Hizbullah's attacks stem from Israeli incursions into Lebanon

[mom cat]

Hizbullah's attacks stem from Israeli incursions into Lebanon
By Anders Strindberg

NEW YORK – As pundits and policymakers scramble to explain events in Lebanon, their conclusions are virtually unanimous: Hizbullah created this crisis. Israel is defending itself. The underlying problem is Arab extremism.
Sadly, this is pure analytical nonsense. Hizbullah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 was a direct result of Israel's silent but unrelenting aggression against Lebanon, which in turn is part of a six-decades long Arab-Israeli conflict.

Since its withdrawal of occupation forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Israel has violated the United Nations-monitored "blue line" on an almost daily basis, according to UN reports. Hizbullah's military doctrine, articulated in the early 1990s, states that it will fire Katyusha rockets into Israel only in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians or Hizbullah's leadership; this indeed has been the pattern.

In the process of its violations, Israel has terrorized the general population, destroyed private property, and killed numerous civilians. This past February, for instance, 15-year-old shepherd Yusuf Rahil was killed by unprovoked Israeli cross-border fire as he tended his flock in southern Lebanon. Israel has assassinated its enemies in the streets of Lebanese cities and continues to occupy Lebanon's Shebaa Farms area, while refusing to hand over the maps of mine fields that continue to kill and cripple civilians in southern Lebanon more than six years after the war supposedly ended. What peace did Hizbullah shatter?

Hizbullah's capture of the soldiers took place in the context of this ongoing conflict, which in turn is fundamentally shaped by realities in the Palestinian territories. To the vexation of Israel and its allies, Hizbullah - easily the most popular political movement in the Middle East - unflinchingly stands with the Palestinians.

Since June 25, when Palestinian fighters captured one Israeli soldier and demanded a prisoner exchange, Israel has killed more than 140 Palestinians. Like the Lebanese situation, that flare-up was detached from its wider context and was said to be "manufactured" by the enemies of Israel; more nonsense proffered in order to distract from the apparently unthinkable reality that it is the manner in which Israel was created, and the ideological premises that have sustained it for almost 60 years, that are the core of the entire Arab-Israeli conflict.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0801/p09s02-coop.html

[ThomCat]

1. The idea that Israel is only defending itself is a brutal lie.

If Israel was really defending itself I would be a very strong supporter of Israel, for family reasons if for no other. But I cannot support a terrorist nation. That is what Israel has become, along with the mandatory intense propaganda and absolutist "for us or against us" doctrine.

[eFriendly]

3. I wholeheartedly agree.

Israel has become the very thing they claim to be fighting against. And I will not support a terrorist Israel state. From the very start of this war, the Israeli government has escalated every situation only for it's own blood-thirsty revenge.

[katty]

10. agree-they have become the hatred that they have been victims of

[mom cat]

23. It is the old victim/rescuer/persecutor triangle.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. which in turn stem from... which in turn stem from... this is useless. -nt

[hadrons]

4. good article

[oberliner]

5. Anders Strindberg?

The Paleocons are suddenly very popular.

[papau]

13. Strindberg the liar as shown below - but why did CSM publish his lies?

Strindberg claims that "Hez was just responding to Israeli incursions into Lebanon" is supported by the UN reports. Below are the UN reports -
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?OpenAgent&DS=S/2006/26&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?OpenAgent&DS=S/2006/560&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC

As you can see, Strindberg is a liar.

Folks did seem trusting of a report about Israeli evil

Strindberg makes a living selling Israel is evil, saying (falsely) in another article that Israel desecrates and destroys Christian religious shrines while forgetting the truth of "the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity, where Christian priests were held hostage by terrorists from the PLO, and where when the church was finally freed, it was discovered that the Palestinian terrorists inside had defecated on Christian shrines and stolen all the gold icons" (quoted from another article on the web). Indeed I have yet to see an article by Strindberg that notes that in the classic collection of the hadith or sayings of Mohammed, every one of the 199 mentions of jihad is in the context of war against non-Muslims to expand the territory under Muslim control. But for some on DU selling a "Hezbollah/Hamas Palestinians just want fairness" line is easy.

Indeed, Strindberg even claims that "neither Hezbollah nor Hamas are driven by a desire to "wipe out Jews," as is so often claimed, but by a fundamental sense of injustice that they will not allow to be forgotten" - as he forgets actual statements by leaders and financiers of these organizations that state that the goal is indeed to "wipe out the Jews".

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. papau - don't be shy - your source is FrontPage magazine

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16722

Why do you trust this notoriously right wing magazine to tell you the truth about Palestinian "evil"?

Why do you think that Strindberg's job is to analyse a religious book? I haven't seen you mention the numerous approving descriptions of genocide by Jews in the Bible, but somehow it didn't seem worth mentioning, until now.

Your UN links just say "no authorization", so we don't know what you're saying.

[papau]

17. Other sources - and how to get UN PDF's

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/
click on the left for UN Documents- http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/unifilDrp.htm
choose either 2006 report
http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/9761883.html - allow past firewall when asked

As to the 2002 Church Take over
initial report: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020404/world.htm#1
a rant about pro PLO CNN bias in coverage http://www.unitedjerusalem.org/index2.asp?id=98893
watered down "smells of the unsanitary conditions, lingered. " http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_church_nativity_2002.php

Alan Cowell and Joel Greenberg, "In Church of Nativity, the Refuse of a Siege," New York Times, May 10, 2002 on what they saw inside the church just after the Palestinians departed:

"A baptism font, festooned with bottles of Ajax bleach, appeared to have been used to wash dishes. An altar had served as a table. Cooking pots and gas stoves shared floor space with abandoned camouflage fatigues....A Mexican priest trapped in the church, the Rev. Nicolas Marquez, said that in the early days some gunmen stole articles from the Armenian section of the church - a bishop's gold chain and pectoral cross, a candelabrum, an icon. But they put them back later.

Greek Orthodox priests said that, initially, some gunmen or youths slept in the grotto where Jesus' birth is venerated, before priests persuaded them to sleep elsewhere behind the church's thick walls.

After the Palestinians and others left the church today, American agents collected tens of assault rifles left behind by the gunmen under the terms of their release. Israeli officers said their experts had found 40 "explosive devices," including booby traps. Soon afterward, as the church reopened, Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's Jerusalem representative, in tailored robes trimmed in purple, entered the church, surveyed the evidence of recent occupation - abandoned soup bowls and cooking gas cylinders - and pronounced that this did not amount to formal desecration."

[Igel]

18. Using those obviously biased

and reactionary UNIFIL documents--after all, RWers use them.

The very servers the PDFs are stored on are tainted forever by having had freepers download the documents on them, and must be burned.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. The UN reports seem to back up Strindberg

because they show there were occasional incidents in the months leading up to this conflict.

16. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities across the Blue Line on 12 July, the
situation in the UNIFIL area of operation during most of the reporting period was
tense and volatile, although generally quiet. The ceasefire was breached and heavy
exchanges across the Blue Line occurred at the beginning of February and at the end
of May. One Lebanese civilian and one Hizbollah member were reportedly killed,
and three Israeli soldiers, three Lebanese civilians and a number of Hizbollah
members were wounded in the fighting. Tension along the Line was elevated, and
IDF troops were on a high state of alert during the months of March, May, June and
July. Israeli air violations decreased during the first half of the reporting period, but
occurred again more frequently during the second half of May. Ground violations of
the Line were attributable primarily to crossings by Lebanese shepherds and
continued on analmost daily basis.

17. On 1 February, IDF opened fire and killed a young Lebanese shepherd inside
Lebanese territory in the general area of the Shab'a farms. IDF clainled that the
shepherd had been armed and that he had crossed the Blue Line on two earlier
occasions that day. A UNIFIL investigation found no evidence to suggest .that the
shepherd had had any hostile intentions or that his weapon had been used. The
shooting incident underlined the need for IDF to act with maximum restraint and to
respect fully the Blue Line. It also illustrated the necessity for the Government of
Lebanon to make additional efforts to prevent ground violations of the Blue Line,
including in the Shab'a farms area.

18. On 3 February, Hizbollah launched rocket attacks on a number of IDF
positions in the Shab'a farms area, wounding one soldier. The attack was reportedly
in retaliation for the killing of the shepherd two days earlier. IDF responded with air
strikes and artillery, mortar and tank fire against Hizbollah positions in the area
from which Hizbollah fire had emanated. Hizbollah responded with rocket and
mortar fire in the area. UNIFIL recorded one incident of IDF firing close to a
UNIFIL position near Kafr Shuba. One Lebanese civilian was wounded in the air
strike. After a one-and-a-half-hour exchange, UNIFIL succeeded in brokering a
ceasefire through the liaison channels with the parties.

19. In a serious breach of the ceasefire in the early morning of 28 May,
unidentified armed elements launched at least eight rockets from the general area of
Aynata across the Blue Line into Israel. Three rockets impacted inside an IDF
position on Mount Meron, in Upper Galilee, some 8 kilometres south of the Line,
causing material damage and lightly wounding one soldier. Hizbollah denied any
involvement in the attack. Palestinian lslan~ic Jihad in Lebanon initially claimed
responsibility in retaliation for the killing of a leading member in Lebanon and his
brother on 26 May in a car bomb explosion in Saida. The claim was retracted later
that day. The Lebanese authorities have taken an official position against attacks
emanating from their territory. In a letter dated 1 June 2006, they informed me that
the Lebanese Army Command, in conjunction with UNIFIL, would conduct the
investigations necessary to ascertain the circumstances of the firing of missiles from
Lebanese territory with a view to putting an end to them. The Lebanese Government
subsequently alleged that Israel was involved in the attack in Saida; Israel denied it.
...

Sometimes someone on the Lebanese side (not necessarily Hizbollah) started it, sometimes the IDF. And your other sources for what happened in the Bethlehem church certianly paint a different picture than the unreliable FrontPage - thank you for finding them.

[papau]

26. "Israel violated U N-monitored "blue line" on an almost daily basis"?

1.Israel has violated the United Nations-monitored "blue line" on an almost daily basis -Strindberg says almost daily - UN does not.

But Strindberg is not alone in this reading difficulty - Chomsky reads Lebanese shepherd that cross blue line and states Israel kidnapped a Lebanese citizen (the report states the shepherds cross often and are stopped) - or as when June 24 Israeli commandos entered the Gaza Strip and captured two Palestinians http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/la-fg-gaza25jun25,1,1870951.story - called a Doctor and his brother by Chomsky but really brothers Osama Muamar, 31, a medical student who returned from Sudan the prior week, and Mustafa, a 20-year-old university student in Gaza who were in the "final stages of planning a large-scale terror attack" in coming days.

I should look up what Chomsky said when in June 2006 Israeli forces staged their first major incursion - when special forces acted against a Palestinian rocket squad in the northern end of the strip, but I am tired -and I am sure he did not mention the five Sderot residents that have been killed by Hamas rocket fire since 2004.

2. - the facts - shit in the shrine despite facilities, and stolen gold - were confirmed - albeit the priest said the gold had been returned - but of course the priest chose to not show the reporters the returned gold.

This whole topic is tiring -

Let's get a cease fire in Lebanon - and on DU, and get back to beating the GOP in the 06 election.

night -

[snappyturtle]

6. Israel really bothers me in its efforts......

to bring peace to the Middle East. If Israel were earnestly interested in this, why didn't they use the UN to begin with to get their soldiers back both from the Gaza and Lebanon? After they have arrested, detained,abducted, kidnapped, whatever, a large number of the Palestinian gov't and demolished the infrastructure of Lebanon and killed countless innocents in Gaza and Lebanon, NOW they want Peace Keeping Troops! I just don't get it.

[mom cat]

9. It all stems from the delusion that enough brutal force will make them

safe.

[snappyturtle]

27. I guess. So sad. nt

[mom cat]

28. Hey snappyturtle. Welcome to the 700 club!

:hi:

[snappyturtle]

30. Good one! nt

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[papau]

14. See Post 13 and the URL's to the UN reports that prove Article is a lie

n/t

[lindisfarne]

11. This is interesting: I've heard several reports with Hez. spokespersons

who said the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers was all about getting their prisoners out of Israeli prisons via a swap. If Hez. was concerned only with Israeli incursions into Lebanon, why bother with the kidnapping?

[mom cat]

21. First: It was a capture, not a kidnapping. The lable "kidnap" is

intentionally decieving. It conjures up the image of a chils being kidnapped.
Hezbolla and the IDF have both taken prisoners for trading purposes, but the IDF has taken far more than Hezbolla.

[papau]

29. Kidnapping fits the event - was the Hez grab of the businessman in the EU

a capture? If Hamas and the Lebanese government will not do the police actions to stop terrorists in their countries as they attack Israel, should Israel simply allow the terror to continue? Or should Israel arrest those terrorists?

Or is an arrest of a terrorist a "capture" that is the moral equivalent of the terrorist entering a country - say France - and grabbing a Jewish businessman - are they both "a capture".

I wonder if someone pointing out that the US mafia have killed far fewer cops than cops have killed mafia would be reason to be upset with US cops?

Actually some very nice friends of mine from the area see Hez as running good social welfare programs with the $300 million that Iran sends them yearly. and can not bring themselves to call Hez "terrorist" - saying they "are more like a liberation force". When I ask them "liberating what" they have no answer - and I know they are not into saying Israel has no right to exist or drive the jews to the sea and indeed reject the idea - and I know they understand/agree there is no moral equivalency between Hez activities attacking Israel and and Israeli activities defending Israel post the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, but I can not get them to change their view of Hez as just a social agency with weapons to defend the country.

So your view, mom cat, is much more common in Lebanon that my own. It is just another capture has won the outside the US popular vote.

[Lindacooks]

15. Great find, Mom Cat!

K&R

[JPZenger]

19. Disporportionate

The key word here is disporportionate.

If the Israelis were just targeting rocket sites in the south and command and communications facilities used by Hizbullah, there wouldn't be this kind of crisis. As seen in the map and info. above, Israel seems intent on destroying Lebanon's economy while they are at it. Why did they need to destroy the airport, for example? Why did they need to attack so many targets that were not near Israel's borders? Why did they need to bomb the well-marked UN observation building and an apartment building?

Many Arabs and Lebanese hated Hizbullah, as did many Arab goverments. Israel has succeeced in uniting everyone now on Hizbullah's side.

It is similar to after 9-11 - when Bush went into Afghanistan he had worldwide support and good will. We went after the people who attacked us, and everyone understood. Then he did many actions that were completely disporportionate, in regards to the Iraq invasion, torture, etc. and turned the world against the US.

NPR had a good story this morning about the environmental crisis in Lebanon. A few days ago, Israel attacked a fuel storage depot at a power plant in Lebanon. It caused a massive oil spill into the Mediterranean that is likely to destroy the tourist economy, cost billions to clean up, and kill large numbers of turtles, birds and fish. Arab countries have offered clean up machinery - but it can't get to the area because Israel destroyed the airports and the highways. The only road left is a narrow mountain pass that the trucks can't negotiate.

http://lebanonupdates.blogspot.com/

[mom cat]

22. Thanks for the info, the map and the summary of the destruction.

It is so clear that Isreal is trying to do more than uproot Hizbollah near the Israel border. Isreal's actions show an intent to destroy the Shia in Lebanon and drag the middle east into the third world war thar the end timers crave.

[JPZenger]

24. Did Israel Want the US to Stop Them?

I heard an expert on the Middle East talk last night on Air America. He said that the Israeli government had to be aggressive to shore up their support within Israel. However, they thought that the US government would tell them to stop - and that would give the Israeli government political cover to back off. Instead, the US told Israel to go ahead and keep bombing, and by the way, we'll speed up your delivery of US-made precision-guided bombs.

[mom cat]

25. This has seemed to me to have a distinctly American flavor from the

beginning. I believe that Israel is being used by the US to engage Iran and Syria into a war. If Isreal was hoping for the US to reign them in, they must be shocked.

[furman]

31. response from CAMERA: Anders Strindberg Turns Truth on its Head ...

I took the liberty of submitting this article to CAMERA last week because I felt it was full of blantant anti-Israel bias.

CAMERA is a prominent watchdog organization that monitors Middle East reporting in the media.

Fortunately CAMERA decided to respond and in turn wrote an excellent article debunking this piece.
Below are excerpts:

http://camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=4&x_article=1178

Anders Strindberg Turns Truth on its Head in Christian Science Monitor

In an Op-Ed that was published in the Christian Science Monitor on August 1, 2006, "Hizbullah's attacks stem from Israeli incursions into Lebanon," Anders Strindberg turns truth on its head by blaming Israel for the current situation while exonerating Hizballah and Hamas, groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Israel. He echoes the terrorists’ propaganda both in his underlying premise that Israel’s very existence is invalid and in his unsubstantiated allegations and misrepresentations against the Jewish State.

<snip>

In fact, the United Nations Security Council confirmed that the Shebaa Farms was not part of Lebanon and that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 was complete, in compliance with UN Security Council resolutions 425. UN Security Resolution 1585 (2005) reaffirmed this, the background notes emphasizing that "the continually asserted position of the Government of Lebanon that the Blue Line is not valid in the Shab’a farms area is not compatible with Security Council resolutions."

<snip>

Strindberg may label the popular explanation of events in Lebanon "pure analytical nonsense" and try to justify Hizbullah and Hamas’ goals, but the facts speak otherwise.