Let's Pretend It's a Ceasefire!
Well, the news announced this morning that Israeli commandos were mopping up in Lebanon this morning in a seemingly surgical raid. Israel announced that the troops went in to stop the inflow of arms from Syria to Hezbollah. The UN agreed that this action broke the ceasefire when Hezbollah loudly complained.
If this was a legitimate raid to stop arms, where are the satellite photos showing the convoy? Where is the proof? Israel needs to be aware that with the world watching, they can not take unilateral action and not risk being perceived as the perpetrator in these actions. The raid may have been justified and then again maybe not. I for one, would have liked to have seen the smoking gun.
This battle is now being fought in perception, who is the aggressor and who is not. Israel must be mindful of this and address world public opinion. If there really was a convoy, where are the photos of the cached arms found in Syrian or Hezbollah possession? Where are the smiling Israeli troops in front of the boxes of missiles and guns being removed from trucks? Where are the Syrian drivers holding up their national document papers for proof of citizenship? Where is the satellite footage showing the trucks crossing the border?
In today's high tech age, when world opinion is shaped by the press and television, to not present this proof to the world makes Israel appear to be the breaker of the ceasefire and adds legitimacy to Middle Eastern opinion that Israel is an aggressive nation, will always be one and needs to be contained by violence.
Israel may have had legitimate reasons, but to not present them on the world stage in this case was a serious mistake.
If this was a legitimate raid to stop arms, where are the satellite photos showing the convoy? Where is the proof? Israel needs to be aware that with the world watching, they can not take unilateral action and not risk being perceived as the perpetrator in these actions. The raid may have been justified and then again maybe not. I for one, would have liked to have seen the smoking gun.
This battle is now being fought in perception, who is the aggressor and who is not. Israel must be mindful of this and address world public opinion. If there really was a convoy, where are the photos of the cached arms found in Syrian or Hezbollah possession? Where are the smiling Israeli troops in front of the boxes of missiles and guns being removed from trucks? Where are the Syrian drivers holding up their national document papers for proof of citizenship? Where is the satellite footage showing the trucks crossing the border?
In today's high tech age, when world opinion is shaped by the press and television, to not present this proof to the world makes Israel appear to be the breaker of the ceasefire and adds legitimacy to Middle Eastern opinion that Israel is an aggressive nation, will always be one and needs to be contained by violence.
Israel may have had legitimate reasons, but to not present them on the world stage in this case was a serious mistake.
You say you would like to see the smoking gun, but the smoking gun is already there. UN Resolution 1701 explicitly states:
"full implemtation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 and 1680, that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of 27 July 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State;"
This part of the resolution has already been broken when Hezbollah made clear they would not disarm, the Lebanese government stated the Lebanese military would not perform the disarmament task Israel failed to achieve, and the United Nations stated "The role of this force is no large scale disarmament of Hezbollah but rather policing a political agreement." In fact the Lebanese Prime Minister and Hezbollah have reached a deal allowing Hezbollah to keep their weapons as long as they do not exhibit them in public.
Let's be honest, the cease fire should not have been accepted by Israel. Israel lost in every respect to Hezbollah. The two soldiers abducted from the Israeli side of the border have not been returned and Hezbollah is not ready to disarm. In fact we will probably see in the near future a prisoner swap and the return of the Shaaba Farms region of the Golan Heights to Syria. Both of these actions would be an express consent, by Israel, of losing the conflict with Hezbollah.
Israel, as is the rest of the western world, is soft and has lost its will too survive. The failure to achieve victory over Hezbollah and our failure too fight in Iraq the way a war must fought has empowered Iran and put the whole western world in a very dangerous position. Israel should have continued their campaign until every last Hezbollah guerilla was killed or until Hezbollah came begging for a cease fire from Israel. We must stop trying to understand current day escalations by analyzing current affairs and start understanding current escalations by analyzing past history. We need a Winston Churchill, not a Neville Chamberlain.
Posted by Anonymous | Wed Aug 23, 05:48:00 PM EDT
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Posted by Anonymous | Wed Aug 23, 05:55:00 PM EDT
It is good to see some sensible talk instead of the one-way justification of all excesses by Israel that we are used to being fed from our western media. Israel has been flouting UN resolutions ever since it came into existence. To hear them now uttering UN resolutions is indeed paradoxical. Previously the Arabs used to cite UN resolutions, now Irael does that at every turn. Is it a sign that the tide is changing?
The cease-fire came at a bad time for Lebanon when the momentum was with them. Israel has still not returned the hundreds of prisoners it has abducted from the Lebanese side of the border. It is still occupying parts of Lebanon and large parts of the Arab world.
The acceptance of the cease fire just gives breathing time to their masters the US to pause and rethink their strategy of dominating the middle east. The fight should have continued until all foreign invaders are driven out, and until the zionists realise that terrorism and occupation will not give them peace and may be that will force them to the negotiating table.
Regards
Kerry
Sydney, Australia
Posted by Anonymous | Fri Aug 25, 05:19:00 AM EDT