Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Flavius
Maybe if Israel had released the prisoners then Hezbollah wouldn't have kidnapped Israelis in an attempt to exchange prisoners.
Maybe if Israel hadn't occupied Lebanon for 22 years then Hezbollah wouldn't have emerged.
|
I posted this in the other thread but people continue to post crap like "ALL THIS FGOR TWO PRISONERS LOL ****ING JEWS PRISONER EXCHANGE AND ALL WILL BE OK" Flavius you display a remarkably naïve view of global politics and your posts seem to be more influenced by your girlfriends origins.
The kidnap of Israeli soldiers was the final straw or as T&F corrected me in the other thread the excuse that Israel needed to go in and remove the 12000 missiles that Hezbollah had acquired from their friends in Iran and destroy a radical militia who’s aim is to destroy Israel. I'm not casting judgement on who’s right and wrong like most of the recent Middle Eastern conflicts it isn’t black and white, blame can be portioned out to everyone, Flavius you and others make out like Israel is warmongering and bombing for sport while the Arabs cover in fear.
Hezbollah is/was making a power play for relevance in Palestine if they did nothing they would have been consigned to life as a one state movement, the longer this drags on for (And the more inept the Israeli military is at killing their leaders) and the more civilians (PR bonus points) that die the happier they'll be. Israel has been remarkably tolerant over the last few years, exchanging prisoners when Hezbollah crosses the border and kidnaps soldiers, ignoring it when Hezbollah crosses the border and kills civilians and ignoring periodic missile attacks but it got to the stage as mentioned above where something had to be done. It’s immensely sad that Lebanon, which was recovering so well has been caught in the middle, (My family has quite long ties to the country, my farther used to spend quite a lot of time in Beirut when it was literally just rubble and I went to University with quite a few Lebanese people who I consider close friends so my I'm hardly some kind of pro Zionist pig dog) but you reap what you sow, Lebanon has tolerated a terrorist group running the South of their country and made no effort to disarm them (Even though it was politically impossible for such a weak government to do so, they made no effort nor did they seek International assistance to do so). It’s a shame to see so many civilians die but it’s fairly hard to fight a precision war when the enemy hides among civilians and fires missiles from civilian areas (Hint: Hezbollah wants civilian casualties, it makes Israel look like the bad guys and them the champions of the Islamic world).
The conflict suits the rest of the Arab world too, Hezbollah is no doubt being stoked on by Syria which wants to regain influence in Lebanon and Iran which wants to strengthen it’s hand in nuclear negotiations with America (For similar reasons as Iran stokes the Iraqi resistance) and increase its regional power and status as the leading Islamic state. The other Arab (Sunni) countries who are worried about growing Iranian influence are quietly cheering on Israel hoping that they give Hezbollah (And by proxy Iran) a bloody nose.
As for Israel other than removing the missile threat they have a government with leaders who are not ex generals, they need to be seen to be able to be tough on threats to Israel, backing down now would make them and Israel look weak and vulnerable, removing Hezbollah would. Their allies in America want to see a terrorist network with true global strike (Which could be unleashed if America ever moved aggressively against Iran) ability destroyed while sending a message to Iraqi insurgents that Iran would leave them high and dry as well.
The point I’m trying to convey is, conflict is in everyone's best interest bar Lebanon, conflict is everyone's fault to some degree including Lebanon, "**** Israel" like it's all their evil doing is stupid.
Solutions: No idea, I’d be inclined in the short term to give Israel is given a few more days to degrade Hezbollah to such an extent that they’re no longer military viable on a large scale then deploy a UN force with a strong mandate to the region to disarm Hezbollah and police the border with Israel, the International community pumps money in to finance the rebuilding of Lebanon. In the longer term Israel should be made to withdraw with its settlers from the Gaza Strip and West Bank (But be allowed to keep areas it needs for defence such as the Golan Heights) and again a UN force should be deployed to protect the border and make sure that Israel can't invade when ever it wants to, assistance should be given to set up a Palestinian state that renounces violence and recognises Israel’s right to exist. Israel should be brought to account for any atrocities it has committed.