On Lebanon and the World

The small town of Mirwaheen in Southern Lebanon was one of the targets of Israel’s state sponsored terror machine a few days ago. The IOF gave the people of this small town two hours to evacuate and warned that they will begin attacking it at 10 AM Lebanon time. As the inhabitants began fleeing the town, Israel fired rockets at a van carrying families heading for safety. The death toll rose to 23, with many others injured. Why, Israel, do you give people warnings to flee when you will target them anyway? Are you going to do the same tomorrow to all of southern Lebanon? Is this part of your psychological war against innocent civilians? You of course do not realize that these individuals are considered internally displaced persons (IDPs) and are subject to international protections against refugees and IDPs. You wouldn’t know this because your not one to give any regard to international laws that are put in place to make this world safer. You create your own laws, your own norms. You place no value on any human being who is not an Israeli Jew.

This is the everyday story of Israel’s unrelenting war on the people of Lebanon, as it has been before on Palestine and continues to this minute. This is the story of Israel’s destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure, its villages and towns, its history and its people. It is the story of a country still recovering from a civil war instigated by Israel. Today, the Jewish state has pushed Lebanon back another forty years without any regrets or considerations for the laws set by the international community.

Lebanon. The country that only one year ago was the center of the Bush administration’s agenda, which sought to “liberate” it from Syrian “occupation” and “influence”. This is the Lebanon that Christians the world over cry out to when there is the slightest indication that its indigenous Christian population is being persecuted by Muslims. Where are the Christians of the world crying out now for their Lebanese brethren? Where are Bush’s evangelical conservatives who cry wolf every time Copts in Egypt are harmed? Where are the Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria who are ready to burn embassies and effigies when they are angered by a despicable cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad? Why isn’t this anger as visible as it was a few months ago over the cartoon fiasco? Where is the international community? Where is Bush and de Villepin's support for Lebanese independence? Where where where is the world?!

Eight days have already passed, and I am already beginning to sense that the news of the Israeli atrocities in Lebanon is getting old for some people. Some are already becoming “used to” and “desensitized” to the mass murder and statistics of casualties. The numbers in the hundreds are becoming normal. The first days it was a shock. Over the next week, people will forget. They will push the frustration and sadness and anger to the back of their minds, and worry about their own problems. They will return to their everyday lives as Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East, and continue living under oppressive regimes. They will not realize that this is the first time a force in the Middle East has been able to counter Israeli aggression with some real results.

In conversations with my father and grandfather over the past few days we have recalled past Arab defeats against Israel. We remembered the six day war in which various Arab nations succumbed to the loss of large portions of their land without much of a fight. Today, after eight days, Israel doesn’t dare step foot into Lebanon. It is cowardly attacking innocents by air and sea, afraid to risk the lives of their soldiers who would much rather shoot and bomb from a distance.

Israel is a cowardly rogue state, and no country is willing to stop its murderous machine. While the world has its eyes set on Lebanon, Israel continues its persecution of the Palestinian people, taking the lives of more than 14 people in just one day. Fifty here, twenty there, a few bridges here, a couple homes there, Israel is keeping itself busy these days.

In the Arab world, a few thousand people have come out to protest Israeli aggression. Against the will of their people, some Arab leaders have shown their true loyalties as they directly and indirectly insulted and condemned the Lebanese resistance against Israeli aggression. An Arab summit cannot even be held yet because not enough leaders have agreed to attend.

In the US, congressmen loyal to the Israeli lobby also showed their true colors as they rushed to support H.R. 921 declaring Israel's right to defend itself and continue its oppression against Lebanon and Palestine. Senator Hillary Clinton also ran to support the Israeli cause giving a fiery speech at a New York rally supporting the Israeli bombardment and siege of Lebanon and Gaza.

This is the sad reality of the international community's reaction to Israel's aggression. This is how they responded to the calls of Lebanese mothers, to the cries of Palestinian children. If they had kept their mouths shut, we'd be better off.

Ahhh Beirut....Ahhh Gaza, hangin' there, but while you're at it, don't put your faith in the world. Put your faith in a higher force.

(please excuse my scattered thoughts as I have been trying to collect them in an organized fashion but to no avail. the long hours glued to the television have worn my eyes and my brain cells and i'm not sure how i even managed to put together this post.)

[technorati tags: Israel, IDF, Lebanon, Gaza, Palestine, Hezbollah, Bush,UN, Israeli Lobby, Hillary Clinton]