posted July 21, 2006 04:32 PM            

For the last half hour or so, I have been watching the skyline outside my balcony. It is on fire. It's 4:14am. At 3:28am this morning, I woke up to the sound of Israeli jets flying low over our skies in Beirut. I was just beginning to finally fall asleep, had racing thoughts in my mind all night, cramps in my stomach, fear... Just as I thought I was going to fall asleep, I heard the sound of jets, followed by one explosion after another. It has calmed down now. I hear morning prayers in the distance.

I am at home with some friends who have taken refugee with us. A lot of them foreigners. We are trying to explain... Who, what, why.. But, we're also trying to be normal. Because being normal is what got Lebanese through 20 some years of war. We are joking about how the airport is on fire because of all the alcohol in the duty free. We are trying to be normal.

Up until now, Israel has done the following:
-blown up our international airport, run ways, gas reserves for planes (no one can leave or enter the
country.)
-blown up small military domestic airports (both in the north and south) -blown up all bridges and roads linking beirut to the south -blown up areas/villages of the south, everything from the deep south to saida -blown up ... As I type this now, another jet is flying by, it is so loud -... Continue... Blown up the suburbs (Dahiye).. Three missiles -blown up the beirut-damascus road at several points -we are surrounded at sea as well, there are military ships launching attacks... Not watching tv anymore, but I know there is so much more going on.

Thousands evacuated their homes from the south today.
They had to walk for miles because their cars could not cross the highway.

Another jet and another explosion. This is all going into Dahiyeh. I can see the red anti aircraft "bullets" being shot in retaliation. Pointless. The weapons Hizbullah have are so old and out dated (World War II left overs from Russia).. No match for Israeli technology.

Newest update, it's 4:26am, Israelis are attacking the city, "Saida" from sea. They are targeting the bridge that connects to Saida.
Another really loud bomb. My heart is racing. I can only pretend to be brave.
Everything that is happening now is because Israel is trying to wipe out any trace of Hizuballah in Lebanon.
In the process of doing all this, they have wiped out our infrastructures. Our roads, bridges, etc. civilian homes, innocent lives. It's 4:32am and I have a knot in my stomach. I am praying they don't hit the electricity. I want my internet. I think it's the only thing that will help me stay normal.

posted July 21, 2006 04:32 PM            

I am angry now. the things that cross your mind... I just set up a new installation last week, now, no one will get to see it. I was just about ready to launch an international residency program here.. Not going to happen now. was just planning to start a family, who wants to get pregnant now?

Ladies and gentlemen, I did not want to burden you with the troubles of war, but I think it is really important that the world knows what is going on. We are under attack by israel. It is unjust and unfair. I wonder what the media coverage is like out there. All this must end. Israel must be stopped. This is so unjust and unfair. Everything we've worked on for the past 10 years is gone now. so, so so, unjust and unfair. We had so many cultural events planned for the summer... Exhibits... Concerts...
Plays.. Etc. all gone.
Israel can not keep going into where ever they choose to go to and blow it up!
Lebanon can not be occupied again by Israel.

Dear friends, pray for us. For this madness to end.
Pray for the Lebanese people to stick through this together and not lose their cool.

With love,
Zena el-Khalil 5:02am

posted July 21, 2006 04:33 PM            

I have started coughing, but I don't know why. I am not sick. I don't have a cold. I think it's a reaction I'm having to stress. My body feels weak. My mouth is always dry, no matter how much water I drink. And I'm afraid to drink too much water because I don't want it to run out!

Last night was probably the most frightful night I have ever experienced in my whole entire life. I was so tired and exhausted... have not slept in days. When there is finally a quiet moment, the tension in my stomach and heart prevents me from falling asleep.

Last night we counted at least 15 bombs falling into Dahiyeh (Beirut Suburbs).. and these were just the ones we heard. At some point during the night, I said to myself that if I didn't at least try to get some sleep that I was going to go crazy from fatigue; and that that was what was going to kill me. Havenąt been able to eat either, so am losing physical strength. Itąs all psychological at this point. I know I have to be strong, and I will be, but I can't deny what Iąm going through. And I think it's important that people hear about the downside as well as the bravery. So many of us are already working hard to fix things, we are running around Beirut trying to get food and water and medicine to people, we are doing things online, etc, but it doesn't mean we are not scared, sick or tired.

So, last night amidst the worst shelling we've had so far, I realized that I was not afraid of the noise anymore; how quickly you get used to it. I realized what was hurting the most was the "UNKNOWN". What is going to happen tomorrow? When will this all end? How are we going to start re-building again? Are the refugees going to be ok?
How are the people in the south? And why punish a whole country? What is the real plan behind all of this? How much worse is it going to get?

My husband and I have been housing foreign "refugees"
helping them to find their way out of the country. Two managed to leave this morning, a German and Swiss. The other two are British and American. The craziest thing is that out of all people, the American embassy has been the LEAST helpful to its citizens here. The phone line to the embassy has been practically out of service. My friend, Amanda, (whom I just met a few days ago, by the way) had to hire a cab to take her to the embassy (which is a ride out of Beirut) and all they could tell her was that they didnąt know what they were going to do and to keep checking the website. Only thing she has gotten on the website is that she now knows that there is going to be an evacuation (5 days later), but when it happens, she is going to have to pay for it! Yes, they are saying to their citizens that they are going to bill them for their ride out! Can you believe that?!

posted July 21, 2006 04:33 PM            

What about art work in my studio? What about all my brushes and paints and glitter and books! All my books! Again- the crazy things that cross your mind.

What about our photo albums? All our family pictures?
The memories...
What about the doodles I drew on my balcony a few summers ago when I was suffering from a bad break up?
What about all the love letters I have saved? Letters that document my youth that I wanted to some day give to my daughter.

What about my other best friend? My dog, Tampopo? My beautiful Jack Russel Terrier who has never let me down. Who has always been a source of purity and compassion... Who has eyes of an angle... Dogs are not allowed to evacuate. My American friend Christine is going to have to leave her dog with me; a black pug named Baousi (means Kiss in Arabic). She is heartbroken! She almost didn't want to evacuate. She went to so many embassies to try and register with them and see if they would take her dog. Don't worry Christine, I will take great care of Baousi.

My sister has been volunteering to help the refugees who are being sheltered in public schools. Right now they are calling on Lebanese citizens to help out with money, medicine, food, water, blankets and mattresses.
She has been going to people and asking for money and then going out to buy medicines for refugees- her own initiative! My mom has joined in too. a friend has put together a website for accepting donations: http://atrissi.com/helplebanon/

posted July 21, 2006 04:34 PM            

Update on the attacks, as of yesterday:
- Israelis have been bombing the south of Lebanon with phosphorus and other chemical bombs.
- Israelis have bombed all ports along the coastline of Lebanon.
- Israelis have bombed all our local army radars and some outposts
- Israelis have bombed/attacked the fire fighting brigade and the Search and Rescue Brigade in the South. Innocent civilian lives were lost. It was a
massacre- the buildings were also housing refugees.
- Israelis have continued to bomb the suburb of Beirut, Dahiyeh & Haret Hreik
- Israelis have now killed over 100 civilians and there are several hundreds wounded
- ? and they continue to bomb the south
- Israelis have started hitting roads that lead to the mountains. They hit a main one leading to the Shouf.
-Israelis have hit a gas plant in the mountains ... I can't keep up with what they have hit.
*** Israel has begun to target Lebanese army outposts.
They have killed Lebanese soldiers. They are no longer just targeting Hizuballah. They mean to kill all of Lebanon.
The reality:
Israel is trying to bring Lebanon to its knees. Israel is trying to destroy Lebanon and the Lebanese spirit. Israel is trying to turn Lebanese against each other. Israel is trying to turn us into animals scrounging for food, water and shelter. Israel and the United States of America are trying to drag Syria and Iran into this too. They are using Lebanon as bait. Lebanon is stuck in the middle.
The Americans and Israelis are trying to launch a regional war!!

posted July 21, 2006 04:34 PM            

Lebanon is a peaceful country. We are the only country in the region in which people of all religions co-exist peacefully. It is unbelievable how biased the news is. They are not reporting the real damage being caused. They donąt report that the Israelis are killing
>innocent civilians. It seems from this end that all
they are focusing on is G8!

Are the Israeli & US government really just trying to wipe us all out??
Well, you can tell them that Iąm not leaving. And there are many of us who are not leaving. We love Lebanon. We love what we have spent our lives building. Tell them about people like me.. who build culture and tolerance. Who work for peace and understanding. Who work to educate. Who work to promote love and compassion. There are thousands like me here. What about us?

Tell them about people like me, that despite all of this, I have still not learnt to hate. They can take everything from me, but not my dignity. Not my morals and beliefs. They will never never break my spirit. Tell the Israeli citizens what their government is doing to us. Tell them that violence begets violence. Remind them that Lebanon is their neighbor and that co-existence is possible. How are we going to ever reach an understanding through violence? We were so close... We were so close...

Please stop this brutality!

Still with love,
Zena el-Khalil

posted July 21, 2006 06:40 PM              

It really tugs at one's heartstrings...

I'm glad she is at least getting her message out on the internet...

What courage!!!

posted July 23, 2006 03:10 AM              

I was reading this just this morning in my email from Sojourners which is an organization consisting of people from all religions and people who do not belong to any religion in particular.

A Christian Perspective of the Israli attack on Lebanon and Gaza

The new war in the Middle East
by Jim Rice

What is the proper, appropriate response of a nation to violent attacks by terrorists or other radical extremists? We have seen one model illustrated in the response of the British government to last year's attacks on London's public transportation system, in which 52 people were killed and 700 injured. The British rightly understood the attacks as terrorist acts, but responded in a measured manner, dealing both with the investigation of the terrible crime and the need for enhanced security in its wake. Pointedly, the British did not opt for a military response to these acts of terror.

We have also, of course, seen an altogether different model of response, perhaps most clearly exemplified by the U.S. invasion of two countries - one of which was an actual source of the terror - following the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001.

Unfortunately, it seems to be in the latter spirit that Israel responded to terror attacks in the past fortnight. Provoked by the Hamas kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Israel not only invaded the northern Gaza Strip but also destroyed a significant portion of Gaza's infrastructure, including airstrikes against Gaza's power grid.

Likewise, days later, when the Syrian-backed terror group Hezbollah seized the opportunity to raid northern Israel and capture two Israeli soldiers, Israel responded with a massive attack on Lebanon's civilian structures, from the Beirut airport to a dairy factory, civilian buses, bridges, power stations, and medical facilities, according to reports. Hezbollah responded by firing hundreds of rockets a day - more-modern, longer-range rockets than in the past - aimed intentionally at neighborhoods in Haifa and other Israeli cities. The result, not surprisingly, has been the death of many civilians on all sides.

The situation is clearly complicated by the role of Hezbollah as a part of the coalition government of Lebanon, which seems unable or unwilling (probably both) to disarm Hezbollah, which effectively controls the southern part of the country. The new warfare in the Middle East is also made worse by the sinister political manipulations of both Syria and Iran, who seek to increase their own power in the region no matter the human cost.

But Israel's use of military attacks in response to acts of terror raises many questions. The most important, perhaps, revolves around the issue of legitimate self defense vs. collective punishment. Israel is indeed surrounded by sworn enemies, including many who are demonstrably willing to violently destroy Israel. But does the real need for security justify the massively disproportionate response to an act of terror? Is the collective punishment of an entire population ever morally and ethically justified? As Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, put it in statement July 14, "The Holy See condemns both the terrorist attacks on the one side and the military reprisals on the other," stating that Israel's right to self-defense "does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations." The statement said further, "In particular, the Holy See deplores the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation."

Even apart from the ethical questions raised by Israel's massive retaliation, there are significant issues of efficacy: Does it work? Is Israel made more secure by a militarized approach? Israel has destroyed 42 bridges in Lebanon this week, along with 38 roads, communications equipment, factories, runways and fuel depots at the Beirut airport, and the main ports of Beirut and Tripoli. And along with the material devastation, the attacks constitute a terrible, possibly even fatal, threat to Lebanon's fragile and fledgling democracy.

Does the destruction of much of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure, so painstakingly rebuilt after years of civil war and occupation by both Israeli and Syrian forces, bode well for future peace between the neighboring states? In sum, will the Israeli attacks bring long-term security for Israel, or will they further ensure that the next generation of Lebanese and Palestinians - across the theological and political spectrum - grow up with an undying hatred in their hearts?

The violence of Hezbollah and Hamas should be unequivocally condemned and opposed. It cannot be ignored or underestimated that the two terrorist organizations have as their goal the eradication of Israel. However, much U.S. media coverage of this new Middle East war paints a misleading picture of a *** -for-tat equivalency between the two sides: Hezbollah explodes a bomb in Israel, Israel responds in kind. While their intentions are indeed malevolent, the two terrorist groups have nowhere near the military capability of Israel, which wields one of the most powerful military forces in the world (with the aid, of course, of more than $3 billion per year from the United States). The death toll in Lebanon in the first six days of the war has been tenfold that in Israel - according to The New York Times, 310 people, most of them civilians, have died in Lebanon while Israel has suffered 27 casualties, 15 of them civilians, since Israel began its attacks. (Similarly, 4,064 Palestinians and 1,084 Israelis have been killed since Sept. 29, 2000, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Israel Defense Forces, respectively.)

One of the most difficult aspects of trying to be a peacemaker in the Middle East context is the "separation wall" of understanding between the two peoples. The very definition of what is happening is understood in vastly different ways by the two sides. Supporters of Israel see the country attacked by its sworn enemies, and see in its response a necessary and justified act of national self-defense. Others see the region's most powerful military force (supported by the world's most powerful military force) illegally occupying Palestinian land and engaging in massive, disproportionate attacks on innocent civilians.

As Christians committed to the cause of peace, our role is not to "take sides" in the struggle, in the traditional sense, but rather to constantly stand for the "side" of a just and secure peace. We can ignore neither the horror of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians (including direct attacks on school children) nor the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories (with all its "collateral damage" to Palestinian children). We must have the vision and courage to stand against the acts of violence by terrorist organizations, as well as the massive state violence by the region's military superpower, while avoiding the trap of positing a false "equivalency" between actions that are not equal.

We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the political, strategic, and moral complexity of the situation to stand back and do nothing. A first step toward a more comprehensive resolution is an immediate operational cease-fire. But that must be followed by a new way of thinking because, as a U.N. official put it yesterday, "The Middle East is littered with the results of people believing there are military solutions to political problems in the region."

Jim Rice is editor of Sojourners magazine.

A few things that can be done:

Be consistent in denouncing the violence of both sides - especially when it is deliberately aimed at civilians (or targets where great civilian "collateral damage" will be the result).

Pray for the emergence of new political leadership on both sides - both of which seem bereft of creative, courageous, moral, or even pragmatic leadership.

Challenge any religious voices that seem utterly one-sided, completely neglecting the suffering and legitimate grievances of both sides.

Pray for new ways for Christians and our churches to join our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters in finding real and practical solutions for a just peace in the Middle East where two states can live with security and democracy.

posted July 24, 2006 12:54 AM              

Human cost of Israeli campaign
By Martin Asser
BBC News, Tyre

Hospitals in Tyre have treated hundreds of civilians injured in Israeli shell and missile attacks since Israel began bombarding southern Lebanon 11 days ago.

At the Jabal Amil hospital, for example, they have received 275 bombing victims. Of those, 27 (including eight children and five women) were either dead on arrival or the doctors were unable to save them.

This is part of the human cost of Israel's war against the Hezbollah militants who captured two soldiers in northern Israel on 12 July and have since stepped up rocket attacks on Israeli population centres.

But hearing some of the survivors' stories, their suffering is hard to understand.

Ill-fated convoy

Zeinab Haidar smiles sweetly but nervously as she sits up in bed and points to where she has shrapnel wounds in her chest arms and legs.

Zeinab, 13, is one of four people still at Tyre's Najm Hospital who survived an ill-fated civilian convoy that left the village of Aitaroun last Friday to escape from one of the most bombed areas in south-east of Lebanon near the Israeli border.

As the convoy's three cars approached Tyre, the first was hit by an air strike, killing everyone on board.

The two remaining cars tried to escape, but one was also hit by an missile, causing more deaths and injuries.

The Haidars jumped out of their car and ran to a nearby orchard, but the Israeli jets returned to drop two more bombs, wounding Zeinab, her mother and grandfather, and killing her grandmother.

After about 30 minutes hiding among the trees, Zeinab's father went back to the car. He found it was still working and drove to Najm hospital, on the southern edge of Tyre.

Ambulance drivers say two charred bodies still remain trapped in the first car, and two days later dogs and cats have started to eat their remains.

Stretched resources

Throughout the Najm and Jabal Amil hospitals, doctors are treating other civilian victims of the Israeli bombardment with similar stories to tell.

As quickly as possible, patients are transferred to Beirut by ambulance, so that beds, medical staff and equipment such as respirators are kept free in the expectation of further casualties.

quote:

---

My daughter is nine, she is clever and a good pupil in school... I will not tolerate what they did to her and her younger brother
Father of victims

---

Dr Ahmed Mroueh, director of Jabal Amil, has two of his five respirators being using by victims of an overnight bombing on a family home in Qleileh, about 10km (six miles) south of Tyre.

He is angry about the kind of patients he has had to treat: "I say to Israel and the world, enough killing of civilian people; normal war is between soldiers, not targeting civilians".

I put it to him that Hezbollah is also targeting Israeli civilians with its indiscriminate rocket fire in cities like Haifa and Nahariya. Pointing out of the window, he replies: "Look, there is no Hezbollah here".

Dr Mroueh says many of the deaths around Tyre are caused by deliberate Israeli air strikes on civilian traffic and roads, which means ambulances cannot reach the villages where the attacks occur.

This disruption meant it took six hours to get about 20 injured people from Qleileh to Tyre, passing from civilian cars to ambulances several times - a journey of normally less than half an hour.

Another patient, Hatim Hassan, had to walk about 1km - despite being badly wounded - to find help after his car was bombed overnight on an isolated road near Jouaiya.

Family attacked

In two rooms at Najm hospital lie two sisters and the two children of one of them. They are from Aita, another village on the front line with Israeli.

Soon after the bombardment started last week the family took refuge in the nearby Rmeich, one of the sisters told me.

Rmeich is a Christian village where they thought they would be immune from attack, because Hezbollah is an overwhelmingly Shia Muslim organisation.

But after a week all their food had run out and, anyway, the centre of Rmeich had still been targeted by Israeli artillery, the sisters said.

Heading back down to Tyre, their car was hit by an Israeli missile at the Kafra-Yatar junction. Two of the sisters were killed and the others received fractures and shrapnel wounds.

After flagging down an empty taxi, the two women's bodies were put in the boot, and the four survivors were brought to hospital in Tyre.

The children's father paces the hospital corridor. His dress, language, beard and the fact that he was "elsewhere" when the attack occurred, all indicate he may be a member of Hezbollah.

"My daughter is nine, she is clever and a good pupil in school," he says with tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "I will not tolerate what they did to her and her younger brother."

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5208110.stm

Published: 2006/07/23 16:23:30 GMT

posted July 24, 2006 03:40 AM              

its something id do if i wanted to get home...

------------------
"WHATEVER the soul longs for, WILL be attained by the spirit"

"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"

posted July 24, 2006 11:22 AM            

A terrorist snake pit is being cleaned out.

I've heard a lot of comments about innocent civilians being killed. Would those "innocent civilians" include those from whose houses and apartments rockets are being fired into Israel? Would those "innocent civilians" include members of Hizbollah...as leftists would have us believe Hamas and the terrorists in Iraq...are innocent civilians when Israel attacks them after they've fired a rocket into Israel..or sent a suicide bomber into Israel to blow up buses or other targets which kill women and children...or when the US or coalition forces kill terrorists in Iraq? Is everyone not wearing a military uniform an innocent civilian?

Get real. This is one of the most one sided pieces I've seen posted on this subject.

We have witnessed the Palistanians elect a terrorist government...Hamas.

We have seen Lebanon elect terrorist Hizbollah to seats in the government and seen them appointed to cabinet posts within the government. We have seen the terrorists set up their own government within the government of Lebanon and form their own military outside the legitimate military of Lebanon.

These terrorists crossed the international borders into a sovereign nation, killed Israelis and took 2 prisoners.

If every member of Hizbollah were killed it would be the right number and the same goes for Hamas, Islamic Jihad and all the other radical Islamic terrorists around the world.

No, Lebanon is not innocent in this matter. Lebanon had a chance to live at peace with Israel but failed to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1559....which called on Lebanon to disarm all militias within it's borders and also to protect it's borders from those within who would attack neighbors from within the borders of Lebanon. They failed miserably to do so.

Lebanon Is Not Innocent
David Horowitz
Monday, July 24, 2006

In war innocents pay a heavy price. There is no way to fight a war without "collateral damage" to civilians unless the opposing armies agree to meet in a desert and let the superior force prevail.

It certainly cannot be done when the aggressor is a terrorist army that deliberately places its headquarters, its weapons depots, its missile launchers and its staging bases in the middle of large urban centers like Beirut, or in the small villages abutting the border of its victims.

Sometimes the death of innocents comes not from collateral damage but from the deliberate targeting of civilians – as is almost invariably the case with terrorist armies like Hezbollah and Hamas.

In World War II wherever the Wehrmacht went, Jews were rounded up for the slaughter. Guernica and Lidice are the names of innocent towns with no military value that were deliberately destroyed by the fascists.

Sometimes innocents are targeted even by civilized armies with military ends in view. The allied bombings of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki incinerated hundreds of thousands of civilians for military reasons.

The allied bombings were designed to break the morale of the enemy and to end the war, and save millions of lives. They did, and we can all be grateful for that (or at least the honest among us can).

Critics of Israel's defensive war against Islamic terrorists are busily wringing their hands over the destruction that has been wreaked on Lebanon and its inhabitants, who are portrayed as innocent bystanders. They invoke these tragedies while calling on Israel to cease its fire and leave the Hezbollah aggressors intact.

Since Israel had no role in starting this war, this is like blaming the Allies for the damage inflicted on Germany in World War II – and doing so in the midst of the war. Critics who make such charges and demands in the midst of a war are aiding and abetting the aggressors.

But the very idea that Lebanon is an innocent bystander in the war against Israel won't wash. Lebanon is host to the terrorist aggressor which has sworn to eliminate Israel and its Jews from the face of the earth. This is the explicit creed of both Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran. And not just in their charter or in statements made months or years ago.

Iran's little dictator reiterated the threat even yesterday in the midst of Islam's aggressive war against the Jews: "Israel has pushed the button of its own destruction. The Zionists made their worst decision and triggered their extinction by attacking Lebanon" (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108152). Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government, occupying two cabinet positions and seats in its parliament.

The Lebanese government agreed to enforce U.N. Resolution 1559 which calls on it to disarm all militias on its territory, namely Hezbollah. If the Lebanese government had performed this obligation, there would be no war, and there would be no Lebanese civilian casualties.

Instead the Lebanese government allowed Hezbollah to build its headquarters and underground bunkers in the populated neighborhoods of Beirut. It allowed Hezbollah to import 13,000 missiles to be fired into Israel's cities and towns.

The 75,000-man Lebanese army has not sealed off the Syrian border and, according to reports, has allowed Syria to re-supply Hezbollah in the midst of its aggression. The Lebanese government has allowed Hezbollah to build underground fortresses on its southern border in position to attack. It has allowed Hezbollah to launch rockets into the towns of northern Israel to terrorize and kill innocent civilians.

Israel has done nothing to provoke this attack from Lebananese territory. But in the midst of Hezbollah's aggression against Israel, Lebanon's prime minister has joined the attackers, blaming Israel for Lebanon's misery instead of its source.

It will be objected that Lebanon is helpless, that its democracy was destroyed and its territory conquered by the PLO, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. It will be said that the Lebanese cannot resist the superior force of Hezbollah's "state within a state." But this is an argument in bad faith.

No one is helpless.

When France was occupied by Germany during World War II, DeGaulle organized the "free French" into a fighting force. The so-called "Cedar Revolution" showed that there are ways of manifesting opposition and resistance to the occupiers.

Even though it failed, it showed that resistance is possible. If there is resistance to Islamic terror in Lebanon today, it is even more invisible than moderate Islam.

Put bluntly, while the Lebanese have demonstrated their resistance to the Syrian occupier in the very recent past, there has been no evidence of it when the aggressor is an Islamic force bent on obliterating the Jews.

The Lebanese army has not lifted a finger to obstruct Hezbollah's aggression, but the Lebanese prime minister has been out front in attacking Israel. Who, watching the Lebanese interviewed by reporters during the war – including the Lebanese Americans evacuated to safety – can doubt that their hatred is for Jews and not for the Islamic killers of both the Jews and the Lebanese?

The last stand of Western imperialism is the patronizing attitude displayed by Western radicals and liberals toward Third World Muslims and Arabs. If Americans taught their children to murder Muslims as a quick pass to heaven, the left would regard this as a crime against humanity. But if Palestinians are the perpetrators of such crimes and Jews are the targets, it's a different story.

In this case terror is the only means (and therefore the understandable means) of a "desperate" people.

Jews who have been told by the leader of Iran that their extinction is imminent of course aren't desperate.

Hassan Nasrallah is not a victim, let alone a helpless one; nor is he stupid, or unaware of what he is doing. He knows just what his agenda is. "There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disappearance of Israel" he told a crowd of supporters.

"I promise Israel that it will see more suicide attacks, for we will write our history with blood." His supporters responded with chants of "Death to Israel, death to America." Counseling the Israelis to lay down their arms in the face of these threats and negotiate with a movement that seeks their destruction is a not so surreptitious support for the malignant agendas themselves.

Making excuses for Lebanese appeasement of these agendas while directing moral outrage against the intended victims repeats a familiar pattern among leftist critics of America and Israel.

In weighing in on the frontline battles against the terrorists in Lebanon, Gaza, and Iraq, critics attribute civilian casualties not to the terrorists but to their opponents; liberation and self-defense are denounced as "occupation." This is not even moral equivalence; it is sympathy for the devil.

Until the arrival of Arafat and the Palestinian terrorists, Lebanon was a Christian democracy. But Islamic radicalism could not tolerate either Christianity or democracy.

This – not the presence of tiny Israel (one hundred times smaller than its current antagonists) is the root cause of the violence in the Middle East.

The cause is Arab intolerance and Islamic hate.

One Jewish state among 22 Arab states was one too many. Six million Jews among 300 million Arabs was too much to bear.

A sliver of land, less than 1 percent of the Arab land mass, which belonged first to the Turks and then to the British, was an imperialist outrage. Lebanon, a country raped by the Syrian-Iranian axis and the Palestinians has become an integral component of the terrorists' war plan to push the Middle Eastern Jews, who have lived continuously for 3,000 years in the region, into the sea.

posted July 24, 2006 12:30 PM              

No, Jwhop, this is just a group of us here at LL who don't see every Arab as a terrorist and are not as hot for the beginning of WWIII as you are. This is a group of us here at LL who actually care what happens to those innocent people caught in the middle of government power grabs and retaliations.

posted July 24, 2006 03:06 PM              

quote:

---

The cause is Arab intolerance and Islamic hate.

---

quote:

---

If Americans taught their children to murder Muslims as a quick pass to heaven, the left would regard this as a crime against humanity. [I think more than just the left would view it this way] But if Palestinians are the perpetrators of such crimes and Jews are the targets, it's a different story.

---

This is not a matter of respecting the beliefs of others and minding our own business - This is a matter of condoning blatant genocidal philosophies, or not. This simple moral question is so complicated with the endless string of wrong after wrong not ever making a right. But, if we clear the fog, look through all the b.s. and ask ourselves honestly - Is there anything "RIGHT" about these groups wanting to exterminate an entire people?

And how might you feel if you were one of those people, living there, outnumbered 500 to 1? A little threatened perhaps? A wee bit vulnerable? Even with massive military might and freinds of simular fortitude, you'd still sleep with one eye open. C'mon admit it.

I feel awful for the truly innocent people who suffer through war. I feel awful about the whole bloody thing. But if I were forced to declare who's fighting for a morally repulsive reason, I would certainly not declare that it is Israel.

posted July 24, 2006 04:56 PM              

That is why some people here don't know what they're talking about.

Let's get this straight.

If you call Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups, than Israel and the Zionists, and the US are as well.

These Zionists displaced the Palestinians from their home. Theyve long wanted to drive the Palestinians out and have succeeded to a degree. So of course there will be Palestinians, and there will be resistance groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to fight back. They are not sheep.

What's been happening is a war. The instances where innocent civilians were targetted were terrorist acts. And they've been done on both sides. Israel has more sophisticated technology and weapons, thanks to the terrorist US, which they should be able to target these so called terrorist resistance groups with, however they seemed to have killed more innocent civilians than Hezbollah or Hamas ever did.

posted July 24, 2006 05:43 PM            

OH God get over yourselves. The Muslim extremist instill HATE in their children and the promotion of killing Westerners for a place in heaven, as was already stated. The Terrorist feed off of causing war, conflict and killing innocents for the purpose of recruiting and taking over land.

If ANYONE is guilty of pushing their views on others and forcing people to live under a certain regime it is the Islamic extremists.

Stop acting like a bunch of waaaaa babies and blaming everything on everyone else. Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to set up camp in their country. Hezbollah kidnapped soldiers across international lines as jwhop pointed out...

What was Isreal supposed to do? Sit back and send them a damn fruit basket? We would do anything to get our Soldier's back if Mexico came over and kidnapped them (well, most of us, others would send that fruit basket along with aid and an BIG apology for p!ssing off the other government so much that they had to kidnap our Soldiers) LMAO...

Isreal is a small country surrounded by Arabs - of course they are going to defend themselves. Wouldn't you?

Nah, the Muslim sympathizers, pro-terrorists and our own home-grown Anti-Americans would rather blame everyone else for their problems.

Tell me, who's fault was it when Saddam was murdering his own people? What about the Taliban and the atrocities they committed against women? How about when one Muslim takes out another?

Oh wait.. for all of those "just sympathetic" people here... how do you justify when Muslims car bomb innocent people - PRE 9-11? Is that somehow related to us as well?

And DayDreamer... America is NOT a Zionist nation. Get your facts straight. We're more Christian than any other religion. We were based on FREEDOM of religion - something your back-assward people have no clue about. Then again, you're hiding in Canada and not "fighting the good fight" alongside your Muslim brothers and siters in Iraq, Lebanon or Afghanistan. But hey, I guess being a mouth piece is better than nothing - besides, you'd have very little sway in most regions in the countries I mentioned as you're a woman.

------------------
The democratic world believes that it is not the terrorists that are to blame, but us. Us, the westerners.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the sooner you eliminate this misconception from your minds, the better.
We are NOT to blame. It is the freaking terrorists and the freaking terrorists only!!!! They are the bad guys. They do not understand concepts like peace, democracy, and respect for human life. They are, pure and simPle, EVIL!!!!! Behind all their political manipulations, if you carefully look at the actions of these MONSTERS, they are EVIL!!

http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000489.htm

posted July 24, 2006 05:51 PM              

UN Council (to Israel): "Ok, what would you like, Israel?"

Israel: We would like to retain the right to moniter the movement of people and goods in and out of our country at all points.

UN: Ok, we understand your concerns, and we agree you should be able to have some control over that.

UN: (To Hamas/Hezbolla/Al-Qaeda etc) Ok, United Terror Group, what do you want?

UTG: First, we want all Jewish Israeli's dead or driven into the sea, or just gone... then we want 'Israel' erased from all maps.

UN: (after long, perplexed stare) "Uh, that's not an option guys. And it certainly won't bring peace any time soon.

UTG: Ok, now we will kill YOU for disagreeing with us you INFIDEL!!! Ka boom.

posted July 24, 2006 05:57 PM            

Kaboom..now we kill you infidel.. LMAO.... That is so true.

posted July 24, 2006 06:15 PM              

Where in Palestine are Islamic extremists forcing people to live under a certain regime. The Palestinians chose these extremists themselves.

Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers. They are prisoners of war. How many do the Israelis have? Many many more than Hezbollah does. Yet you dont see them destroying Israel into rubble, like Israel has done and continues to do to Lebanon. Plus two Palestinians were kidnapped by the Israelis right before Hezbollah kidnapped those soldiers. But you wont hear anything about that.

Well Israel has done what it has done. Created more animosity and people against them.

I dont see Israel's attack on Lebanon as a way of protecting itself...it was an act of offense. And is not helping its cause.

If you read your history you wouldnt be saying that stuff about Muslim sympathizers, pro-terrorists and anti-americans blaming everyone else for their problems, and you would have a better understanding of those questions you asked me.

There is no justification for car bombing innocent people...but that is their form of warfare...when they have no other means of fighting back...they're angry and desparate...and some go to extreme means. It's not acceptable. But neither was displacing the Palestinians and the state they are now under. How do you justify killing all those innocent Iraqis in Fallujah?

America may not be a zionist nation, but Zionists seem to have a strong hold on American foreign policy and the media. There is a history of freedom of religion in countries under Muslim rulers...but then European colonizers thought they could divide up people, and instill minorities into power. Some Muslims are extremists (like you have extremist Christians in the US..but your country isn't in a state of war), but the vast majority of Muslims arent against freedom of religion. They're against foreigners who try to create disunity.

posted July 24, 2006 06:28 PM            

Hmmm... your so called "people" have been around in the MidEast for THOUSANDS of years and yet you still make women dress from head to toe and most regions consider our sex to be property.. worthy of death, mutilation and in some cases.... a nice dose of acid on ones face?

We may not have a female president, but last I checked (with the exception of some small weirdo sects in the south and with some religious nuts) our women can wear what they want, become CEO's and we don't have to worry about our husband and his family cutting off our digits because our burqua slipped off to reveal our upper lip.

So, we'll see how many female presidents we have had when America is as old as your "people's" country and we'll see about a civil rights *** for tat.

Your relatives have been fighting each other for thousands of years yet you have the nerve to sit here and b1tch about us relatiating.

Yeah.... nice try.... what a freaking joke.. I am still busting up.. a Thousand year old country compared to 230 year old country. LMAO... and yet, we've advanced so far in technology AND we don't live in caves unless it is by choice.

Some of those crap-holes still don't have plumbing let alone electricity..but hey... at least you've had a woman president. LMAO....

Okay... I'll remember that next time I hear of an insurgent blowing up a school bus.

------------------
The democratic world believes that it is not the terrorists that are to blame, but us. Us, the westerners.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the sooner you eliminate this misconception from your minds, the better.
We are NOT to blame. It is the freaking terrorists and the freaking terrorists only!!!! They are the bad guys. They do not understand concepts like peace, democracy, and respect for human life. They are, pure and simPle, EVIL!!!!! Behind all their political manipulations, if you carefully look at the actions of these MONSTERS, they are EVIL!!

http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000489.htm