Will Lebanon's memories of what it once was and could be again be enough to withstand the radicalizing efforts of Hezbollah?
I was born on the 'Arab Riviera', a term you may hear today applied to Dubai, but which was a very real and accurate description of Lebanon in the 1950s and early 1960s. When I was a kid living in Syria and Jordan, we would go to Lebanon to enjoy the beautiful beaches and stay in a nice hotel - older folks went there for the nightclubs and casinos and ski resorts with a view of the ocean. I was born there because Beirut had the best, most modern hospital in the area, and it was a reasonable drive from Damascus.…
Article comments
126 - gazelle
since we are on a long road ahead ...
Comment
Israel responded to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah, right? Wrong
The assault on Lebanon was premeditated - the soldiers' capture simply provided the excuse. It was also unnecessary
George Monbiot
Tuesday August 8, 2006
The Guardian
Whatever we think of Israel's assault on Lebanon, all of us seem to agree about one fact: that it was a response, however disproportionate, to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah. I repeated this "fact" in my last column, when I wrote that "Hizbullah fired the first shots". This being so, the Israeli government's supporters ask peaceniks like me, what would you have done? It's an important question. But its premise, I have now discovered, is flawed.
Since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, there have been hundreds of violations of the "blue line" between the two countries. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) reports that Israeli aircraft crossed the line "on an almost daily basis" between 2001 and 2003, and "persistently" until 2006. These incursions "caused great concern to the civilian population, particularly low-altitude flights that break the sound barrier over populated areas". On some occasions, Hizbullah tried to shoot them down with anti-aircraft guns.
In October 2000, the Israel Defence Forces shot at unarmed Palestinian demonstrators on the border, killing three and wounding 20. In response, Hizbullah crossed the line and kidnapped three Israeli soldiers. On several occasions, Hizbullah fired missiles and mortar rounds at IDF positions, and the IDF responded with heavy artillery and sometimes aerial bombardment. Incidents like this killed three Israelis and three Lebanese in 2003; one Israeli soldier and two Hizbullah fighters in 2005; and two Lebanese people and three Israeli soldiers in February 2006. Rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel several times in 2004, 2005 and 2006, on some occasions by Hizbullah. But, the UN records, "none of the incidents resulted in a military escalation".
On May 26 this year, two officials of Islamic Jihad - Nidal and Mahmoud Majzoub - were killed by a car bomb in the Lebanese city of Sidon. This was widely assumed in Lebanon and Israel to be the work of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. In June, a man named Mahmoud Rafeh confessed to the killings and admitted that he had been working for Mossad since 1994. Militants in southern Lebanon responded, on the day of the bombing, by launching eight rockets into Israel. One soldier was lightly wounded. There was a major bust-up on the border, during which one member of Hizbullah was killed and several wounded, and one Israeli soldier wounded. But while the border region "remained tense and volatile", Unifil says it was "generally quiet" until July 12.
There has been a heated debate on the internet about whether the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah that day were captured in Israel or in Lebanon, but it now seems pretty clear that they were seized in Israel. This is what the UN says, and even Hizbullah seems to have forgotten that they were supposed to have been found sneaking around the outskirts of the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab. Now it simply states that "the Islamic resistance captured two Israeli soldiers at the border with occupied Palestine". Three other Israeli soldiers were killed by the militants. There is also some dispute about when, on July 12, Hizbullah first fired its rockets; but Unifil makes it clear that the firing took place at the same time as the raid - 9am. Its purpose seems to have been to create a diversion. No one was hit.
But there is no serious debate about why the two soldiers were captured: Hizbullah was seeking to exchange them for the 15 prisoners of war taken by the Israelis during the occupation of Lebanon and (in breach of article 118 of the third Geneva convention) never released. It seems clear that if Israel had handed over the prisoners, it would - without the spillage of any more blood - have retrieved its men and reduced the likelihood of further kidnappings. But the Israeli government refused to negotiate. Instead - well, we all know what happened instead. Almost 1,000 Lebanese and 33 Israeli civilians have been killed so far, and a million Lebanese displaced from their homes.
On July 12, in other words, Hizbullah fired the first shots. But that act of aggression was simply one instance in a long sequence of small incursions and attacks over the past six years by both sides. So why was the Israeli response so different from all that preceded it? The answer is that it was not a reaction to the events of that day. The assault had been planned for months.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "more than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to US and other diplomats, journalists and thinktanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail". The attack, he said, would last for three weeks. It would begin with bombing and culminate in a ground invasion. Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, told the paper that "of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared ... By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board".
A "senior Israeli official" told the Washington Post that the raid by Hizbullah provided Israel with a "unique moment" for wiping out the organisation. The New Statesman's editor, John Kampfner, says he was told by more than one official source that the US government knew in advance of Israel's intention to take military action in Lebanon. The Bush administration told the British government.
Israel's assault, then, was premeditated: it was simply waiting for an appropriate excuse. It was also unnecessary. It is true that Hizbullah had been building up munitions close to the border, as its current rocket attacks show. But so had Israel. Just as Israel could assert that it was seeking to deter incursions by Hizbullah, Hizbullah could claim - also with justification - that it was trying to deter incursions by Israel. The Lebanese army is certainly incapable of doing so. Yes, Hizbullah should have been pulled back from the Israeli border by the Lebanese government and disarmed. Yes, the raid and the rocket attack on July 12 were unjustified, stupid and provocative, like just about everything that has taken place around the border for the past six years. But the suggestion that Hizbullah could launch an invasion of Israel or that it constitutes an existential threat to the state is preposterous. Since the occupation ended, all its acts of war have been minor ones, and nearly all of them reactive.
So it is not hard to answer the question of what we would have done. First, stop recruiting enemies, by withdrawing from the occupied territories in Palestine and Syria. Second, stop provoking the armed groups in Lebanon with violations of the blue line - in particular the persistent flights across the border. Third, release the prisoners of war who remain unlawfully incarcerated in Israel. Fourth, continue to defend the border, while maintaining the diplomatic pressure on Lebanon to disarm Hizbullah (as anyone can see, this would be much more feasible if the occupations were to end). Here then is my challenge to the supporters of the Israeli government: do you dare to contend that this programme would have caused more death and destruction than the current adventure has done?
www.monbiot.com
Assault on Lebanon was Premeditated - Guardian
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[we'll see about the rest]
127 - gazelle
and this behe article is such israeli propaganda BS. getting an SLA type to type. just like the flyers being dropped there.
he says":
"That caused the totally justified destruction of all OUR radar stations by the Hebrews' army."
...
"Of course, there are some 500,000 refugees from the south who are experiencing a veritable tragedy and who are not smiling. But Jean [Tsadik. Editor's note], who has his eyes fixed on Kfar Kileh, and from whom I have learned to believe each word he says, assures me that practically all the houses of the aforesaid refugees are intact. So they will be able to come back"
note 'practically'.
i dont think he is lebanese.
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128 - Dave Nalle
Gazelle, if you don't agree with it, then it's Israeli propaganda. Seems to me that the Behe article makes way too much sense to be blown off that way.
Dave
129 - gazelle
Dave
see in 1991 when GB Sr went after iraq, the shias wanted the US/allied forces to come in and get saddam off their backs. that didnt happen (not that i agreed with GB going in). as a result saddam cracked harder on them.
in 2006 do the christians in lebanon want hezbollah off their backs with israel's help?
its the same model that is being presented here by israel and some US pundits. but its not 1982 and its not kosovo or iraq.
If the South Lebanon Army was raised to tackle the unruly displaced palestinians in the south by israeli collaborators in lebanon, they regret having destroyed their country today. The voices of behe are there to be sure, but few and far between.
Having seen what an israeli occupation of their country entails (as we can see what the occupation of iraq entails), many christians remain more opposed to israel for being a reckless invader than to hezbollah.
such as :
Pew Research - Lebanon's Muslims: Relatively Secular and Pro-Christian
Evangelical Blindness on Lebanon
Lebanese-American Christian in South Lebanon Speaks Out
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130 - Rana
I've been reading all of this with great interest in the matter considering I'm lebanese but reside in canada. I am also a Shia muslim who, at first, was with Hizbollah because I believed they were fighting for Lebanon. However, now recently I, along with many other lebanese people, are quite furious with what they have done. It seems as if Hizbollah has grown so large that it's as if they have more control than the government. I believe they have done some good in the past. I was very much against israel, and still am for the damage they have once again caused Lebanon, killing many of my innocent family members and friends I had made when vacationed there. But this has GOT to stop. Hizbollah has got to stop. THEY have led us into war and Israel is taking it too far as well. The cease fire scheduled monday will not stop anything. The violence will continue, more will die in both israel and lebanon, and it doesnt seem like Israel is slowing down Hizbollah at all. Asking for your opinions, do you really think that there has been ANY progress with this war? Do you honestly think Israel has helped?
131 - Dave Nalle
Interesting comments, Rana. I agree that the cease fire will solve absolutely nothing. All it does is drag out the process and give people a chance to rebuild so that everything can be torn down again in a month or 6 months or a year.
I'm increasingly convinced that the parties here need to fight this out no holds barred until they're both so sick of war and death that they actually want to stop.
Dave
132 - u fools dont understand!!
hezoballh are lebanese peole and have the right to defend lebanese muslim people. Isreal are always bombing the borders of lebanon just so they can urge on hezoballh to bomb dem back. and have u forgotten that there are hundreds of soliders in isreal and a huge piece of lebanese land that isreal have today? hezoballh have the rit to get them back or dont the muslim shite people have the rit to see there brothers after over 20 - 25 years of them being in prison. I think people shud stop blaming hezobaalh for "terrorist acts" as they are an army fighting for a reasonable purpose.i also experienced the war in lebanon 2006 and saw and heard everything that happened. (thankgod my family are safe) so people shudnt criticezs my people (hezobaallh) if u dont know hu they are!!! p.s ramadan mubarak to all my muslim bros and sis p.s.s I HATE isreal even more now then i did before!!!
133 - u fools dont understand!!
tell me davee naleee who are going to help the muslim shite people in lebanon the lebanese goverment who half of them are with America! Also hezaboolah dont fire misssels in their own country lebanon (oh and hezabolaah are lebanese)or are u blind to see all them children killed by the american war planes and missels supplied to isreal. But you probably havn't expreinced war . You havn't had war planes 24/7 above ur head thinking any moment isreal are going to strike. Dont you see isreal are the truee terrorists. P.s dave..mmm aint that a jewish name maybe this article you wrote was purposly done to bring the muslim people even further down!!!
134 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Dave,
I see the intelligent voices at BC support the article you wrote, and the analysis you provided in the comments. So do I. I particularly agree that Arab refugees from Judea and Samaria should be living in Jordan with relative freedom, rather than in Lebanon with no freedom.
But it should be noted that you could have gotten dual citizenship in an Arab country. The Arab refugees from Israel cannot get citizenship in Lebanon. This is a point that the "pro-Arab" contingent commenting here seem to miss consistently. Whether they do so on purpose or out of sheer ignorance is beyond my knowledge, but it is a hard fact that they seem determined to ignore. The same is true for the observations of Abdallah (comment #15). Whether he and I agree on what should happen with Israel is less important in the context of the article you've written here. But my record stands that I've always advocated a home with opportunities for advancement and progress for Arabs originally from Israel. That home should be Jordan. That could be real peace.
What is being pursued now, by the Iranian puppets, HizbAllah, the mafia known as the Fatah, trhe terrorist group knon as Hamas, and the criminal gang known as the Israeli government will only bring more war and more death.
135 - S.T.M
Good stuff Dave. And interesting; we do have more in common than a liking for crispy-skin fowl. I lived in Baghdad as a kid in the '60s and it was noteworthy that of all the countries in the middle east, Lebanon at that time was seen as a sophisticated, civilising influence in the region (my British father called it the Paris of the Middle East, despite the fact that he was once arrested at gunpoint there and held as a spy for trying to re-enter Iraq, which he'd left on day seven of the six-day war.)
Our best friends in Baghdad were Lebanese and it truly was a beautiful place prior to the civil war (as was Baghdad in the 1960s).
Back to my present-day experience: In Australia, there are two distinct waves of migration from Lebanon. The first are mostly Christians (Maronites, mainly, although there were some Muslims too) who began coming around the turn of the (previous) century. There have been many of them and their descendents have gone on to occupy important positions in Australian life.
One is Marie Bashir, the current Governor of New South Wales and another off the top of my head is Nick Shehadie, a former Lord Mayor of Sydney who also played Rugby Union for Australia and when you are talking about down-to-Earth, "knockabout" Australians, Shehadie fits the bill while Bashir, a lawyer, is a very sophisticated and fair-minded person.
They are pretty well representative of their kin.
The second group began coming in the mid '70s during the Lebanese Civil War and are mainly muslim (with some Christians too). While many have gone on to good things, there has been much disaffection within the second group, which also has tended to gather as a community in one large area of south-western Sydney. Many are in fact first and second generation children of refugees from Palestine, who had fled to Lebanon, so of course that hoary old chestnut then rears its head here.
It is the muslim boys (although not exclusively), railing against the strict values of their parents and also setting themselves apart from other Australians, who have formed themselves into street gangs that have caused real problems here.
They are often engaged in major criminal activity and it is partly this that led to the misguided racism that caused the beachfront riots of last year when young people identifying themselves as being of Australian background went on the rampage against young people of middle-eastern descent. This in turn led to car loads of boys from south-western Sydney arriving in the beachfront areas of southern Sydney and smashing cars and beating up passersby or anyone who got in their way. In one retaliatory incident, a boy was stabbed in the back and an Australian flag pulled down and burned.
The riots were ostensibly sparked by the bashing of a lifeguard at Cronulla beach, although it has been simmering for a long time, with a number of high-profile gang-rapes and murder cases prominent in the courts and the media.
But the real catalyst has been the migrants of the second wave feeling out of place (although you don't see much poverty among them) and the refusal to leave old hatreds behind.
There is hope, however, in a source that might seem unusual elsewhere in the world. The NRL rugby league team based in south-western Sydney, the Sydney Bulldogs, has a huge fan base of Lebanese migrants and one of its star players is a devout Muslim named Hazem el-Masri, along with a few juniors and lower graders coming through, and they have been afforded special priveleges because of their religion (limited training during Ramadan, for instance). El-Masri is great role model for his people.
As always here, it is in sport, that most Australian of obsessions and in sports regarded as very Australian pastimes, such as Rugby League, where the reconciliation is beginning.
However, given the old squabbles inherent here I fear the process will be long and arduous. Hopefully, the light at the end of the tunnel won't turn out to be an oncoming freight train.
136 - Dave Nalle
STM, we've got lots of Maronites here as well, but they came over more recently.
The problem with the massive exodus from Lebanon, of course, is that it's left behind the poorer, less educated, and more easily manipulated population. Lebanon today is a far cry from the country with so much potential which we saw in the 1960s. It represented the hopes of the Middle East, and they were dashed by constant war with Israel.
Dave
137 - u fools dont understand!!
u aint answered me bak dave....... are my comments quiet a suprize to you or maybe because im with hazibaalh and love them that u feel that i dont have the right to crtiseze you on ur article..!
138 - Dave Nalle
ufdu, I'm not following this old thread all that actively.
If you've read the article you should already be aware that I was born in Lebanon, and Daoud is as much an Arab name as David is an Jewish one, but I'm neither. And I've had warplanes flying over my head and been targeted by missles more than enough, thanks.
As for responding to you, you write so poorly it's hard to figure out what your point is, but here's a blanket answer. Israel has done plenty wrong, but that doesn't make Hezbollah right or excuse their attrocities against innocent civilians in Israel or Lebanon.
Dave
139 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
To the Fool in Lebanon Who Doesn't Understand:
LISTEN UP AND PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION!
There will be another round in this war - your overbosses in Iran will see to that. And in that next round, you will be slaughtered, because your leaders will make the mistake of thinking that just because we haven't slaughtered Arabs like dogs before doesn't mean we won't in the future. And your future is coming at you a lot faster than you realize.
The bombs that killed Lebanese civilians in the previous little war that you started were not really intentional.
The next time the slaughter will be. You've been warned.
140 - to Ruvy in Jerusalem hu eva the fuk you are
Incase you dont no the bombs that killed Lebanese civilians in the BIG war were intentional! you used the excuse of the two soliders who were caught by hezoballah (lebanese get dat right)as an excuse to murder alot of lebanese children. Hezaballah warned you that if you dont free our people from your country then they will take isreali soliders so you built up this war waiting for hezobaalh to take action. True there will be another war an iran are powerful people we'll see who will get slaughted in this round. you may think killing arab people makes yo u look big but you'll get whats coming to you so you LISTEN UP AND PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION! you'll be getting a big shock in what will happen to the zionists who try an attack us again.
141 - gonzo marx
for comment #140 - i call pure bullshit!
even the leaders of Hizb'allah in Lebanon have stated the capture of those Israeli soldiers was to do some simple bargaining for prisoners
and it blew up in their faces, literally
Excelsior?
142 - haneen. (u fools dont understand!!)
dave, you probabaly can't figure out what my point is because i've got alot to make! I didn't want to write a whole essay because you wouldn't have been interested in what i had to say. basiacally, we lebanese shite people have no one to defend us and hezoballah are heros to us (maybe not to you). and again i have to stress haziaballah didn't kill lebanese people! I've already told you before the reasons why haziballah captured the two isreali soldiers. Because my experience has effected me so much surely you can understand why i'm with haziballah. Also i want to ask if you've come across a hezoballh solider?
143 - troll
haneen - it sure looked like hizb'allah was using the population as a shield and private houses schools etc as rocket emplacements guaranteeing 'civilian' property damage and death...any truth to those reports - ?
144 - Dave Nalle
Haneen, where would I run into a Hezbollah soldier here in Texas? It would be amusing to have one show up at the local turkey shoot, though.
I'd love to see your answer to troll in #143, because as far as I can tell Hezbollah are a bunch of scum who hide behind women and children.
Dave
145 - haneen
well the fact that i was there and know the soliders i should be able to answer to troll wateva. alot of the people gave permission for hizaballah to keep missiles in their houses and it's not true that they kept misseles in schools. To you lot it's a big deal keeping missels and rockets in peoples houses but when your in a situation were israel are non stop bombing your town and your people then we as shite people are prepared to help hizaballah as they are our people and the only people doing something about isreal. Also if hizaballah weren't around, isreal would have occupied the south again (as my parents have experienced this) and not even the goverment would be able to do anything about it. The only reason you see them as scum dave is because where your probabaly from, isreal haven't tried coming in and take comtrol. to us hizaballah are our heros but since your people arn't being attacked all the time you wouldn't understand what they mean to us. or maybe you visitiong the south to do some proper research on the soliders is too much of hard work therefore calling hizaballah terrorists is an easier option to go around it.
146 - Dave Nalle
Sorry, I have to call bullshit on that last comment. You're saying that families in South Lebanon basically invited Hezbollah to get them killed. I find that totally ridiculous.
Dave
147 - haneen
no u ediot why the fuck are you trying to twist my words. The fact is NO ONE is prepared to help us apart from hizaballah and those famillies that ur talking about left their houses anyway to go to a safer area. i'm sayng that were prepared to help them because without hizaballah the isrealis would have tried crossing the border again.you find it hard to believe because you aint been in their situatrion!so enough with this "I have to call bullshit on that last comment" cause as far as i no everytime you make a point and i explain myself you complitley disregard it just because i don't agree with your fucking screwd up article. like i said before you need to get your facts straight.
148 - stan
Hezbollah have been a fantastic help to the people of southern Lebanon. Their main contribution to Lebanese society has been to singelhandedly bring about the demolition of a number of towns that were looking a bit the worse for wear anyhow, and of course much of the infrastructure (power, phones, gas, transport, etc) was in need of replacing. So it's saved the Lebanese government an absolute fortune, really.
Now, on a serious note: Unfortunately, Hezbollah's provocative actions have led to many deaths on both sides of the conflict ... and unlike buildings, these lives can't be replaced.
There are plenty of Lebanese who don't agree with your point of view, Haneen. They'd like all these fanatics out of the place completely - and while they might think Israel's response was far too heavy handed, they are also not stupid. They know that it was Hezbollah and the presence of these nutcase fanatics that provoked the conflict.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.
149 - haneen
i'm glad that you agree that haziballah have been a great help because without them the south of lebanon would be ruled by the zionists by now!
stan, maybe you should be locked up in the irseali prison for 20-25 years and see how you would feel about it. Because im telling you right now the goverment won't do shit about it.
150 - Franco
#145
haneen
"if hizaballah weren't around, isreal would have occupied the south again"
haneen,
Please provide information for, just one time, just once, when Israel entered Southern Lebanon without being first attacked by either the PLO, or Hezbollah.
151 - Mark in Canada
I always find people who defend hatred of a group or a race such fun. Lets see, where to begin. First off, Lebanon was a great example of what the Arab world could be. It's past was one of prosperity, and religious freedom. Now that is a concept, freedom. Let's see, to those who think Islam is the way to worship god, freedom can either be a threat or a wonderful thing, and I am always unsure in which way some Muslims view it. To the majority in Lebanon, I think freedom of religion is something they would like to preserve, but to do that they need a free democratic society. The best example of such a society in that part of the world is Israel, and Hezbollah has dedicated their soul into its destruction. Hezbollah has no interest in preserving freedom of any sort. If they did, the first tyrants of the Middle east they would have taken out would be the Assad family and the Mullahs running Iran.
People in the Middle East need to get on with the fact that Israel isn't going to go away. If attacked, it will attack back. If left alone, it will go on its way. Blaming the US, Bush or any Israeli leader for the misfortunes of the Arab world will not make the Arab world better. The Palestinians have been "displaced" for the better part of 3 generations. Has it not occured to anyone in the West Bank, Gaza or Lebanon of Palestinian extraction that they are the patsie's of the Arab world? No one wants to help them in the Muslim world. They have done everything to marginalize and keep them hostile and angry. Why? So they would be cannon fodder in the constant war against Israel. See, Palestinians and Hezbollah can fight Israel, while no one pays any attention to the tyrannical thugs running Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The whole world has bought this propganda about the "Freedom Fighters". To fight for freedom, you have to have a concept of what it is, and as I said above, Hezbollah's idea of freedom is you are free to fight for them, or agree with them, and screw you if you are not.
The Muslim's who jump on here to call Dave a fool, a Jew or anything else make me ill, for they think nothing of freedom or having tolerance for others, yet come on here in a DEMOCRATIC forum and try to "debate" Dave and others. If you clowns ran the world, there would be no debate, no freedom, and tyranny. Seems many in Lebanon are not fond of this, and have started to speak out.
Israel did Lebanon no favours by bombing and attacking, but lets put the blame on Hezbollah for hijacking a sovereign nation and waging war. Israel makes mistakes, because democracies and people make them, but at least it cannot be said that Israel doesn't examine their errors, as the political fallout will likely take their pm from power. That is how a democracy behaves.....
152 - haneen
well wat makes me ill mark is when people like you rely on information from the internet (provided by the ameriacnas)and copy and paste it, then edit it to make it seem like you know what your talkin about! in answer to Franco comment #150 i don't need no imformation from the internet to prove my point when i have had something called LIFE EXPERIENCE and my family give me plently of information THANK YOU VERY MUCH since they've been through everything the isreali's have put the southern lebanese people through. Also you got to remember people that this article is purely based on daves opinion so before you think that 'you know what your talking about' i suggest you listen to people's views that do count.
153 - Beirutian
dave ur really something man :) everything u wrote is right ! and time will come and beirut is going to reborn
154 - Dave Nalle
That's a lovely thought, but when? With escalating problems to the south, what hope is there for Lebanon?
Dave