- "In
my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to
understand why the violence occurred in the first place."
That one sentence (a surprisingly rare example of a complete
sentence spoken by Cheney spokesman George W. Bush), taken
on its own, would fully explain why the Middle East is now
on the brink of regional war. But of course, Bush always
finds a way to engage in Orwellian newspeak. At a news
conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on
Saturday, he managed to rewrite history in the very next
sentence by blaming Hezbollah for instigating the violence
by launching rocket attacks into Israel and capturing
Israeli soldiers. But then, George most likely has no idea
where Gaza is, let alone what has been occurring there for
decades. See... Dahr
Jamail: "Open War" in the Middle East
LATEST MIDDLE EAST CRISIS OPINION:
- In
among the tens of thousands of words being written at the
moment on Middle East fighting there lurks some obvious home
truths. In a letter to today's Sydney Morning Herald Dennis
Shakesheff managed to condense it into three sentences: "I
think most observers would agree that Israel's response to
the Palestinians' recent provocation is disproportionate.
Yet one can't help but be struck by the stupidity of it. Can
anyone think of a case in history when a people has been
bombed into submission?" If you add Lebanon/Lebanese to the
equation you just about got it all in a nutshell. Sol
Salbe: Middle East Round-Up MORE COMMENT
ON MIDDLE EAST CRISIS:
War: Uri Avnery (Israeli) Discloses The
Real Aim Of This War - THE REAL aim is to change
the regime in Lebanon and to install a puppet government.
That was the aim of Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in
1982. It failed. But Sharon and his pupils in the military
and political leadership have never really given up on it.
As in 1982, the present operation, too, was planned and is
being carried out in full coordination with the US. As then,
there is no doubt that it is coordinated with a part of the
Lebanese elite. That's the main thing. Everything else is
noise and propaganda. See... Uri
Avnery: The Real Aim MORE
COMMENT:
ISRAEL
AGAINST LEBANON AND GAZA - FIRST-SOURCE COVERAGE
Israel Must Investigate Attack on
Civilians in Lebanon - The Israel Defense Forces
should provide details about a bombing on Saturday that
killed 16 people in a convoy of civilians fleeing a Lebanese
village near Israel’s border, Human Rights Watch said
today. Under international humanitarian law, all parties to
an armed conflict must take all feasible precautions to
protect civilians fleeing areas at risk. On Saturday, a
number of families fled the southern Lebanese village of
Marwahin after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned them
to evacuate ahead of a threatened attack. On the road
leading to the coast through Chamaa, however, Israeli
missiles struck a convoy of the civilians. See... Israel:
Investigate Attack on Civilians in Lebanon
Is
There Another Option? – UN Sends Team - United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s high-level team to
the Middle East, which includes his Special Political
Adviser, arrived in Cairo today on the first leg of a
diplomatic mission aimed at stemming the increasing violence
between Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinians. The
mission’s first meeting is scheduled with Egyptian Foreign
Minister Abu Ghait after which the three-person team is
expected to hold discussions with the Secretary-General of
the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, a UN spokesperson
said in New York. Mr. Annan decided to send the mission
following the numerous phone calls he had made with
officials around the world about the escalating violence in
the region, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters.
After Egypt, the team will travel to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,
the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. See... UN
team on the Middle East arrives in Cairo ALSO:
Scoop is NZ's largest independent news source; respected widely in media, political, business and academic circles for being the place on the internet for publishing "what was really said", and for the quality of its analysis of issues.