FMS-Blog : The Wildly Whimsical, Mostly Musical WebLog
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Israeli Assault on Two Fronts
It pains me to switch on the news these days - if it isn't one story after another about atrocities and wars going on all over our precious, fragile planet, it is scaremongering stories about potential threats to our safety and comfort. These stories become all the more shocking when they are focused on the aggressive, murderous actions of a nation that is founded on its people's very own struggle against persecution towards a lasting sense of peace.
But those running the state of Israel don't seem to have learned any lessons offered by human history's bloody past - even those provided by the first hand experience of millions of Jewish people being butchered or at least (if they were lucky) displaced across the world having been forced to flee their homes in fear for their lives. This only happened half a century ago... are memories REALLY that short?
So, this week Israel have started an all out war with their neighbouring country, Lebanon - a war that they did not invite but could hardly avoid since Israel seems to have made a scapegoat of Lebanon for the actions of Hezbollah, specifically their capture of two Israeli soldiers. Days ago the Prime Minister of Lebanon pleaded for a ceasefire but still the bombs and missiles continue to come over the border destroying roads, houses, public buildings and so far approximately 230 human lives - the very fabric of this country is being shredded by the actions of their closest neighbour. Of course, President George Bush of the USA has been terribly helpful in his efforts to end this conflict suggesting that Syria should "get Hezbollah to stop this shit" and thus far neither he nor any leader of any Western European nation seem to have done anything to condemn Israeli strikes or have any impact on stopping them.
But this is nothing new : Israel has, of course, occupied a large area of Palestine for many years, persecuting its people and occasionally launching military strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip. Infact, as they wage war on their Northern neighbours, Israel continues to attack 'significant' targets to it's Southwest, conveniently forgetting another, more practical lesson from history that in conflict it isn't a good idea to conduct assaults on both sides of your territory. And, as Bush and Blair did when they attacked Iraq, the Israeli government continue to justify all this in the name of peace. When will these people learn that peace cannot be achieved through violence; that fire cannot be fought with fire?
But those running the state of Israel don't seem to have learned any lessons offered by human history's bloody past - even those provided by the first hand experience of millions of Jewish people being butchered or at least (if they were lucky) displaced across the world having been forced to flee their homes in fear for their lives. This only happened half a century ago... are memories REALLY that short?
So, this week Israel have started an all out war with their neighbouring country, Lebanon - a war that they did not invite but could hardly avoid since Israel seems to have made a scapegoat of Lebanon for the actions of Hezbollah, specifically their capture of two Israeli soldiers. Days ago the Prime Minister of Lebanon pleaded for a ceasefire but still the bombs and missiles continue to come over the border destroying roads, houses, public buildings and so far approximately 230 human lives - the very fabric of this country is being shredded by the actions of their closest neighbour. Of course, President George Bush of the USA has been terribly helpful in his efforts to end this conflict suggesting that Syria should "get Hezbollah to stop this shit" and thus far neither he nor any leader of any Western European nation seem to have done anything to condemn Israeli strikes or have any impact on stopping them.
But this is nothing new : Israel has, of course, occupied a large area of Palestine for many years, persecuting its people and occasionally launching military strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip. Infact, as they wage war on their Northern neighbours, Israel continues to attack 'significant' targets to it's Southwest, conveniently forgetting another, more practical lesson from history that in conflict it isn't a good idea to conduct assaults on both sides of your territory. And, as Bush and Blair did when they attacked Iraq, the Israeli government continue to justify all this in the name of peace. When will these people learn that peace cannot be achieved through violence; that fire cannot be fought with fire?
