Exchange - Mideast

From friend and fellow Blogger:

Paul,

You know I love you and in addition no human with a heart and a brain sits around applauding the sacrifice of innocent life, however, I disagree categorically that the inhumane treatment that takes place in the Middle East lies in any way at the feat of the Government of Israel. If the current crisis proves anything it is that there is nobody for Israel to make peace with. I contend that should Hezbollah & Hamas get their way (there constitution call not only for the destruction of Israel but for death to Jews wherever they live on the face of the earth) and the people of Israel were pushed into the sea it would not change the situation on the ground in the Middle East by a scoot. Abu Musab al Zarqawi called Shiites apostates and Dogs deserving of death... Peaceful?

I would further suggest that what current situation proves is any group of evangelic murdering terrorists with Katyusha rockets can hold sovereign nations (and their populations) hostage regardless of the existence of a peace treaty. Do you really believe that Hezbollah's opinion would be any different if Israel and Palestine had reached an agreement when they came so close back during the Clinton Administration? No a culture that thinks it can restore Arab Glory through repression, intolerance, sexual apartheid and terrorism will remain mired in the same mud they have lived in for a millennium. In fact even the most moderate Arab regimes need Israel so that there people don't notice that over the last 50 years India, Ireland, South Korea, Japan, Poland, China etc... have pulled them selves out of the muck previous regimes had cosigned there populations too.

Does this mean I excuse our current Texas Cracker in the White House... No! We are asking Israel to negotiate with Hezbollah while missiles rain down on their cities while George Bush won't even speak with Syria or Iran because they are... I don't know mean? Bush, Cheaney, Rumsfield and Rice are an abomination and there complete lack of engagement (not to mention the cruel stupidity and lies by which the USA has meandered into Iraq) accounts for much of the complete melt down now roaring through the Middle East.

My Reply:

Dear _________________:

I fully agree that there is no honor or rectitude whatsoever in The Hezbollah use of the Lebanese [and remember that many of the southern Lebanese victims are revictimized refugees] people as "human shields." I also agree that there is validity to the "live by the sword, die by the sword" truism. Any government or group [and the distinction seems to get conveniently blurred] that believes that making war is a road to peace is, simply put, insane. Labeling Hezbollah a "terrorist" organization and Israel a "nation state" is of no real consequence. Nazi Germany was a nation state, but that fact does not excuse their behavior. You mistake my criticism of Israel's current actions as support for their enemy.

I see no justification or excuse in the extreme "disproportionate response," as it is called, currently going on in Southern Lebanon. Israel and its apologists seem to excuse their indiscriminate bloodshed and deliberate attacks on hospitals, ambulances and schools, killing civilians, women and children, by claiming that they are not really people, but simply agents or supporters of Hezbollah [and a recent addition has been "people who know people who support Hezbollah."] To this I must object. It has gone far beyond any reasonable or human response to the capture of an Israeli soldier. That act was an improper and inexcusable one and a deliberate provocation. Hezbollah shelling in northern Israel is reprehensible. But neither wrong excuses the actual conduct of the other in this case. The Israeli attacks are inhumane and totally unjustifiable in absolute terms, as is blindly firing Katyushas into Israeli cities and villages.

What we really have are factions within the Israeli military and government who have felt frustrated and pent up since Ariel Sharon decided to pursue a more diplomatic and pragmatic approach to peace through "unilateral disengagement." Without the open sanction to go out and play with their deadly weapons, they got frustrated and angry. Any excuse to let loose the dogs of war was all that was needed. Hezbollah KNEW and cynically planned that Israeli militarists would not respond in a rational or measured way. And without Sharon to contain them, we see the response.

Over 900 PEOPLE have been killed in Southern Lebanon in the last three weeks, and the estimates from both sides indicate that only about 100 were Hezbollah fighters. That does not suggest to me a measured tactical response. Quite frankly, the Israeli defense force is much more competent than that. The deliberate attacks on ambulances, hospitals and the refusal to allow International Red Cross relief and rescue teams safe passage to reach the dead and wounded, and bring in humanitarian aid speaks volumes. The Israeli attacks have resulted in a massacre of far far too many innocent people.

A mother in Israel should not be hit by a rocket just because she lives in the north of Israel, particularly when she has never done anything in her life to deliberately harm a palestinian or Lebanese person across the border. Likewise, an arab or muslim mother should not be slaughtered just because her home is in southern Lebanon or in Beirut, when she has never even met or tried to harm an Israeli. The current political rhetoric and vitriol invite the excuse to dehumanize the tragedy that is happening.

So I blame and hold the government of Israel accountable for its own actions and the indiscriminate and inhumane slaughter of innocent civilians, women and children. I do not fault the Israeli desire to dismantle and defang Hezbollah, and I support the need to neutralize Hezbollah on a more permanent basis. However, acting like a savage mad dog and destroying everything in sight is no logical, practical or humane way to achieve that objective. I do not support Hezbollah when I say this. The fact that approximately 1000 Hezbollah fighters have been able to carry on a fight with over 10,000 Israeli soldiers dispatched to Lebanon should inform someone that the strategy needs to be rethought. Israel ought to look to the example of its prime ally, the US, and its quagmire in Iraq. Cluster bombs, white phosphorous on civilians and total destruction of Fallujah did nothing to bring peace or stability. In fact, the incompetent strategy of the Bush Adminnistration ahs pushed Iraq into civil war. Those same weapons are being used in Southern Lebanon, and will prove equally ineffective unless the only goal is to wipe out as many Lebanese people as possible. But let us not pretend that Israel's actions are to "defend" Israel, or are a measured response to the capture of an Israeli soldier. [It is more likely that the bombing by Israel killed that soldier, rather than his captors doing him harm.] I simply look at the behavior of the Israeli government in objective and in human terms and find it unacceptable.

Our debate underscores the problem with the US - Israel relationship. There is absolutely nothing wrong with supporting and aiding an ally. Support of Israel is vital. However, to openly back an ally that you know is engaged in reprehensible conduct says volumes about any pretention to a moral compass that the US might claim. If Germany were our ally in 1941, would we stand to the side and applaud Hitler during the Holocaust? I know that is tough language, but what Israel is now involved in, in simple objective terms, is attempting to annihilate the Lebanese people in Southern Lebanon. That is not "defense" nor is it reasonably calculated to establish a foundation for anything other than 4 more decades of blood feud and violence.

All that you say may be valid criticism of Hezbollah leadership. But the people getting killed in Southern Lebanon are not Hezbollah leaders. Nothing that you have said will protect the life of the innocent children who will die today or tomorrow when their home, school or place of worship is bombed by Israeli F-16 jockeys eager to try out their new and shiny weapons. If their death could be avoided, which clearly is the case here, then I cannot quietly condone the actions of the IDF. Moreover, I have to condemn the US government who is rushing to sell and deliver even more bombs for the IDF to drop on those children. The same holds true of condemnation of Iran and Syria who are delivering the rockets to Hezbollah to rain down on the Israeli children.

I hold my citizenship of the World and my humanity above any flag or patriotic allegiance. The situation will, in my view, be resolved only when the situation is viewed in human terms rather than in political one upsmanship.

I am not sure we are in disagreement, but if we are, we will have to agree to disagree.

Paul