Israel: No 72-hour cease fire to evacuate innocents and bring in aid.

[Harper_is_Bush]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Saturday rejected U.N. calls for a 72-hour pause in fighting to enable relief workers to evacuate elderly, young and wounded people from south Lebanon and to bring in emergency aid.

"There is no need for a 72-hour temporary cease-fire because Israel has opened a humanitarian corridor to-and-from Lebanon," said Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-29T090633Z_01_L29778546_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-PAUSE-REJECTED.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-2


They reject a cease fire on a false premise, and then blame Hezbollah.

Israel's brain cramp is going on 3 weeks now.

[laura888]

1. Lebanese lives are not worthy. n/t

[vogonjiltz]

2. Israel would be foolish to agree to a cease fire.

If would allow Hezbollah to reposition and regroup. Maybe if Hezbollah would show some courage and stop hiding behind children and old people, Israel wouldn't have to attack neighborhoods.

[Clark2008]

3. Groan

:eyes:

[ixion]

6. Second that...

:eyes:

Apparently, for some people, Israel can do no wrong, no matter how many war crimes it commits.

[Mandate My Ass]

4. ah the abusive spouse rationalization for slaughter

Nice :eyes:

[laura888]

5. More crazy talk. Your post belongs in the category of...

:wtf:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. false premise.

H'Bullah and Lebanese witnesses all agree that they are NOT hiding behind civilians. That is a blatant lie promoted by the Bush Club For Endless Wartime PResidencies and the Israeli spin control media panel that has deluges MSM and cable TV with their propoganda

[Solo_in_MD]

28. Witnesses? How about co-consiprators

The videos that have shown destroyed launchers are in civilian areas. Hezbollah has made that a stated part of thier approach. Nasarallah has said he will scorch the earth of Lebanon before he disarms.

Hezbollah is true to is warlord roots and is in it for Hezbollah. If their military and financial support was cut from Syria and Iran they would wither and blow away.

[Harper_is_Bush]

33. Does Israel get blamed for anything?

What about contaminating the Lebanese coastline with oil. Was that Hezbollahs fault also?

[Solo_in_MD]

36. More than enough blame to go around.

Israel is far from clean,

However, in context I was responding to an assertions that Hezbollah was not using civilians as cover, which is patently untrue

[Harper_is_Bush]

8. Thanks for the on-the-ground update.

I assume you're there since you're able to offer such a precise breakdown of what's going on.

Do they issue one woman and one child to each Hezbollah fighter?

Oh, I SEE! Allowing the woman and children to evacuate would allow Hezbollah fighters who lost their woman/child shields to Israeli fire to grab some new ones! Pretty smart.
NO CEASE FIRE! KEEP LOBBING TANK SHELLS AND MISSILES BY THE THOUDANDS!!!

[vogonjiltz]

12. Perhaps Lebanon,

should compel Hezbollah, a private entity, to stop launching missiles and making incursions into Israel from Lebanon's territory. If Lebanon is unwilling to, maybe Israel should defend itself.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. a private entity? defend by invasion?

black is white, right is wrong, and most importantly might makes right. I wonder where we heard such spin before.

[vogonjiltz]

16. I'm not saying Israel couldn't tone it down a little,

but Israel is within it's rights to defend itself. Hezbollah dragged Labanon into this, the Lebanese inability could be contrued as approval of Hezbollah's behavior.

[Harper_is_Bush]

20. "but Israel is within it's rights to defend itself"....empty rhetoric

Everyone agrees that Israel has a right to defend itself. That is repeated anytime anyone points out how disproportionate the attacks have become, as if all they've been doing is defending themselves.

They've gone beyond defending themselves.

And how dare you say the Lebanese inability to disarm Hezbollah = approval of Hezbollah behaviour. You are now making excuses for the PUNITIVE DESTRUCTION OF LEBANON.

[Harper_is_Bush]

15. Perhaps Israel

should stop killing Lebanese civilians and stop destroying Lebanons infrastructure under the guise of defending itself.

There is no comparison in terms of the death and destruction in this "war". It can hardly be called a war, it's a complete blow out.

We all know the history of Hezbollah in Lebanon. To now punnish Lebanon for not being capable of disarming Hezbollah is beyond disproportionate, it's evil.

And calling this widespread destruction Israel is wreaking "defending itself" belongs on the shelf with the largest of Bush lies.

[vogonjiltz]

23. Lebanon's infrastructure is fair game. If Hezbollah...

didn't conduct it's operations so near populated areas there wouldn't be so many civilian deaths.

[Harper_is_Bush]

26. I don't believe Israel anymore.

I've heard to much bullshit.

Like this line that there's no need for a cease fire because there's a Sea route. The UN was asking for the purpose of evacuating civilians overland.
The complaints that nobody cares about the rockets hitting Israel, while Lebanon is being levelled.
The claim that Hezbollah is using woman and children as shields is challanged by third parties on the ground.
Yes, Israel is in high propaganda mode now.
Unfortunately Israel will reap the violence they've sown in Lebanon.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

35. Tell me,

Do you also regard Israel's infrastructure as "fair game"?

After all, if Israel has a right to defend itself by such means, so does Lebanon, surely?

[Ravenseye]

22. how are they to do that?

They just really had managed to start getting their country back on two feet, the economy was growing, people's lives were getting better, and now it's all destroyed again. It'll now take another decade or two before Lebanon becomes even barely capable of doing what you suggest because of the path that Israel took.

[Kagemusha]

9. That corridor is out to sea from Beirut and in from sea to Beirut.

Israel's bombing trucks indiscriminately, including aid trucks. I even saw one DU'er claim that this is because the UN conspired with Hezbollah to kill three IDF soldiers in 2000, giving Hezbollah uniforms and then covering the incident up. (Uh, yeah. Sure.)

And it's really offensive to read of an Israeli minister saying they're all for humanitarian corridors by themselves because they're not attacking Lebanon, or the Lebanese people, they're attacking Hezbollah alone. That's a cheap lie. Or they just think that treating the Lebanese people as equal to Hezbollah is ok if you don't SAY so.

[Harper_is_Bush]

10. Exactly. That's what I mean by Israels "false premise".

Israels response was disingenuous.

[Kagemusha]

11. "Disingenuous"... is being very kind IMHO...

Every good reason to kick ass is being so cheapened and demeaned by the propaganda coming out of that place. And we're all expected to just roll over and accept it unthinkingly and without question as if we're... elected politicians or something.

[laura888]

13. Agreed. n/t

[stepnw1f]

17. There Ya Go... The Israel Government Doesn't Want Peace

And will create more and more terrorists by killing more and more innocents.

[WindRavenX]

18. why does no one realize this?

In 20 years, we will remember.

How the fuck can any rational human being not have a cease fire for humanitarian aid and evacuations?

This is absurd-- crimes against humanity are crimes against humanity no matter if the country that commits them is our ally or our enemy.

[stepnw1f]

19. I Don't Know... But I Think They are All Nuts

or just stupid with fear.

[WindRavenX]

21. my personal opinion...

...people are just fucking stupid as a pound of rocks.

[Ravenseye]

24. You know what?

I think you're a very generous person.

Half pound.

Tops.

[WindRavenX]

25. I stand corrected

:thumbsup:

I really wish stupidity was a terminal disease.

[originalpckelly]

27. The way these people are going...it is...

I'm just sayin what I'm seein.

[TahitiNut]

38. Well ...

(Any military organization meets the criterion of "large group.")
(So does a government.)

[maalak]

29. Hezbollah has a LONG track record of violating ceasefires...

...and only agreeing to them when they need time to resupply. when they're ready, they launch attacks just as they did before this current conflict.

here's a summary of the proposed cease fire plan:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/29/mideast.main/index.html

Lebanese cease-fire plan

The Lebanese cease-fire plan, developed by Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora, will be presented to Rice. It calls for an immediate cease-fire, the release of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails and the return of two Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah.

The plan calls for the return of displaced Lebanese and negotiations between Israel and Lebanon concerning the disputed Shebaa farms under Israeli control.

It also calls for the release of maps showing Israeli minefields near the Lebanese border; the deployment and strengthening of the Lebanese army; and the expansion of the U.N. force in the south.

Although Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire with Israel and a larger international presence in southern Lebanon, the group objected to "a robust force" of international peacekeepers, the sources said.

Also, Hezbollah did not specifically agree to disarm, as Israel has demanded, the sources said. The plan does call for the Lebanese military to take control of southern Lebanon, along with the U.N. force.

so let's summarize:

1) Hezbollah wants it's original demands met
2) show us the maps that prevent us from taking certain key positions
3) agreed to more UN, but not a group "robust" enough to actually do the job they're supposed to do
4) Hezbollah makes no agreement to disarm, as they were supposed to do SEVERAL years ago under the conditions of the cease fire that Israel honored by withdrawing.

there is no way Israel can agree to this.

[Harper_is_Bush]

31. You're a little confused.

This 72 hour cease fire is being requested by the UN, not Hezbollah. Speak to the topic.

It is requested so that women, children, wounded, and elderly can evacuate from what is obviously a policy of slash and burn by Israel.

The refusal by Israel will only bring further condemnation on them, and well deserved condemnation.

The idea that Hezbollah will "resupply" in 72 hours is laughable. Resupply from where? Obviously any trucks coming into Lebanon during this 72 hours could be tracked by Israel and destroyed later.

[maalak]

34. i was speaking speaking to ceasefires in general...

but just out of curiosity, what was Hezbollah's response to that 72 hour ceasefire that the UN requested?

[Blue_In_AK]

30. I'm sorry, but I'm just really mad at Israel

and I've tried to be objective about this thing. This is not a just war when more children than soldiers (or "terrorists" or Hezbollah or whatever they want to call them) are killed. Israel is really, really pissing me off.

[Harper_is_Bush]

32. Don't apologize. I'm furious at them.

I can understand Israeli anger at repeated Hezbollah attacks over the years, but they are not justified in what they are doing.

They are well on the way to destroying Lebanon.

They hit oil storage units on the coastline and now 130 miles of coast is contaminated. Was it really necessary to do that? Was that self-defense?
It sickens me.

[Zhade]

37. A humanitarian corridor necessitated by YOUR actions, Israel.

There wouldn't need to be this alleged (safe? unlikely) corridor if the Israeli military wasn't indiscriminately bombing innocent Lebanese!

FUCK the Israeli government!