It gets through to me Hezbollah is firing ROCKETS to Israel. It also gets through to me Israel fires more and deadlier rockets to Lebanon.
When the Israeli soldier was kidnapped in Gaza (one day after two Palestinians received the same treatment) and Israel denied to negotiate, Hezbollah could forecast the Israeli reaction to their kidnapping two soldiers. Regardless, Israel goes on the expected route. Excuse me but I can’t justify an estimated 12,5% of the population to become refugees and civilian facilities being bombed to retaliate for a skirmish.
Lebanon is unable to get rid of Hezbollah even if it wants it. The U.N. and Israel aren’t on the best of terms and I don’t think Israel asked the U.N. for such a force.
Fatah was one of those groups that wanted Israel gone. There has been plenty of diplomacy with them.
By the way, as the refugees turn to Hezbollah for shelter this worsens Israel’s long term standing. Israel has a mighty army. Unless it follows with diplomacy after its military wins, it further alienates the Arabs. And that’s a truly empty approach. Post WW II Germany and Japan were reborn because diplomacy was also used. Use only violence and you get an Afghanistan or Iraq. Might of arms alone does not suffice.
I’m leaving today, so I can’t continue the debate. Catch you later.
I’m not saying that violence is the best way to fix the problem. But what kind of diplomacy could you use? Hezbollah has no demands. There is nothing Israel can give it, short of committing hara-kiri.
Sure, there’s been diplomacy with Fatah, because Fatah claimed that all it wanted was the West Bank and Gaza (while blurring over the fact that it also wanted the rest of Israel). However, all those years of diplomacy haven’t really helped much, have they? All those land-for-peace deals have resulted in Israel giving back lots of land but getting none of the peace.
this worsens Israel’s long term standing. Israel has a mighty army. Unless it follows with diplomacy after its military wins, it further alienates the Arabs.
Israel’s “long term standing” can’t get any worse, and it can’t “alienate the Arabs” any more than it already has.
Once again, what is this empty “diplomacy” you want to see done? You can’t just tell Israel and Hezbollah to talk at each other and expect peace to result. Calling for diplomacy over all other means even if it puts Israel at a disadvantage immediately relies on the stunningly naive idea that gee, if only Israel and Hezbollah could sit down at a table they could all just work this thing out. How’s that going to happen if Hezbollah’s goal is the eventual eradication of Israel?
Oh yeah, what did Israel get for negotiating with Fatah? Hamas.
I’m not getting off on reports that state how many Lebanese civilians have been killed each day. It’s just that I’d rather seen Lebanon take the fallout for harboring Hezbollah in its borders, rather than Israelis, civilian or military, within Israel’s own borders - which is exactly what all the “diplomatic” solutions seem to demand.
<small><i>Edit: Nooooooo! Others’ faster fingers have rendered me irrelevant.</i></small>
The UN is an institution that, while conceived with the best intentions, is inherently useless by its charter. I understand the need to have placed China and the Soviet Union, however corrupt and totalitarian, at the same table as the great Western powers. What I do not get are governments like Libya, North Korea, and the numerous other backwards and despotic regimes sitting eye-to-eye with the USA, Britain, France, and the rest of the good countries. The UN should be kicked off American soil and in its place established a selective organization of powerful, well-intentioned places, preferably with wise old benevolent kings and queens.
I take exception tof that. Nowhere does it say wise kings and queens have to be old. That’s ageist and discriminatory against wise young kings and queens.
…no-one has anything to say on the fact that Israel, either intentionally or because of a HUGE mix-up BOMBED a UN-position, despite been warned six times they were bombing close to it?
No one has heard the fact that said UN outpost was right smack in the middle of a Hezbollah stronghold, or that it was still manned in the middle of an outright war?
Or that there’s an inquiry into it, and that no one has yet figured out exactly what happened?
They’ve been warned up to ten times, and Israel’s PM has called for an military investigation into the matter, with promises to share the results of the investigation with Kofi Annan, who accused the bombings of being “apparently deliberate”. And yes, the UN building was clearly marked, but in the middle of a war-zone and should definitely <i>not</i> have been manned in the first place. You can blame Israeli intelligence if you want, but there’s just as much blame for local UN organization.
That’s true, but I figure if we’re going to get a monarchy set up in the US, it will be easier with an old man first, since they seem more wise to the general public. I’m talking absolute monarchy, by the way. The Senate can stay around, but it will be purely advisory. Of course, there will be need of vassal lords…
About Lebanon, I read that the majority of Arab governments have now turned to supporting Hezbollah, so fuck them. (Of course, the only reason they wouldn’t at first was because of their little Shiite-Sunni spat.)
An absolute monarchy? LOL sure why not! Heck, why not an Emperor or Emperess while we’re at it! And then we can gather all the religions in America and create a Royal Religious Council Too! LOL sorry, I don’t think it matters what kind of government it is, when we’re dealing with terrorists, there really is no salution.
