Another war brewing in the middle east..

[Guest INXS]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3785305.stm

 

Israeli warplanes have struck a Palestinian guerrilla target just south of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Army officials said a "terrorist base" was targeted in response to a strike on an Israeli naval vessel by militants in Lebanon earlier in the day. Local officials said Israeli jets fired several rockets at the Naameh hills, about 20kms (12 miles) south of Beirut. The Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command has a base in the area. A spokesman for the group said the planes, "attacked humanitarian positions and a clinic". The Israeli military has given few details about the raid saying only that it had targeted a base "used as a platform for terrorist activity in Lebanon". Correspondents say it is rare for Israel to strike so deep inside Lebanon.

 

This is kinda shocking and for some reason has been buried in the news. Israel are now allowed to attack targets in a different country? Granted, they may have been attempting to take out a Palestinian group (in which the justification is debatable), but this act of aggression is simply stupid. It's about time the UN (and that includes the USA) got a grip on Israel.

[Guest Cerebus]

Wow, you really don't know anything about this conflict if that's the best you can come up with. Not that I'm complaining, the gangsters that run Lebanon treat the Palestinians as bad, if not worse, than the Israelis do in the West Bank and Gaza and far worse than the Palestinians living in Israel. Too bad nobody gives a shit about them.

[Guest INXS]

So if the Lebanese are anti Palestine why are Israel attacking them? I don't get it?

[tommytomlin 0]

Because they were attacking a Palestinian terrorist group. They weren't attacking Lebanon.

[Guest INXS]

Right, but what gives Israel the right to attack targets in Lebanon?

[tommytomlin 0]

Because they have more guns and a big brother. Fair or not, that's how the world works.

[Guest MikeSC]

Right, but what gives Israel the right to attack targets in Lebanon?

The whole "They're trying to kill us" thing tends to give them much-deserved leeway.

-=Mike

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Why would the Lebanese care if Israel killed a mutual enemy in some remote hills? That saves Lebanon bullets.

[Guest INXS]

This attack was a little too close to the Lebanese capital it seems. Also, it's nice to maybe WORK with the Lebanese government to root out any terrorists instead of just firing missiles into the country without permission.

[Guest INXS]

Right, but what gives Israel the right to attack targets in Lebanon?

The whole "They're trying to kill us" thing tends to give them much-deserved leeway.

-=Mike

So, by that rationale, if Al Queda had camp of some sort in say Canada or England, it would be ok for the USA to fire missiles at said camp, without first consulting the Canadian or English governments?

 

Whether they were after terrorists or not, it is still not the done thing to fire missiles into another country.

[Guest MikeSC]

Right, but what gives Israel the right to attack targets in Lebanon?

The whole "They're trying to kill us" thing tends to give them much-deserved leeway.

-=Mike

So, by that rationale, if Al Queda had camp of some sort in say Canada or England, it would be ok for the USA to fire missiles at said camp, without first consulting the Canadian or English governments?

 

Whether they were after terrorists or not, it is still not the done thing to fire missiles into another country.

We wouldn't need to. Canada and England would wipe the camps out without our assistance.

 

Al Qaeda wants to kill them, too.

-=Mike

...However, if Canada or England SHELTERED them --- then, yes, I'd have no problem with us bombing the camps

[Guest INXS]

Well yes, I understand that it wouldn't happen with Canada and England, it was more to demonstrate the point that it is not right for one country to fire arms into another country, especially in this case.

 

It appears as though Israel are trying to spark a conflict with the Lebanese for some reason. Let's use this event as a place holder so we can remember who has started the aggression...

[Guest MikeSC]

Well yes, I understand that it wouldn't happen with Canada and England, it was more to demonstrate the point that it is not right for one country to fire arms into another country, especially in this case.

 

It appears as though Israel are trying to spark a conflict with the Lebanese for some reason. Let's use this event as a place holder so we can remember who has started the aggression...

No, Israel is defending itself from terrorists.

-=Mike

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

We wouldn't need to. Canada and England would wipe the camps out without our assistance.

 

Yeah, right. Thanks to Jean Chretien, our army couldn't take down a Trekkie convention.

 

As for the topic, I highly doubt that this will amount to anything. Lebanon is probably happy about it. They get rid of some Palestinians and the west blames Israel. Its win win.

[Guest MikeSC]

We wouldn't need to. Canada and England would wipe the camps out without our assistance.

 

Yeah, right. Thanks to Jean Chretien, our army couldn't take down a Trekkie convention.

 

As for the topic, I highly doubt that this will amount to anything. Lebanon is probably happy about it. They get rid of some Palestinians and the west blames Israel. Its win win.

Well, Kahran, them Trekkies can get mean. You insult Kirk or Spock and they could beat up a British soccer mob.

-=Mike

[Styles 0]

Next...

 

MYTH

 

“Israeli attacks against Lebanon demonstrate Israel's aggression and determination to hold onto Lebanese territory.”

 

FACT

 

The United Nations verified that Israel fulfilled its obligation to withdraw from Lebanon; however, Hizballah, armed with a great assortment of weapons, and deployed along the international border, has repeatedly attacked Israeli targets, ambushed and kidnapped soldiers and harassed Jewish villagers in northern Israel with the aim of provoking an escalation in hostilities.

 

Israel has repeatedly requested, with the backing of the UN and United States, that Lebanon deploy its army in the south and disarm the guerrillas. Given that Syria effectively controls Lebanon, Israel holds both governments responsible for the failure to prevent Hizballah's provocations. Their failure to do so has forced Israel to take preemptive and retaliatory measures to protect its citizens and soldiers.

 

Notes

1Jillian Becker, The PLO, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984), pp. 202, 279.

2Jerusalem Post, (June 28, 1982).

3Raphael Israeli. Ed., PLO in Lebanon, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983), p. 7.

4Becker, p. 205.

5Washington Post, (June 16, 1982).

6Israeli, pp. 26-28.

6aquoted in Israeli, p. 259. See also New York Times, (October 15, 1976); Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-first Session, Plenary Meetings, 32nd meeting.

6bWashington Post, (June 25, 1982).

7Interview with Israel Television, (July 23, 1982).

8Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, (July 13, 1982), cited in Becker, p. 153.

9New York Times, (June 21, 1982).

10New York Times, (July 14, 1982).

11Washington Post, (June 25, 1982).

12New York Times, (July 3, 1982).

13Joshua Muravchik, "Misreporting Lebanon," Policy Review, (Winter 1983), p. 60.

14Muravchik, p. 60.

15Zeev Schiff and Ehud Yaari, Israel's Lebanon War, (NY: Simon and Schuster, 1984), p. 70.

16Becker, p. 212.

17Schiff and Yaari, p. 257.

18Washington Post, (February 8, 1983).

19New York Times, (October 19, 1990).

19aBecker, p. 212.

20Washington Post, (January 30, 2001).

21Washington Post, (January 30, 2001).

22"Security Council Endorses Secretary-General’s Conclusion on Israeli Withdrawal from Lebanon as of 16 June," UN Press Release, (June 18, 2000).

23Washington Post, (January 30, 2001).

23aNew Yorker, (October 14, 2002).

24Daniel Pipes, Damascus Courts The West, (DC: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1991), p. 26.

25Becker, pp. 204-205.

26Patrick Seale, Asad, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), p. 417.

27Pipes, p. 27.

28al-Hayat, (May 9, 1991).

29Al-Baath, (February 18, 1992); Washington Post, (July 31, 1991).

30Becker, p. 131.

31Near East Report, (August 7, 1989).

 

And yes, I've included all the footnote sources this time since that was requested....

[bob_barron 0]

Jesus Slapnuts... I mean Messiah to be Named Later Slapnuts-

 

How many myths/facts are there about Israel?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Well if the US government was smart, they would step the fuck away from that conflict where it to happen. If the United States came to the aid of Israel through force, that could make the Middle East/Nation of Islam/Arabs hate us even more than they do now, if that's even possible.

[Guest Anglesault]

that could make the Middle East/Nation of Islam/Arabs hate us even more than they do now, if that's even possible.

It's not.

[Guest MikeSC]

Well if the US government was smart, they would step the fuck away from that conflict where it to happen. If the United States came to the aid of Israel through force, that could make the Middle East/Nation of Islam/Arabs hate us even more than they do now, if that's even possible.

Honestly, who cares? Israel is an ally and in the right here. We should support them 100% and tell them to kill whomever they need to kill.

-=Mike

[Guest INXS]

NO, they are not "in the right" at all.

 

They should continue to work with Lebanon in eradicating any proven terrorist camps or cells. Failing appropriate assistance from the Lebanese, Israel should then go about you know..politely asking permission before firing missiles deep into another country.

 

I agree that Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorism but there is a way and means to do so. This act was not it.

[Guest MikeSC]

NO, they are not "in the right" at all.

 

They should continue to work with Lebanon in eradicating any proven terrorist camps or cells. Failing appropriate assistance from the Lebanese, Israel should then go about you know..politely asking permission before firing missiles deep into another country.

 

I agree that Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorism but there is a way and means to do so. This act was not it.

Screw being nice.

 

THEY'RE BEING KILLED. Constantly. If Lebanon has them there, Israel has my blessing to eliminate them.

-=Mike

[Firestarter 0]

They should continue to work with Lebanon

Lebanon exists only as a de jure state, and has been neither independent nor accountable since the mid '70s.

[Guest BDC]

They should continue to work with Lebanon...

That'd be interesting since basically every nation in the neighborhood HATES Israel. Why exactly should they try to work with a nation that hates them?