Ok, after a calm and relaxing sunday, I'll try, even if it's hard in such a little space as a blog allows for such a complex matter, to explain why these days I feel Israel is right in doing what its doing in Lebanon and Gaza. Hopefully, I shall not lose friends over this and someone else currently far far away will not get too mad with me, but anyway...
Without going too far back in time, and noticing the irony of the arab world which invokes the UN to intervene with its (faded and lost forever, as repeatedly and recently proved by Korea and Iran cases) authority forgetting that the whole mess in Middle East derives from the fact the arabs didn't and still don't accept the UN resolution forming the state of Israel, I will go back in time 10 months.
10 months ago Israel left, paying a huge internal price, the Gaza strip, removing all its colonies there as well. At the same time, Israel announced its will of removing at least part of its colonies in the West Bank. Was it used by the palestinians as a first step towards the creation of two countries where the two people could have lived more or less peacefully, even if keeping happily hating each other? No. What happened was that Palestinians sent Hamas (which is an officially recognized terrorist group) to power the first time they could vote (and they couldn't ignore the fact that would had meant more struggles and hardships) and that the Gaza strip became the lunch base for hundreds of rockets that daily, and without the media reporting it, hit the southerns Israelian cities and villages.
Did Israel flatten every single house that could had possibly be giving shelter to the people lunching those rockets to its cities? Did they moved in once again with tanks and soldeirs as the rockets started falling down? No, they did nothing until two soldiers of his were kidnapped by three organizations, two of them officially part of Hamas, meaning the government in charge of Gaza in a move that was criticized even by arab government like the Egyptian one.
Now, I ask you, if your cities were bombed daily from your neighbor country and its government officially started kidnapping your people, wouldn't you feel your own government had to do something?
Then Lebanon came in. Lebanon that was invaded once exactly because from its southern border rockets and missiles were lunched to the Israelian northern cities. Hezbollah militia killed seven israelian soldiers and kidnapped another one. To be remember that hezbollah is in fact part of the Lebanese government these days. So once again, aren't government endorsed hostile acts of violence resulting in the kidnapping or death of foreigner citizens to be considered acts of war or not? If the soldiers killed and kidnapped and the cities hit by rockets daily were French, English, American or Italian, wouldn't we want a reaction from our own government? I'd expect one. I'd expect my own goverment to do just about everythign for that to stop at once, and thus I can't but stand by Israel right now.
And finally, the "proportional" or "moderate" use of violence that everyone seems to be asking to Israel. What does proportional or moderate means? If we go by mere numbers, probably, the number of missiles fired by Israel over the last three days is, even now, inferior than the number of rockets that were fired upon its soil in the last two months. But that's beyond the point, as the point is that force has to be used in the amount and direction needed to obtain a result. Moderate and proportional use of force two years ago is what led Iraq to be the endless series of road-side bombs it is now. Now, if the result that is to be achieved is for the prisoners to be freed and for the involved parties to realize that kidnapping people and rocketing cities is not a good deal at the end of the day, nor economically nor politically, what is the amount of force to be used?
Well, considering the people who seem to be leading Hezbollah and Hamas, probably more than Israel will ever be able to exert. But not doing anything or doing less than Israel is doing would be taken by its neighbors as a show of weakness and just incite more acts similar to the ones which ignited (because Hamas and Hezbollah started this, let's not forget it) the present situation. And to all the ones saying that Israel shouldn't do what it's doing, I ask: then what should they do? Besides packing up and leaving, of course?
It's a pity that in an environment where only force is taken into consideration to evaluate political moves, the escalation of violence is the only way to prove you are alive and kicking, but that's how it is. And it's tragic that, always, innocent people get caught in the middle and suffer and die. But that happens on both sides of this now 60 years struggle and, despite the fact everyone likes to forget about it, Israel, here and now, is reacting to an aggression, it's not the aggressor.
This is my standing, yet, I'd like to hear other opinions and the "comments" thing under here is free for everyone who'd like to express one.
Without going too far back in time, and noticing the irony of the arab world which invokes the UN to intervene with its (faded and lost forever, as repeatedly and recently proved by Korea and Iran cases) authority forgetting that the whole mess in Middle East derives from the fact the arabs didn't and still don't accept the UN resolution forming the state of Israel, I will go back in time 10 months.
10 months ago Israel left, paying a huge internal price, the Gaza strip, removing all its colonies there as well. At the same time, Israel announced its will of removing at least part of its colonies in the West Bank. Was it used by the palestinians as a first step towards the creation of two countries where the two people could have lived more or less peacefully, even if keeping happily hating each other? No. What happened was that Palestinians sent Hamas (which is an officially recognized terrorist group) to power the first time they could vote (and they couldn't ignore the fact that would had meant more struggles and hardships) and that the Gaza strip became the lunch base for hundreds of rockets that daily, and without the media reporting it, hit the southerns Israelian cities and villages.
Did Israel flatten every single house that could had possibly be giving shelter to the people lunching those rockets to its cities? Did they moved in once again with tanks and soldeirs as the rockets started falling down? No, they did nothing until two soldiers of his were kidnapped by three organizations, two of them officially part of Hamas, meaning the government in charge of Gaza in a move that was criticized even by arab government like the Egyptian one.
Now, I ask you, if your cities were bombed daily from your neighbor country and its government officially started kidnapping your people, wouldn't you feel your own government had to do something?
Then Lebanon came in. Lebanon that was invaded once exactly because from its southern border rockets and missiles were lunched to the Israelian northern cities. Hezbollah militia killed seven israelian soldiers and kidnapped another one. To be remember that hezbollah is in fact part of the Lebanese government these days. So once again, aren't government endorsed hostile acts of violence resulting in the kidnapping or death of foreigner citizens to be considered acts of war or not? If the soldiers killed and kidnapped and the cities hit by rockets daily were French, English, American or Italian, wouldn't we want a reaction from our own government? I'd expect one. I'd expect my own goverment to do just about everythign for that to stop at once, and thus I can't but stand by Israel right now.
And finally, the "proportional" or "moderate" use of violence that everyone seems to be asking to Israel. What does proportional or moderate means? If we go by mere numbers, probably, the number of missiles fired by Israel over the last three days is, even now, inferior than the number of rockets that were fired upon its soil in the last two months. But that's beyond the point, as the point is that force has to be used in the amount and direction needed to obtain a result. Moderate and proportional use of force two years ago is what led Iraq to be the endless series of road-side bombs it is now. Now, if the result that is to be achieved is for the prisoners to be freed and for the involved parties to realize that kidnapping people and rocketing cities is not a good deal at the end of the day, nor economically nor politically, what is the amount of force to be used?
Well, considering the people who seem to be leading Hezbollah and Hamas, probably more than Israel will ever be able to exert. But not doing anything or doing less than Israel is doing would be taken by its neighbors as a show of weakness and just incite more acts similar to the ones which ignited (because Hamas and Hezbollah started this, let's not forget it) the present situation. And to all the ones saying that Israel shouldn't do what it's doing, I ask: then what should they do? Besides packing up and leaving, of course?
It's a pity that in an environment where only force is taken into consideration to evaluate political moves, the escalation of violence is the only way to prove you are alive and kicking, but that's how it is. And it's tragic that, always, innocent people get caught in the middle and suffer and die. But that happens on both sides of this now 60 years struggle and, despite the fact everyone likes to forget about it, Israel, here and now, is reacting to an aggression, it's not the aggressor.
This is my standing, yet, I'd like to hear other opinions and the "comments" thing under here is free for everyone who'd like to express one.
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