Israel and Lebanon
All this for two men
Of course it's about more than just them though isn't it? Like a Franz Ferdinand, but on a smaller level, this has been brewing for quite some time.
I could start ranting right now about reactions, under reactions overreactions, extremeists, cowards and The U.S.
I could, but I won't. The Middle East isn't exactly something I'm very educated on so anything I say would be little more than opinion.
All I can say is I pity the civilians on both sides right now, but more so right now those in Lebanon. Reports are saying bridges to many different cities have been destroyed trapping civilians who want to leave and bloggers there have been claimimg there is little discrimination between military targets and civilian ones. Given the past record of different countries during war times I have little trouble believing that.
I'd like to think if such a situation existed in Canada and I ended up losing someone close to me, I would have the courage and respect for those that could be lost in the future not to take or support retaliatory action. How could I know my actions wouldn't result in the death of my neighbor's son or daughter when the bystanders of those I extracted revenge on came to take theirs on me?
Such responses on an individual level at least seem...cowardly to me, for either side involved.
Then again for a conflict that has been going on for the last half century,in one form or another, I suppose just saying turn the other cheek is most definitely far too simplistic. If it wasn’t this would have been done a long time ago.
On the way to work this morning Yukon Jack of 100.3 the Bear did his morning rant and I must say I think he characterized for the rest of the world not involved, directly or in a second party type way, the perspective anyone with their head not up their ass has been gaining in the last week or so. It's not directly dealing with the Israel and Lebanon situation but the messege is close enough.
Love Your Country
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Edit- And since we're already on the subject, a one Mr. Matthew Good made a post on all of this that I would strongly recommend reading. For anyone interested go here
Of course it's about more than just them though isn't it? Like a Franz Ferdinand, but on a smaller level, this has been brewing for quite some time.
I could start ranting right now about reactions, under reactions overreactions, extremeists, cowards and The U.S.
I could, but I won't. The Middle East isn't exactly something I'm very educated on so anything I say would be little more than opinion.
All I can say is I pity the civilians on both sides right now, but more so right now those in Lebanon. Reports are saying bridges to many different cities have been destroyed trapping civilians who want to leave and bloggers there have been claimimg there is little discrimination between military targets and civilian ones. Given the past record of different countries during war times I have little trouble believing that.
I'd like to think if such a situation existed in Canada and I ended up losing someone close to me, I would have the courage and respect for those that could be lost in the future not to take or support retaliatory action. How could I know my actions wouldn't result in the death of my neighbor's son or daughter when the bystanders of those I extracted revenge on came to take theirs on me?
Such responses on an individual level at least seem...cowardly to me, for either side involved.
Then again for a conflict that has been going on for the last half century,in one form or another, I suppose just saying turn the other cheek is most definitely far too simplistic. If it wasn’t this would have been done a long time ago.
On the way to work this morning Yukon Jack of 100.3 the Bear did his morning rant and I must say I think he characterized for the rest of the world not involved, directly or in a second party type way, the perspective anyone with their head not up their ass has been gaining in the last week or so. It's not directly dealing with the Israel and Lebanon situation but the messege is close enough.
Love Your Country
---------------
Edit- And since we're already on the subject, a one Mr. Matthew Good made a post on all of this that I would strongly recommend reading. For anyone interested go here
...That said, I do think it important to point out that prior to all of this occurring, the Palestinian Parliament’s two primary forces were close to completing a plan that would have recognized Israel, an unprecedented step for those Hamas MP’s involved, and quite remarkable given the short period of time in which they’d been involved in government. Unfortunately, the process was derailed when members of a Palestinian militant group that included members of Hamas’ military wing used a tunnel that had been constructed from Gaza into Israel to attack an IDF outpost, leaving four dead (two on both sides) and an Israeli soldier in the hands of the militants. It should be noted that one does not control the other, nor are members of Parliament automatically privy to the plans of fringe cells within a group’s militant wing. Most militant groups operate with loose command structures primarily to safeguard against the collapse of their efforts should their command and control apparatus be eliminated...
...Since Israel entered Gaza, 40 Palestinian MP’s have been detained by Israel in an operation that was actually planned weeks prior to the abduction. While the actions of those Palestinian militants that carried out the raid must be universally condemned, so too should the fact that Israel, long hailed as the region’s only true democracy, was planning the illegal removal of members of a democratically elected foreign government.
posted by Daniel_v at 9:13 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Daniel... I just randomly stumbled on your blog, and it was refreshing to hear someone that isn't just taking sides and getting angry. I lived in Israel for a while and visited Lebanon, and have friends there right now, whose lives are being turned upside down. Sadly the news we get here namely CTV is doing a very sloppy job of reporting. Your right, at the moment no sides are winners. But if you'd like to be a little more informed read on :D
The reason Israel has been taking out roads and airports etc.. is self defense. They generally try very hard not to take out civilians often it's found that "civilian deaths" were actually those that volunteered their lives for the cause - suicide casualties, in a way. Not always the case, but Israel is very careful to warn civilains where they are planning to strike. Some of the footage of "bloodshed in Lebanon" that ctv news showed was actually from the Haifa trainstation in Israel. A station I used many times while I lived there, and the "Lebanese" people it showed being loaded into ambulances were actually Israeli, you could see the Hebrew writing on the side of the Ambulance "M'gen David Adom" a red star of david, not a red crescent like they would have in Lebanon. HOWEVER, my heart aches for the innocent Lebanese whose homes and cities have been taken over by the Hezbollah. It's an old trick - use cilvilian homes and areas of the city, to fire from, and store your arms so that when there is retaliation, those will be the places destroyed. Some Arab friends of mine living in Bethlehem and Bet Jala, were forced from their homes because they were Christian, and their homes were turned into places to store armaments etc... as well as housed terrorists etc. My friends said they were so impressed though, that that Israeli army warned them ahead of time that their apartments were to be destroyed allowing eveyone to out safely. Oh if only the Lebanese government would stand against the Hezbollah. If only they wouldn't allow these terrorists to run their country into the ground. It is a sad state of affairs right now, for Israel and Lebanon. And sadly so little truth filters through on the news. At least not on our local news...
Dan,
I'm back from Mexico. I'll tell you all about it. I also happened to read this and, at first, I thought to myself, "wow, I really need to get into these world politics issues and such". But then I realized that you're a Political Sciences major and I'm an English major. That, and I just don't care as much. But, I'm glad somebody does. I mean, you care for the both of us. Anyway, I'll see you around town.
Hey Shinbone...thanks for taking the time to comment about this. That's interesting about Hezbullah using civilian homes as storage places for arms and ammunition; I wasn't aware of that. Definitely not an easy situation for any government or army to respond to.
However, I must admit I fail to grasp the possible amalgamation between claiming an effort to reduce civilian causalities while simultaneously destroying roads, brides and airports in the name of self-defense. I mean, I can understand destroying them in an attempt to keep Hezbullah militants in the country; but at the same time if Hezbullah needs civilian homes and shelters to continue launching attacks on Israel why would they want to leave, especially if martyr is a sought after endeavor amongst such people?
Not saying I'm right...just thinking out loud as usual.
Either way, I'll definately keep in mind what you've said when follwing this in the following weeks to come.
Thanks a lot for the post.
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Ben, glad to hear your back. Hope Mexico was good to you and the group. I'll give you a shout here on thursday or friday and see if we can't plan something for the weekend.
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