Israel Batting for Civil Strife
Along with physical infrastructure, political unity appears to be a target of the Israeli air campaign against Lebanon.
On Friday morning, along with many other targets, the Israelis bombed a bridge the main Highway north from Beirut where it passes through the Maronite Christian suburb of Jounieh in the north of Beirut. This strike was, according to many, along with the bombing of other Christian areas, intended to trigger a Christian retaliation against the Shi'a for allowing their leaders to bring this grief upon them.
As you follow the coast around towards the site of the blast, from predominately Muslim west Beirut, through the predominantly Christian areas in the east and the north you notice the difference in the scenery. There are crosses and statues of the Virgin Mary dotting the hillside. The women are dressed more provocatively and none are veiled. Both women and men, even those who are not religious, often wear conspicuous crosses - reminding themselves and every one else of their unique identity. All these are indicators that the divisions within Lebanon, which were made painfully clear during its fifteen years of civil war, are still present. It is these divisions that Israel seems intent on igniting.
The Israelis have dropped fliers on the city with this purpose in mind. Not the ones telling warning people to leave their homes in the southern suburbs. The ones depicting Nasralla's head on the body of a snake and sporting slogans in Arabic like "The Resistance defends the country, but the country will pay for the resistance" and "People of Lebanon, you have a snake behind you and in front of you".
At the moment the disintegration of Lebanon's unity looks unlikely. Any public condemnations of Hezbollah by public figures or sectarian leaders have been gentle in their language and usually focus specifically on the cross border raid and abduction of two Israeli soldiers which triggered the conflict. The residents of Jounieh we spoke to, all Christian shop keepers sweeping up the glass broken by the blast, held no one but Israel responsible for the damage to their businesses.
When asked why, in their opinion, Israel had stuck the almost exclusively Maronite area they sited two reasons, to destroy the roads to prevent supplies reaching Hezbollah and to turn the Christian community against the Shi'a. "They want us to blame the people from the South" said Charbel Khouri, an employee of Michaels Restaurant only a hundred metres or so from the blast. He, like the others we spoke to, told us he did not think it would work, saying the Christian community as a whole shared his opinion and blamed Israel "one hundred percent". Lebanon has, however earned a reputation of appearing far more united than it is in reality, and if the bombing continues it is possible that this kind of national solidarity could dissolve as the non-shi'a population tires of paying the price for Hezbollah's defiance. And there are many signs that this conflict may still be in it's early stages.
While diplomatic efforts to resolve the Israeli-Lebanese conflict have gone into overdrive and it seems every one is speaking of an imminent ceasefire, Lebanese Prime minister Foad Siniora has brushed such talk aside saying "I do not want to promise the Lebanese people a cease fire unless I have concrete evidence".
Neither Hezbollah or Israel appear prepared to return to the "status quo" that existed before the most recent conflict, let alone give ground. Both want to gain something for the blood they have spent. Israel is determined it seems to push forward into Lebanese territory at least to the Litany River and Hezbollah to free the Sheba Farms. The Lebanese and Israeli prisoners who were once at the centre of this conflict seem to have fallen by the wayside.
Hezbollah's Leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has perhaps come the closest to offering an olive branch, saying that if Israel stopped its bombing of "Cities and Civilians" Hezbollah would in turn stop its rocket attacks on the north of Israel and keep the conflict as a battle between their soldiers and the Israeli military. The Israeli foreign ministry responded to Nasrallah's statement by labelling the offer of de-escalation a ruse designed to give the militant group time to " rearm, regroup and once again be in a position of strength".
Nasrallah, However, also stated that if Israel were to strike Beirut proper that Hezbollah would respond with rocket attacks on Tel Aviv. The Israeli response to which was a statement that if Tel Aviv was hit then their attacks on Lebanese Infra-structure would dramatically increase in their intensity. The rhetoric on both sides refers to escalation of the conflict. Nether side has mentioned a ceasefire plan that the other is even remotely likely to accept.
On Friday morning, along with many other targets, the Israelis bombed a bridge the main Highway north from Beirut where it passes through the Maronite Christian suburb of Jounieh in the north of Beirut. This strike was, according to many, along with the bombing of other Christian areas, intended to trigger a Christian retaliation against the Shi'a for allowing their leaders to bring this grief upon them.
As you follow the coast around towards the site of the blast, from predominately Muslim west Beirut, through the predominantly Christian areas in the east and the north you notice the difference in the scenery. There are crosses and statues of the Virgin Mary dotting the hillside. The women are dressed more provocatively and none are veiled. Both women and men, even those who are not religious, often wear conspicuous crosses - reminding themselves and every one else of their unique identity. All these are indicators that the divisions within Lebanon, which were made painfully clear during its fifteen years of civil war, are still present. It is these divisions that Israel seems intent on igniting.
The Israelis have dropped fliers on the city with this purpose in mind. Not the ones telling warning people to leave their homes in the southern suburbs. The ones depicting Nasralla's head on the body of a snake and sporting slogans in Arabic like "The Resistance defends the country, but the country will pay for the resistance" and "People of Lebanon, you have a snake behind you and in front of you".
At the moment the disintegration of Lebanon's unity looks unlikely. Any public condemnations of Hezbollah by public figures or sectarian leaders have been gentle in their language and usually focus specifically on the cross border raid and abduction of two Israeli soldiers which triggered the conflict. The residents of Jounieh we spoke to, all Christian shop keepers sweeping up the glass broken by the blast, held no one but Israel responsible for the damage to their businesses.
When asked why, in their opinion, Israel had stuck the almost exclusively Maronite area they sited two reasons, to destroy the roads to prevent supplies reaching Hezbollah and to turn the Christian community against the Shi'a. "They want us to blame the people from the South" said Charbel Khouri, an employee of Michaels Restaurant only a hundred metres or so from the blast. He, like the others we spoke to, told us he did not think it would work, saying the Christian community as a whole shared his opinion and blamed Israel "one hundred percent". Lebanon has, however earned a reputation of appearing far more united than it is in reality, and if the bombing continues it is possible that this kind of national solidarity could dissolve as the non-shi'a population tires of paying the price for Hezbollah's defiance. And there are many signs that this conflict may still be in it's early stages.
While diplomatic efforts to resolve the Israeli-Lebanese conflict have gone into overdrive and it seems every one is speaking of an imminent ceasefire, Lebanese Prime minister Foad Siniora has brushed such talk aside saying "I do not want to promise the Lebanese people a cease fire unless I have concrete evidence".
Neither Hezbollah or Israel appear prepared to return to the "status quo" that existed before the most recent conflict, let alone give ground. Both want to gain something for the blood they have spent. Israel is determined it seems to push forward into Lebanese territory at least to the Litany River and Hezbollah to free the Sheba Farms. The Lebanese and Israeli prisoners who were once at the centre of this conflict seem to have fallen by the wayside.
Hezbollah's Leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has perhaps come the closest to offering an olive branch, saying that if Israel stopped its bombing of "Cities and Civilians" Hezbollah would in turn stop its rocket attacks on the north of Israel and keep the conflict as a battle between their soldiers and the Israeli military. The Israeli foreign ministry responded to Nasrallah's statement by labelling the offer of de-escalation a ruse designed to give the militant group time to " rearm, regroup and once again be in a position of strength".
Nasrallah, However, also stated that if Israel were to strike Beirut proper that Hezbollah would respond with rocket attacks on Tel Aviv. The Israeli response to which was a statement that if Tel Aviv was hit then their attacks on Lebanese Infra-structure would dramatically increase in their intensity. The rhetoric on both sides refers to escalation of the conflict. Nether side has mentioned a ceasefire plan that the other is even remotely likely to accept.
posted by Austin Gerassimos Mackell at 7:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home