE: FAMILY'S NAZI PAST HAUNTS BUSH
Posted by: Conservasaurus
» RE: FAMILY'S NAZI PAST HAUNTS BUSH
Posted by: cottontail
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Posted by: bj on Jul 26, 2006 9:54 AM
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Posted by: robinka33 on Jul 26, 2006 12:14 PM
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We do not live in a world where everyone is equal in understanding, compassion, intelligence, humanity. Israel has been the focus of HATE from the surrounding Arab countries since its inception in 1948.
When Hamas said they would honor Israels right to exist, it was countered with a kidnapping of Isreali soldiers and much to all of our horror and chagrin, Israel's response was to raise a mighty hand back with destruction of Hezbollah as its goal.
It is very sad, too too bad that innocent loving human beings in Lebanon are being killed, maimed and displaced from their homes. The other side is that Hezbollah is suffereing many losses. I wish we lived in a world where war was not utiized to solve differences and that diplomatic solutions always worked. I am aware that it won't stop until the players in the game stop using the same old strategies that keep on not working. Perhaps we can somehow communicate with those who would rather rid the world of people unlike themselves than try to create peace. But that takes time, and patience for the state of the human race.
Until that time, let's muster up all the compassion we can for peoples whose lives are destroyed by the consequences of ugly repulsive war. NO matter which side they are on.
Thanks,
Robin, happy to be Jewish in New York
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» RE: Israel supporters ignore simple truth - OCCUPATION
Posted by: marklar
» RE: Israel supporters ignore simple truth - OCCUPATION
Posted by: robinka33
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Posted by: hotlipsin61 on Jul 26, 2006 4:54 PM
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Lebanon, a country with a weak army, surely cannot match Israeli firepower blow by blow, as it will lead to its self-destruction.
Meanwhile, the world winces and sits on its asses as the United States says to the boy, "go ahead and do what you must with our toys. We love you and we want you to have these toys. If you need more, just holler."
Four "blue helmets" were killed and Israel says-"Oops, they got in the way. My bad."
The Lebanese are screaming for the shelling to stop. Apparently Israel's toys crippled its northern neighbor. All this for two captured soldiers. Pathetic.
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Posted by: harpy on Jul 26, 2006 5:06 PM
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Looks like their aim is to help Israel commit genocide of the Arab people.
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Posted by: Aussie Kim on Jul 26, 2006 5:49 PM
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Iran funds Hezbollah to attack Israel in order to piss off the US.
The US funds Israel and sits back letting Israel destroy Lebanon because this pisses off Iran.
That's my theory, anyway. Sorry if everybody already realised this long ago...
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Posted by: Aussie Kim on Jul 26, 2006 5:52 PM
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"Q & A: The 15th Day
0 Who is winning this war?
On the 15th day of the war, Hizbullah is functioning and fighting. That by itself will go down in the annals of the Arab peoples as a shining victory.
When a featherweight boxer faces a heavyweight and is still standing in the 15th round - that is a victory, whatever the final outcome.
0 Can Hizbullah be pushed out of the border area?
The question is based on a misunderstanding of the essence of Hizbullah.
Not by accident is the organization call Hizb-Allah ("Party of Allah") and not Jeish-Allah ("Army of Allah"). It is a political organization, with deep roots in the Shiite population of South Lebanon. For all practical purposes, it represents this community. The Shiites are 40% of the Lebanese population, and together with the other Muslims they form the majority.
Hizbullah can be "moved" only if the whole Shiite population is moved - an ethnic cleansing that (I hope) no one is thinking about. After the war the population will return to their towns and villages, and Hizbullah will continue to flourish.
0 What would happen if the Lebanese Army were deployed along the border?
That has been one of the slogans of the Israeli government from the first moment. They will announce this as the main victory. That is very convincing - for anyone who has no idea about the complexities of Lebanon.
Anyone who was in Lebanon in 1982 and saw the Lebanese Army in action knows that it is not a serious army. Furthermore, many of its officers and soldiers are Shiites. Such a force will not fight Hizbullah.
Its deployment in the South would depend entirely on the agreement of Hizbullah - and that also applies to every day it stays there.
0 Would an international force help?
Ditto. That is a slogan especially tailored for diplomats, who look for an idea they can easily agree on. It sounds nice, especially if one adds the word "robust".
What exactly is the robust international force supposed to do?
It is proposed that it will remove Hizbullah from the border area. Not by words - like the hapless UNIFIL, that everyone ignored right from the beginning - but by force.
If the deployment of this force were to take place with the agreement of both sides - Israel and Hizbullah - alright. It may serve as a ladder for the Israeli government to climb down from the tree it has climbed up.
But if the force is placed there contrary to the will of Hizbullah, a guerilla war against it will start. Will the international force stand up and fight in a place which the mighty Israeli army fled with its tail between its legs?
For Israel, there will be a special dilemma: what will happen if Hizbullah attacks Israel in spite of the force? Will the Israeli army enter the area, risking a clash with the international force? With German soldiers, for example?
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» RE: If anyone's interested...(continued)
Posted by: Aussie Kim
» RE: If anyone's interested...(part 3)
Posted by: Aussie Kim
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Posted by: Aussie Kim on Jul 26, 2006 7:32 PM
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Posted by: ng1944 on Jul 27, 2006 9:42 AM
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Elections are in november.
Bush badly needs anything that will divert attention
from Irak. Why do You think Israels PM was here,
and what they were talking about.
For couple of billion dollars this client state will do anything.
This is only prelude to bombing Iran and Syria.
Thats why constantly You can hear: Hesbollah is here,
they are going to Nuke us, bomb Iran, bomb Syria.
Our Knesset, sorry Congress, sits and doing nothing,
they are pretty comfortable with all this crime
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Posted by: shyguy709 on Jul 31, 2006 6:40 AM
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Ceasfire is unevitable yet the death toll of innocent civilians is evitable. Didn't the Isreali UN ambassador called Hezbollah a cancer that had to be rooted out...then he calls the death scene in Qata a 'tragic mistake' tey acknowledges that the 'would be dead persons already' and thos who manage to survive where co-habitting with missiles 'unknowingly'
Can someone answer my 8 yr old cousin who asked me after watching and hearing that most of those kileld in the Qata 'tragic bombing mistake' where Children? And why children die most during conflicts? Don't ask me where that knowledge come from?she saw it on TV and she needs answers
I could not provide it at that time...can someone tell me what i should tell her?
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