There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
(Sting, Russians)

Lawrence of cyberia gave today this quote: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” in order to show his criticism of the situation. He added the AFP photos of Israeli children “dedicating” rockets to Hizbullah’s targets. The same pictures were shown by Shabbah where he added the pictures of dead lebanese children. Just to correct the facts again, the text on the rockets is not “Dear Lebanese/Palestinian/Arab/Muslim/Christians – Kids, Die with love.” Like Shabbah said, but “To Nasrallah with love, the kids of Israel.”. I

sraeli children, of course, will do this in order to relax from the tension of being constantly bombarded, where around 800 rockets have already hit Israel without differentiating between blood and blood. Of course, people get killed from both sides. I actually disagree with the toll of 217 civilians given by Lebanese bloggers and i believe that most of these deaths were Hizbuallah related. Or at least i want to believe it. However, i do think that we need responsibility, but i still can’t agree with Sandmonkey’s comment that the Lebanese left does not want peace.

I do remember a IUSY conference held in Malta almost two years ago, where i felt what Sandmonkey said for the first time. We were young socialists, from all around the middle east. Palestinians, Jordanians, West Saharan, Israelies and Maltese. We also had guests from Serbia-Montenegro and other conflict induced areas (Ireland). Every member was a peace activist in his country and every member was a member of a social democrat party.

We engaged in discussions with all other members there and exchanged ideas. Especially the Israeli and the Palestinians, since my former party, Meretz, and Fatah were in good relations. The problem was with the Lebanese. The four girls from Lebanon refused to acknowledge us and did not talk directly towards us. I felt really ashamed of the horrible crimes committed in Lebanon, where some of them were my country’s, but i couldn’t understand why aren’t they even yelling at us? I wanted some way to talk with them, some mean to be able to communicate. But nothing.

In order for discourse to exist, there needs to be two sides who are willing to talk. I’m not sure that my government is, but i am.