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ما تخافي يا ماما

2006-08-04T00:22:00.000+01:00

في حديقة الصّنائع في بيروت، حيث النّازحون ينامون في العراء، يجلس أطفالٌ في فيء شجرة، يرسمون طائراتٍ سوداء وقذائف.

في حديقة الصّنائع في بيروت، يركلون كرةً ويلعبون "اللّقيطة"، كي ينتقموا من الذّباب الذي يتآكلهم ليلاً.

في حديقة الصّنائع، صبيّ صغير رصدته الكاميرا. يصمت. يشيح النّظر. ينظر ثانيةً. ثمّ يتكلّم بخجل.

- وين الماما؟
- هونيك. عم تبكي.
- ليش عم تبكي؟
- لأنّو الطّيارات قصفت البيت. بيتنا وقع...

يطأطىء رأسه نحو الأرض ويضيف: "هي مفكرة إنو بطّل عنّا بيت."

ثمّ يدّس يده في جيبه، يخرج شيئاً، ويعلن بانتصار:

- بس أنا قلتلها ما تخاف... أكيد رح نرجع عالبيت. أنا جبت معي المفاتيح. حتّى شوفي!

Robert fisk new article!

2006-08-04T00:07:00.000+01:00

Robert Fisk

- The Independent

They wrote the names of the dead children on their plastic shrouds.

"Mehdi Hashem, aged seven - Qana," was written in felt pen on the bag in which the little boy's body lay.

"Hussein al-Mohamed, aged 12 - Qana"

"Abbas al-Shalhoub, aged one - Qana." And when the Lebanese soldier went to pick up Abbas's little body, it bounced on his shoulder as the boy might have done on his father's shoulder on Saturday. In all, there were 56 corpses brought to the Tyre government hospital and other surgeries, and 34 of them were children. When they ran out of plastic bags, they wrapped the small corpses in carpets. Their hair was matted with dust, most had blood running from their noses.

You must have a heart of stone not to feel the outrage that those of us watching this experienced yesterday. This slaughter was an obscenity, an atrocity-yes, if the Israeli air force truly bombs with the "pinpoint accuracy" it claims, this was also a war crime. Israel claimed that missiles had been fired by Hizbollah gunmen from the south Lebanese town of Qana-as if that justified this massacre. Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, talked about "Muslim terror" threatening " western civilisation" -as if the Hizbollah had killed all these poor people.

And in Qana, of all places. For only 10 years ago, this was the scene of another Israeli massacre, the slaughter of 106 Lebanese refugees by an Israeli artillery battery as they sheltered in a UN base in the town. More than half of those 106 were children. Israel later said it had no live-time pilotless photo-reconnaissance aircraft over the scene of that killing-a statement that turned out to be untrue when The Independent discovered videotape showing just such an aircraft over the burning camp. It is as if Qana-whose inhabitants claim that this was the village in which Jesus turned water into wine-as been damned by the world, doomed forever to receive tragedy. And there was no doubt of the missile which killed all those children yesterday. It came from the United States, and upon a fragment of it was written: "For use on MK-84 Guided Bomb BSU-37-B". No doubt the manufacturers can call it "combat-proven" because it destroyed the entire three-storey house in which the Shalhoub and Hashim families lived. They had taken refuge in the basement from an enormous Israeli bombardment, and that is where most of them died.

I found Nejwah Shalhoub lying in the government hospital in Tyre, her jaw and face bandaged like Robespierre's before his execution. She did not weep, nor did she scream, although the pain was written on her face. Her brother Taisir, who was 46, had been killed. So had her sister Najla. So had her little niece Zeinab, who was just six. "We were in the basement hiding when the bomb exploded at one o'clock in the morning," she said. "What in the name of God have we done to deserve this? So many of the dead are children, the old, women. Some of the children were still awake and playing. Why does the world do this to us?"

Yesterday's deaths brought to more than 500 the total civilian dead in Lebanon since Israel's air, sea and land bombardment of the country began on 12 July after Hizbollah members crossed the frontier wire, killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. But yesterday's slaughter ended more than a year of mutual antagonism within the Lebanese government as pro-American and pro-Syrian politicians denounced what they described as "an ugly crime".

Thousands of protesters attacked the largest United Nations building in Beirut, screaming: "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv," and Lebanon's Prime Minister, the normally unflappable Fouad Siniora, called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ordered her to cancel her imminent peace-making trip to Beirut.

No one in this country can forget how President George Bush, Ms Rice, and Tony Blair have repeatedly refused to call for an immediate ceasefire - a truce that would have saved all those lives yesterday. Ms Rice would say only: "We want a ceasefire as soon as possible," a remark followed by an Israeli announcement that it intended to maintain its bombardment of Lebanon for at least another two weeks.

Throughout the day, Qana villagers and civil defence workers dug through the ruins of the building with spades and with their hands, tearing at the muck until they found one body after another still dressed in colourful clothes. In one section of the rubble, they found what was left of a single room with 18 bodies inside. Twelve of the dead were women. All across southern Lebanon now, you find scenes like this, not so grotesque in scale, perhaps, but just as terrible, for the people of these villages are terrified to leave and terrified to stay.

The Israelis had dropped leaflets over Qana, ordering its people to leave their homes. Yet twice now since Israel's onslaught began, the Israelis have ordered villagers to leave their houses and then attacked them with aircraft as they obeyed the Israeli instructions and fled. There are at least 3,000 Shia Muslims trapped in villages between Qlaya and Aiteroun- close to the scene of Israel's last military incursion at Bint Jbeil -and yet none of them can leave without fear of dying on the roads.

And Mr Olmert's reaction? After expressing his "great sorrow", he announced that: "We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents this morning. We will continue the activity, and if necessary it will be broadened without hesitation." But how much further can it be broadened? Lebanon's infrastructure is being steadily torn to pieces, its villages razed, its people more and more terrorised - and terror is the word they used - by Israel's American-made fighter bombers. Hizbollah's missiles are Iranian-made, and it was Hizbollah that started this war with its illegal and provocative raid across the border. But Israel's savagery against the civilian population has deeply shocked not only the Western diplomats who have remained in Beirut, but hundreds of humanitarian workers from the Red Cross and major aid agencies.

Incredibly, Israel yesterday denied safe passage to a UN World Food Programme aid convoy en route to the south, a six-truck mission that should have taken relief supplies to the south-eastern town of Marjayoun. More than three quarters of a million Lebanese have now fled their homes, but there is still no accurate figure for the total number still trapped in the south. Khalil Shalhoub, who survived amid the wreckage in Qana yesterday, said that his family and the Hashims were just too "terrified" to take the road out of the village, which has been attacked by aircraft for more than two weeks. The seven-mile highway between Qana and Tyre is littered with civilian homes in ruins and burnt-out family cars. On Thursday, the Israeli Army's Al-Mashriq radio, which broadcasts into southern Lebanon, told residents that their villages would be "totally destroyed" if missiles were fired from them. But anyone who has watched Israel's bombing these past two weeks knows that, in many cases, the Israelis do not know the location in which the Hizbollah are firing missiles, and - when they do - they frequently miss their targets. How can a villager prevent the Hizbollah from firing rockets from his street? The Hizbollah do take cover beside civilian houses just as Israeli troops entering Bint Jbeil last week also used civilian homes for cover. But can this be the excuse for slaughter on such a scale?

Mr Siniora addressed foreign diplomats in Beirut yesterday, telling them that the government in Beirut was now only demanding an immediate ceasefire and was not interested any longer in a political package to go with it. Needless to say, Mr Jeffrey Feltman, whose country made the bomb which killed the innocents of Qana yesterday, chose not to attend.

Message from Lebanon!!!

2006-08-04T00:02:00.000+01:00

J'ai trouvé ce passage dans un autre blog libanais

Israel proved it again; the forces of Armageddon took over the forces of God. They came, flew over our heads, targeted our bridges, violated our privacy and killed; they killed those who never killed a cat, they killed our children. In 1996, Israel bombarded UN base in Qana and killed tens of innocent people that looked for shelter.

Back then, it was considered as a strategic mistake and Israel stopped its attack. Now, ten years later, Israel is proving to the whole world that, what was a strategic mistake ten years ago, is now a phase in a pseudo-unstoppable attack. Qana is back.

The "brave" Israeli soldiers killed 37 children. We say "brave" because killing a child is hard; when u think of those innocent helpless faces wishing only to eat play and sleep, killing inoffensive children becomes a hard target. To kill a child you should be heartless, and being heartless is an excellent quality of a brave soldier. Brave soldiers are those who act with no regret, killing is an act of no coming back, thus an act of no regret. They killed the children of Lebanon, the "Lebanon", the small but huge country, the country of trade and goods, the country of tourism and leisure, the gate to the middle east, the cradle of civilization.

Killing children in our society is not an act of bravery, killing women is no act of manhood, killing elders is out of our ethics.

We say to Israel, you will never kill us, you cannot frighten us, you will never conquer us, you will always be looked down-on as cowards. Leave your planes and weapons, and like in the old times, fight like men. Body to body, spear to spear, shield to shield; then, only then you will realize how weak you are. But you will never take that risk, you will never jeopardize your souls, you are a bunch of cowards. A clay footed giant...

Every child you killed is a curse upon your heads; every curse is an enemy you made. Like for the battle between heaven and hell we say that men are the ones who created evil on earth it is the choices they make that enslaved their souls forever, life is the test and you failed.

As for us, people of Lebanon, we are asked to stay united, to free our souls from hatred, to forgive our mutual mistakes, to forget our minor differences and always remember that we are Lebanese… and only Lebanese. Together we stand, divided we fall.

loubnan sayabka! Lebanon will stay

2006-08-03T22:44:00.000+01:00

non seulement il restera mais en plus il vaincra!
A l'heure de ce carnage et de cette guerre aveugle qui s'est abbatue sur nous, nous tenons à affirmer, à répeter que le Liban, par la force de ses citoyens, de sa résitance se lévera plus fort et plus déterminé que jamais!

Pour le Liban, nous résistons! Samidoune

2006-08-02T23:52:00.000+01:00

Voilà 21 jours déjà que le Liban, son peuple, et surtout ses enfants subissent de plein fouet une attaque des plus sanglantes, des plus meurtrières…
Jamais dans l’histoire de tous les conflits, récents comme anciens, la communauté Internationale n’a mis autant de temps pour parvenir, du moins formellement, à un cessez le feu.
L’ONU, présentée comme la voix des sans voix à la fin de la 2e GM, gardienne de la paix dans le monde, paraît inerte…elle est devenue elle même une sans voix, victime de son excès de zèle et de sa soumission à une bande d’illuminés qui dirigent la plus grande puissance de ce monde !!!
Sa voix, si jamais elle s’exprime, ne parvient même pas à dépasser le mur du silence qui hante et qui hantera pour toujours sa tour de verre… et de honte…

Les enfants tués, ceux qui seront tués dans les jours avenirs, ne pourront jamais pardonner ce silence pesant qui a conduit à leurs morts sans aucune raison. Ils hanteront à jamais nos esprits, nos jours et nuits. Nous les garderons dans nos mémoires, et jamais, o que jamais, nous ne les oublieront… comment peut-on oublier ces jeunes enfants qui, hier encore remplissaient notre pays de joie et de bonheur, comment pourrait on oublier leurs sourires innocents, leurs rêves (comme celui des gens qui les ont précédés) d’un Liban meilleur. D’un Liban vert, d’un liban joyeux, regardant l’avenir mais sans jamais oublier son passé glorieux par ses citoyens, macabres par les actions des barbares qui l’entourent…

Triste journée que de voir le pays des cèdres de Dieu en ce début août… pauvre Liban, tu es, tu étais et tu seras toujours victime de ta différence, de ta grandeur, de ta splendeur…

O mon liban,
On cherche une nouvelle fois à t’asphyxier en assassinant ta seule richesse, ta seule fierté, ton seul atout… tes enfants !!!!!

Mais sois sure, tes enfants, malgré la barbarie de l’ennemi et l’indifférence des amis, ne t’abandonneront jamais. Ils vivront ou mourront à tes cotés… Pour eux, la vie dans toute sa splendeur n’a ni goût ni saveur…

N’est pas peur mon liban, le jour viendra ou tu te lèveras, tu t’en sortiras de ce combat macabre plus fort, plus déterminé que jamais.

Qu’ils sont cons ces israéliens ! qu’ils sont cons ces américains ! qu’ils sont lâches ces arabes !!!!!
En 1982, ils ont essayé de te détruire et c’est la génération 68 qui étais là pou leur faire face… en 1996, ils ont fait de même et c’est la génération 1982 qui étais là pour te défendre…. En 2006, ils essaient de nouveaux de te détruire et c’est la génération Qana 1996 qui, nchala, les vaincra !!!

Qu’ils sont cons ces israéliens ! Qu’ils sont haineux ! tous les 10 ans, ils s’acharnent sur toi et tous les 10 ans c’est la génération de leur dernier acharnement qui se lèvent, tel ton cèdre, pour te défendre.

Nous te défendrons jusqu’au dernier souffle, car sans toi, sans le sourire et les cris de tes enfants qui remplissent chacune de tes petites ruelles, la vie, toute la vie n’a vraiment aucun sens pour nous !!!!

Alors lève-toi !

la liste des terroristes!!!!

2006-08-02T00:14:00.000+01:00

Caricature publiée dans al Nahar

Va Comprendre....

2006-08-02T00:10:00.000+01:00

No comment

2006-08-01T23:52:00.000+01:00

J'ai adopté le cèdre du Liban

2006-07-31T15:44:00.000+01:00

Arbre de Beyrouth agrippé au cratère
Où la bombe fissura les ruines et les pierres,
Broyant les roses du Liban, je te nomme prière,
Témoin des décombres de cette triste Terre.

A nouveau l'étoile du peuple élu
A élu domicile dans ton ombre suppliciée.
Ce soir, les explosions des cieux perdus
Secoueront le croissant fertile et dru.

Terre des druzes, terre des maronites,
Champs de sunnites et des chiites,
Ton cèdre a penché sa tête devant l'épée
Qui périra par le glaive ensanglanté.

J'aime le Liban dit l'enfant perdu,
Suppliant la nuée de nuages orphelins.
La goutte d'eau a renoncé à naître rosée -
Arbre de Beirut, le silence s'est renversé.

Je pleure pour le Liban dit l'enfant égaré,
Mon été s'est appauvri au seuil de la mort.
Mes mains ont campé devant le péril imminent,
L'envahisseur tout-puissant sur la flaque de mon sang.

Liban aimé, dit l'innocent, j'ai adopté ton cèdre arraché
Par le semeur des maux ; j'ai confié mon avenir à la Bekaa.
La Palestine s'est élargie en génocide et le Liban en holocauste,
Le vent s'est tranché sur la faux des damnés.

L'amour de ma terre s'est emparé de tes racines,
Le cèdre centenaire s'est confié à l'olivier.
L'enfant triste court dans ton jardin oublié,
Les monstres conjuguent le verbe sécuriser pour tuer les jardiniers.

J'ai adopté le cèdre, ô pays libanais,
Répondit l'olivier, et je serai le garant de ta paix !

Qana 1 et 2!!!! la série de la barbarie israèlienne contre les Civils

2006-07-31T00:05:00.000+01:00

Qana Massacre II
30 July 2006
55 Civilians massacred including 27 children in a shelter (Early reports)

Qana is the place where, according to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus performed his first miracle, the turning of a large quantity of water into wine at a wedding feast (John 2:1-11)

Qana Massacre I
18 April, 1996
The Israeli Air force bombed and killed 106 Lebanese civilians (almost all either women, children or old men) who had taken refuge in a UN shelter in the village of QANA. A further 110 civilians were injured

Israel attacks the UN...again.

2006-07-30T23:51:00.000+01:00

An Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations post in southern Lebanon late Tuesday, killing at least two of the agency's observers, according to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon. Two other missing observers are feared buried in the rubble of the building.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply distressed" by the "apparently deliberate" strike.

"This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," he said in a statement.

"Furthermore, General Alain Pelligrini, the U.N. force commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular U.N. position from attack."
(Source: CNN)

Did the international community got it at last? Did they understand the nature of this horrible agression?

Maybe civilian Lebanese blood was not loud enough...maybe UN blood is louder?

Now more than any other time, Israel is losing this war.

Qana par Nizar Abeni

2006-07-30T23:48:00.000+01:00

By Nizar Qabbani (written in 1996)

1.

The face of Qana
Pale, like that of Jesus
and the sea breeze of April…
Rains of blood.. and tears..

2.

They entered Qana stepping on our charred bodies
Raising a Nazi flag
in the lands of the South
and rehearsing its stormy chapters
Hitler cremated them in the gas chambers
and they came after him to burn us
Hitler kicked them out of Eastern Europe
and they kicked us out of our lands

3.

They entered Qana
Like hungry wolves
Putting to fire the house of the Messiah
Stepping on the dress of Hussain
and the dear land of the South

4.

Blasted Wheat, Olive-trees and Tobacco
and the melodies of the nightingale
Blasted Cadmus in his bark
Blasted sea and the gulls
Blasted even hospitals
even nursing moms
and schoolboys
Blasted the beauty of the Southern women
and murdered the gardens of the honeyed eyes

5.

We saw the tears in Ali's eyes
We heard his voice as he prayed
under the rain of bloody skies

6.

Who ever will write about the history of Qana
Will inscribe in his parchments
This was the second Karbala

7.

Qana unveiled what was hidden
We saw America
Wearing the old coat of a Jewish Rabbi
Leading the slaughter
Blasting our children for no reason
Blasting our wives for no reason
Blasting our trees for no reason
Blasting our thoughts for no reason
Has it been decreed in her constitution,
She, America, mistress of the world,
In Hebrew .. that she should humble us al-Arab?

8.

Has it been decreed that each time a ruler in America
wants to win the presidency that he should kill us ..
We al Arab?

9.

We waited for one Arab to come
pull this thorny prick from our necks
We waited for single Qureishite
A single Hashemite
A single Don Quixote
A single local hero, for whom they did not shave the moustache
We waited for a Khalid .. Tariq .. or Antara
We were eaten chatter (while engaged in vain talk)
They sent a fax
We read its text
after paying tribute
and the end of the slaughter

10.

What does Israel fear from our cries?
What does she fear from our faxes?
The Jihad of the fax is the weakest of Jihads
It is a single text we write
for all the martyrs who left
and all the martyrs those who will come

11.

What does Israel fear from Ibn al-Muqaffa'?
Jarir and .. Farazdaq?
And Khansa throwing her poems at the gates of the cemetery
What does she fear if we burn tires
Sign communiqués
And destroy shops
And she knows that we have never been kings of war
But were kings of chatters

12.

What does Israel fear
from the beating of the drums
the tearing of clothes
and the scratching of cheeks
What does she fear
when she hears
the stories of `Ad and Thamud?

13.

We are in national comma
We did not receive
Since the times of conquest
a single mail

14.

We are a people of made of dough
The more Israel increases in her killing and terrorism
the more we increase in idleness and coldness

15.

A Smothering Dominion
A regional dialect that increases in ugliness
and a green union that grows in isolation
Summer trees, growing barren
And borders .. whenever the whim strikes
erase other borders

16.

Israel should slaughter us, and why not?
She should erase Hisham, Ziyad and ar-Rashid, and why not?
[Why not?] and the Banu Taghlab lusting after their women
[Why not?] and Banu Mazen lusting after their slave boys
[Why not?] and Banu Adnan dropping their trousers to their knees
debating .. necking and .. the lips!

17.

What should Israel fear from some of al-Arab
When they became Yehuda???

QANA. la barbarie frappe à nouveau!

2006-07-30T23:33:00.000+01:00

..who chooses to stay, when all the rest have left

to the brave men and women who lend a helping hand for nothing in return

to the volunteers who risk their lives every hour of every day to rescue what remains

we say THANK YOU.

you are our true heroes.

2006-07-30T14:16:00.000+01:00

Olmert : killing UN monitors a mistake

bridges distroyed part 3

2006-07-30T14:03:00.000+01:00

bridges distroyed part 2

2006-07-29T14:35:00.000+01:00

bridges distroyed part 1

2006-07-29T14:27:00.000+01:00

Lebanon under attack! Map of locations bombed

2006-07-29T14:16:00.000+01:00

2006-07-29T14:15:00.000+01:00

l'acharnement israélein Part 2

2006-07-29T14:03:00.000+01:00

According to the initial estimates, the total amount of losses reached about 2071 million dollars, distributed in the following way:
1. Infrastructure: 721 million dollars.
2. Residences and commercial enterprises: 953 million dollars, with an estimate margin of 20% (191 million dollars) in losses which could not be evaluated and which amounts to a total of 1144 million dollars.
3. Industrial enterprises: 180 million dollars.
4. Fuel distribution stations: 10 million dollars.
5. Military installations: 16 million dollars.
Those estimates show that losses in commercial and industrial buildings represent around 65% of the total losses, and losses in infrastructure represent 34.81%.

Infrastructure
Losses in the transportation sector were estimated at 386 million dollars or 18.63% of the total losses and 53.53% of the infrastructure losses.
Losses in this sector were distributed between the roads and bridges network (331 million dollars), and airports (55 million dollars). The destruction of the Mdeirej bridge which cost 65 million dollars is the biggest loss recorded for bridges. The biggest loss in the road network was on the Dahr El Baidar road, the international road (Soufar) and the Homs-Baalbeck main road, apart from many roads in the south.
Losses in the electricity sector reached around 180 million dollars, out of which 80 million dollars were a result of the destruction of the airport and Jiyeh tanks. The distribution network recorded losses of 100 million dollars. Losses in the electricity sector represent 69% of the total losses and 24.96% of the infrastructure losses.
The telecommunications sector losses are estimated at 85 million dollars while the losses in the water sector are approximately 70 million dollars.

Residences and enterprises
The Israeli aggression caused losses in residential and commercial buildings over 1144 million dollars, more than half of which is in the southern suburbs of Beirut. This estimate did not include losses that accrued in the past two days when more buildings were hit (around 12 residential buildings). Losses in Nabatiyeh and Bint Jbeil were estimated at around 110 million dollars. The loss in residential and commercial buildings (excluding the interiors) amounts to around 55.23 % of the total registered losses.

Industrial sector
Losses in the industrial sector as a result of the complete destruction of ten industries were valued at 180 million dollars. In addition, 22 destroyed fuel distribution stations were estimated at 10 million dollars.

Losses from Israeli aggression until 24/7/2006

Initial estimate in millions of dollars
Infrastructure – Estimate cost of losses
1. Transport sector 386
1.1. Road system 331
1.2. Airports 55
2. Electricity sector 180
2.1 Production 80
2.2. Transport and distribution 100
3. Telecommunications sector 85
4. Water sector 70
TOTAL 721

Residences and commercial enterprises
Saida District 15
Tyr District 60
Nabatiyeh District 105
Bint Jbeil District 105
Marjaayoun District 75
Hasbaiya District 15
Baalbeck and El Hermel District 60
Zahleh and the West Beqaa District 8
Baabda District (Southern Suburbs) 510
TOTAL 953
*Approximate estimates of losses that were not evaluated (20%) 191
Industrial enterprises 180
Fuel distribution stations 10
Military installations 16
GRAND TOTAL (millions of dollars) 2.070

N.B: Please note that these figures were lastly updated by July 26-2006, and it doesn’t include the incalculable loss of Human lives and the irreparable damage of the society

Un nouveau sport national...pourvu que ca s'arrete!

2006-07-29T13:01:00.000+01:00

We all saw the israeli kids signing the bombs "with love"... Today we have adult men doing the same...

Photo caption : An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man writes on artillery shells at a position in the northern village of Fassuta, near the Lebanese border, July 24, 2006. -- REUTERS /Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL)

The Axis of Intervention

2006-07-28T20:09:00.000+01:00

an other valuable study on what's going on in the Middle East...good lecture!

* The Axis of Intervention
*By John Feffer, IRC

There is a new force in foreign policy: the â€œaxis of intervention.â€ Two
allies are official members: the United States and Israel. With its
recent invasion of Somalia, Ethiopia has joined the grouping. A fourth
nation, Japan, is petitioning for membership.

The new axis of intervention targets not only sovereign states like
North Korea and non-state actors like Hezbollah and the Islamic Courts.
With the news of Israeli attacks against Red Cross vehicles and a
clearly marked UN observation post in Lebanon, the real target of the
axis of intervention becomes clear: the institutions of international
law. By resorting to military force and scorning diplomacy, both Israel
and the United States have undermined the United Nations and key global
agreements such as the Geneva Conventions.

/John Feffer is the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus (online at
http://www.fpif.org) for the International Relations Center
(http://www.irc-online.org)./

Let's declare victory and start talking

2006-07-28T19:56:00.000+01:00

_{By Ze'ev Sternhell, Haaretz}

It's a widely accepted idea that an Israeli who returns home, even after a short period of time, feels as if he has come to another country. But the opposite is the case: He returns to the same situation, the same problems, the same thought patterns and mainly, the same solutions. Apparently, we did not learn a thing from the first Lebanon War or from the American defeat in Iraq. If the definition of Israel's strategic goal given by the head of Military Intelligence at the beginning of the week reflects the government's position, we are in big trouble.

If Israel really did embark on the war in order to force Lebanon to impose its authority on the south, which is in Hezbollah's hands - or in other words, to force the Lebanese government to begin a civil war in the service of Israel - that is a sign that it is dominated by thinking even more primitive than the thinking that led Ariel Sharon to Beirut about a quarter of a century ago.

But this time, we have exacerbated the problem: At the beginning of the third week of fighting, in spite of the determination and courage of the attacking soldiers, the war seems only to be beginning. That is why we should achieve a cease-fire before the campaign gets out of control, claims victims in vain and, in the long run, even turns into a strategic failure. In the more distant future, it will be necessary to carry out a fundamental structural reform of the government's work procedures and to examine its dependence on the Israel Defense Forces' General Staff. These are truths that are not pleasant to voice at this time, but that is the reality, and we are obliged to confront it.

And in fact, considering the means that the IDF is employing and the ratio of forces in the field, any outcome less than the elimination of Hezbollah as a fighting force will be considered an Israeli failure and a great achievement for the enemy. But since it is impossible to uproot Hezbollah from among the Shiites without destroying the population itself, wisdom requires us to refrain from positing goals that are unachievable.

The inability of a major power to put an end to a guerrilla war is not a new phenomenon: From Napoleon in Spain, through his successors in Algeria, to the Americans in Vietnam and now in Iraq, well-organized armies equipped with modern technology have always failed in attempts to defeat irregular forces. The latter know how to adapt themselves to their surroundings, they are an inseparable part of the population and they serve its material, religious and emotional needs.

When there is fighting, guerrilla organizations want the entire population to be harmed. When everyone is a victim, the hatred will be directed at the enemy more forcefully. That is why bombing residential neighborhoods, power plants, bridges and highways is an act of folly, which plays into Hezbollah's hands and serves its strategic goals: An attack on the overall fabric of life creates a common fate for the fighters and those standing on the sidelines. At the same time, the greater the population's suffering, the greater its alienation from the formal ruling institutions - the government, the parliament and the various security forces that are powerless to save them.

It is an illusion to hope that the 700,000 Lebanese refugees will direct their fury at their government, or that the population that still remains in place will evict the Hezbollah members from among it. As far as the population is concerned, responsibility for its catastrophe lies entirely with Israel, and failure to cooperate with whoever fights against Israel would be considered national treason. It was foolish to assume that the Lebanese political elite would dare to confront Hezbollah and use force against it. And anyway, who was even capable of using force? The Lebanese Army, whose bases were bombed as well?

That is why Israel's interest must be to isolate Hezbollah, to strike a hard blow at its bases and camps, but to avoid harming the infrastructure of life for the general population, even when its gives refuge to those bearing arms. This is not a matter of military ethics, but of a cold practical considerations.

The goal of the war is to restrain Hezbollah, because nobody is dreaming any longer of destroying it. As things look today, at best, Israel will make do with removing it from the border. There, behind the back of an international force, which in the Arab world will in any case be seen as protecting Israel, Hezbollah will be able to reorganize, train, equip itself with more modern weapons and prepare for the next round.

There is no military solution for this situation. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has already implied that the solution is political. The prime minister, who bears overall responsibility and will be required to give an accounting in the future, would do well not to lag behind the person who in any case will pass him the hot potato.

And a word about the price of American support. Sometimes it seems as if U.S. President George W. Bush wants Israel both to destroy Lebanon and to sustain painful losses. That way, Israel provides him with an excellent alibi for the war in Iraq: The fight against terror is global, the blood price is the same, the methods of operation and the means are identical, and the time needed for victory is long. The Israeli vassal is serving its master no less than the master is providing for its needs.

2 semaines d'acharnement

2006-07-27T16:52:00.000+01:00

Israel continue d'enregistrer des nouveaux records dans sa sale guerre contre le Liban. En deux semaines de bombardements... Plus de 600 morts, plus de 1000 bléssés et pas moins de 1 million de déplacés! Jusqu'à quand la communauté internationale restera immobile face à ce carnage israelien... Il est temps de stopper ces TERRORISTES!!!!

... les images de la barbarie...

جريمة العص

2006-07-27T11:04:00.000+01:00

Note: cet artcile a été publié ce matin, 26 juillet, dans un journal libanais (AL Safir). Ecrit par un ancien premier ministre libanais, il fait état du crime du siècle qui se déroule sous nos yeux contre les peuples libanais et palestiniens. Je compte publier une version francaise dans les prochaines heures... bonne lecture pour les arabophones!

سليم الحص

يُحكى عن جرائم في حق الإنسانية، تُسمى إرهاباً. وما تعرض له لبنان منذ 12/7/2006 كان شريطاً لجريمة من أفظع الجرائ
م التي تُرتكب ضد الإنسانية، متميّزة بحجمها واستهدافاتها والأدوات والأساليب المستخدمة في تنفيذها، وكذلك بأصدائها وارتداداتها على مراكز القرار في العالم وردات الفعل حيالها داخل بلدنا وفي الجوار العربي كما في سائر أقطار العالم.
المنطلق كان عملية فدائية نظيفة: فريق من المقاومين من حزب الله يجتاز الخط الأزرق في الجنوب اللبناني فيهاجم آلية عسكرية إسرائيلية فيُردي بعض أفرادها ويلقي القبض على جنديين يعود بهما أسيرين برسم المبادلة مع أسرى لبنانيين في السجون الإسرائيلية بينهم سمير القنطار الذي انقضى على وجوده في غياهب المعتقلات الصهيونية 27 سنة، ولا أمل يُرجى في الإفراج عنه في الأفق المنظور. كان يمكن أن يقضي ورفاقه بقية العمر في السجون الإسرائيلية.
أعلنت إسرائيل، ومعها حليفتها أميركا، أن ما جرى هو بمثابة عمل حربي أو إعلان حرب. فأطلقت آلة الإبادة والتدمير الجامحة في وجه لبنان واللبنانيين، فسقط مئات القتلى في صفوف المدنيين، بينهم الأطفال والنساء والشيوخ والعجزة، وكان تدمير منهجي للمرافق والبُنى التحتية فما سَلِم جسر أو طريق أو مزرعة أو معمل أو شاحنة أو سيارة إسعاف، وانصبّت الحمم على الأحياء الآهلة فقوّضت المنازل على رؤوس قاطنيها، واستهدفت هوائيات وسائل الإعلام للحؤول دون وصول صور ما يدور من فواجع إلى مرأى العالم. فإذا بالقتلى في صفوف العزّل الأبرياء الآمنين بالمئات، وإذا بالجرحى بالألوف، منهم من قضى تحت الأنقاض ومنهم من لم يحظ بالوصول إلى مستشفى أو مستوصف أو الحصول على أدنى عناية طبّية. وإذا بالمهجّرين من منازلهم بمئات الألوف نازحون إلى حيث لا يعرفون، طلباً للنجاة، بعضهم يأوي في العراء، وبعضهم في مبانٍ مدرسية وبعضهم في مبان مهجورة، يفتقرون إلى لقمة العيش وشربة المياه والدواء، وكثير منهم يفتقد أنسباء وأصدقاء لا يدرون ما حلّ بهم.
سرت بين الناس في لبنان أقاويل تُحمّل المقاومة، حزب الله، مسؤولية الكارثة التي حلّت. فلولا خطف الأسيرين لما كان ما كان. وكان في هذه الأقاويل ضمناً تبرير وأعذار للعدو الإسرائيلي في ما ارتكب من جرائم في حق الإنسانية. وبعض الدول المحابية لإسرائيل والمتربّصة بلبنان سمّت العملية عملاً حربياً أو إعلان حرب.
عجباً! كان لبنان قبل الحادثة يتعرّض بوتيرة شبه يومية لاعتداءات يومية من جانب سلاح الجو الحربي الاسرائيلي، فيخرق جدار الصوت ويروّع الآهلين ويصوّر ما شاء أن يصوّر من المنشآت والمرافق اللبنانية استعداداً لمثل العدوان الذي يشنّه علينا في اللحظة التي يختارها.
وهتكت ساحتنا الداخلية بشبكات تجسس ارتكبت جرائم منكرة في لبنان بهدف إشعال الفتن، وقد وضع الجيش اللبناني يده على شبكتين منها تمتلك تجهيزات متطورة.
وما كنا نسمع مسؤولاً في العالم المتحضّر يستنكر الخروقات الإسرائيلية، أو يبدي حراكاً لوقفها. وما كان مسموحاً للبنان تقديم شكوى بها أمام الأمم المتحدة. فالدولة العظمى بالمرصاد، جاهزة للحيلولة دون طرح الشكوى أو تعطيل مفعولها باستخدام حق النقض ضد أي قرار قد يصدر بإدانة الدولة العبرية.
وكانت مياهنا الإقليمية معرّضة دوماً للانتهاك من أسطول إسرائيل البحري يومياً. ولبنان ساكت ليس من حقه أن يشكو أو يتظلّم.
إلى كل ذلك بقيت إسرائيل رابضة فوق أرض تحتلها في مزارع شبعا ونقاط أخرى، متذرّعة بفنّيات أخرجت تلك المناطق من حيّز القرار 425 الذي أعلن مجلس الأمن إتمام تنفيذه عند التحرير في عام ,2000 وأدخلتها في حيّز القرار 242 بحجة أن تلك الأراضي احتُلّت في الظروف التي احتلت فيها إسرائيل الجولان السوري عام 1967 ولم تحتلها مع احتلال الجنوب اللبناني عام ,1978 فيما سُمّي عملية الليطاني، ولذلك فهي تخضع للقرار 242 ولا تخضع للقرار .425
هكذا كان لبنان، ولا يزال، في حالة حرب مع إسرائيل وكانت بعض أرضه محتلّة، وكان يتعرّض لاعتداءات شبه يومية جوّاً وبحراً وأحياناً برّا. وما كان العالم يرى في شيء من ذلك عملاً حربياً أو إعلان حرب. خطف الجنديين الإسرائيليين فقط كان عملاً حربياً وبمثابة إعلان حرب.
قيل إن خطف الجنديين كان خطيئة تسببت بكل هذه الكوارث. أما الحقيقة فهي أن لا سبيل إلى تحرير الأسرى اللبنانيين إلا بالتبادل. وإسرائيل لا تعفّ عن التبادل. فقد سبق أن أجرت عمليات تبادل مع حزب الله غير مرة في الماضي، بادلت فيها أسرى بأسرى لا بل أيضاً أسرى بجثث لقتلى إسرائيليين.
خُطف جنديان إسرائيليان فكان ما كان من كوارث صُبّت على لبنان. ماذا لو قتل مجرم لبناني أحد الإسرائيليين؟ ماذا كان سيحصل؟ هل يُباد شعب لبنان وتُدمّر منشآته ومرافقه وممتلكاته في المقابل؟ هل كانت عملية قتل، يشهد العالم مثلها يومياً في كل مكان، ستكون سبباً لعقاب جماعي يتعرّض له الشعب اللبناني بمنتهى القسوة والوحشية؟
والواقع أن أحداً لم يقتل، بل وقع جنديان في الأسر بقصد المبادلة مع أسرى لبنانيين في المعتقلات الصهيونية. وقد تعهّدت الحكومة اللبنانية القائمة في بيانها الوزاري العمل على تحرير الأسرى اللبنانيين في السجون الإسرائيلية، ولكنها لم تستطع شيئاً في هذا السبيل.
لا يجوز للبنان أن يأسر جنديين من أجل مبادلتهما، فيما إسرائيل تحتفظ بأكثر من تسعة آلاف سجين عربي، بينهم فتيات وأحداث، وبينهم مواطنون من شتى التابعيات العربية، وبينهم لبنانيون.
اختطفت المقاومة الفلسطينية جندياً إسرائيلياً، في عملية فدائية نظيفة لم يُصب فيها مدني يهودي واحد بأذى، والجندي كان يرابط على حدود غزّة يمارس في حق أهل الأرض كل ألوان المضايقة والتنكيل وحتى التجويع. فكان هذا أيضاً في نظر العالم المتحضّر عملاً حربياً لا بل إعلان حرب. فإذا بقطاع غزّة يتعرّض لعدوان إسرائيلي غاشم هتكت فيه الدولة العبرية حقوق الإنسان بأبسط مفاهيمها وارتكبت من الجرائم في حق الإنسانية ما لا يوصف. كل هذا مبرر بأسر جندي يُراد مبادلته بأسرى فلسطينيين من الفتيات والأحداث.
هكذا، كما في لبنان، كذلك في فلسطين. والحكّام العرب في الحالتين أكثرهم غافلون أو غير عابئين أو متواطئون.
الجرائم التي تنفّذها إسرائيل في لبنان وفلسطين تندرج في باب العقاب الجماعي لشعب بأسره، وهذا من المحرّمات في القانون الإنساني الدولي، تحظّره اتفاقيات جنيف لعام 1949 التي وقّع عليها لبنان كما وقّعت عليها إسرائيل. وإسرائيل تنتهك حقوق الإنسان بأبسط مفاهيمها في كل ما ترتكب من جرائم ضد الإنسانية. مع ذلك فالعالم يتفرّج. ولا يُبدي حراكاً. أمّا الدولة العظمى، أميركا، التي تعطي العالم دروساً يومية في القيم الحضارية، وتحديداً في الحرية والديموقراطية والعدالة وسائر حقوق الإنسان، فإنها تشجع إسرائيل وتحرّضها على المضي قدماً في حربها الشعواء على لبنان، أو في جرائمها المنكرة ضد الإنسانية، ونسمع الرفض لوقف إطلاق النار من مسؤولي الدولة العظمى. فإذا بالمندوب الأميركي الدائم في الأمم المتحدة جون بولتون يقول تكراراً: لم يحن أوان وقف النار. وإذا به يقول أيضاً أنه لا يجوز <أخلاقياً> المساواة بين ضحايا القصف الإسرائيلي من اللبنانيين وبين ضحايا القصف اللبناني من الإسرائيليين. كأنما الإسرائيليون من بني البشر أما اللبنانيون فمن البعوض. وصاحب هذا الرأي، ويا للمفارقة، حظي منذ فترة من الزمن بتكريم من فريق لبناني أهداه درع الأرز على إنجازاته.
المأساة اللبنانية وحّدت بين اللبنانيين. كان القصد من الحرب إثارة فئات لبنانية على فئات أخرى توصّلاً إلى إشعال فتنة، على غرار ما هو حاصل في العراق الشقيق، أملاً بتعميم الانقسام والفتنة على المنطقة العربية برمّتها. يسمون ذلك الفوضى البنّاءة أو الخلاقة، ويجدون فيها السبيل إلى تفتيت شعوب المشرق العربي وصولاً إلى إعادة لمّها في ما يُسمى شرق أوسط كبيراً أو جديداً يرمي إلى القضاء على رابطة العروبة نهائياً من جهة وتسليط إسرائيل على المنطقة بأسرها من جهة ثانية.
برهن الشعب اللبناني بصموده وصبره وتشبّثه بأهداب الوحدة الوطنية أنه ليس لقمة سائغة. فالمقاومة للعدوان كانت أسطورية، والتضامن الوطني في مواجهة المحنة بين شتى الفئات كان رائعاً. والوحدة الوطنية هي أقوى من قنابلهم النووية.
وكان التضامن العربي مع لبنان في محنته رائعاً على مستوى الفرد العربي والشعوب العربية. أما الحكّام العرب فبعضهم لم يكن على مستوى المسؤولية والبعض الآخر، ومنها دول لها وزنها دولياً، كانت إما متخاذلة أو متواطئة. يا للعار.

اجتمع وزراء الخارجية العرب ليختلفوا. ولم يجد الحكام العرب حاجة لعقد قمة عربية توحّد الموقف في الضغط على المجتمع الدولي لإنقاذ لبنان وفلسطين من براثن الوحش الإسرائيلي. ولمّا بلغت المأساة أقصاها، بدأنا نسمع من بعضهم دعوات ولو متأخّرة لوقف النار وإقامة ممرات للإغاثة والنجدة الإنسانية.