Maj.-Gen. Amiram Levine declared: “The residents in south Lebanon who are under the responsibility of Hezbollah will be hit harder, and the Hezbollah will be hit harder, and we will find the way to act correctly and quickly.”[6] On April 11, after initial strikes against Hezbollah positions, Israel, through SLA radio stations, warned residents in forty-four towns and villages in southern Lebanon, to evacuate within twenty four hours.[7] (wikipedia, Qana Shelling)
This was ten years ago, during operation “Grapes of Warth” which was meant to protect our north. Today, we realised that history tends to repeat itself. Kafar Qana had a symbolic meaning to it, it was the event that stopped the ‘Grapes’ Operation and started a ceasefire, which lasted for a short time. ‘Grapes’ was also the last military action which the IDF initiated before i was drafted to the service. A year later, in 1997, i was there as well, not as a combatant, but still, i was there.
During my three years in service, i did my best not to participate in any war crimes; and luckily enough, the IDF was not involved in too big massacres or “mistakes” such as Kafar Qana
The major problem with this “mistake” is that it revokes israel’s legitimacy to act in Self-Defense. this was not self defense, even if there were terrorists in that building (and i believe there were). If i observe the matter in an objectivistic approach, without trying to blame the lebanese, i might say that the civilians are hostages of the Hizbullah.
Now, let’s try to imagine this scene: A Terrorist holds fifty people or so hostage at a nuclear facility. he threatens to kill them and to blow up the place unless his demands are met; his demands are problematic since they require the revokation of your right to exist. Do you negotiate in the price of killing yourself? do you kill the terrorist in the price of killing the hostages (since you do not negotiate with terrorists)? or do you infiltrate and try to kill the terrorists selectively?
Should israel had a better intelligence force, it might have had the chance to do it right. however, now the blame is on us for this murder, which unlike other murders we’ve committed in Lebanon, we cannot justify with any cause.
Will this stop the war? I don’t know; now i think that the parties are too far away to make peace, mostly because of my country.
However, there might still be a chance, but only if Israel maintains ethical war standards, though Hizbullah ignores them. Fighting ethically, without killing civilians, may cost more on the Israeli soldiers, but will gain more on the long term. Not only in public opinion, but also in the outcomes of this war.
what happened in the spanish civil war was that the fascist used human shields, and that was seen by the world as the most immoral crime. today we have a shiite group, that did not start because of israel in 1982 (like so many newspapers in new zealand seem to believe) but in 1979 in iran, as part of a very ellaborate operation sending groups around the middle east and parts of asia in order to reclaim the “muslim (shiite) land”. this hizballa (army of god) group is operating in lebannon. lebannon, a country that was formed by the brittish and litterally “cut out” of seria in order to create an area where christians could live in peace and without fear of persecution, is being kidnapped, hijacked, by hizballa, and they are putting their weapons on top of peoples homes, in their schools, kindergartens and hospitals. we, israel, are falling for their trick, and murdering innocent, beautiful people who deserve not just to live, but to live honorably (this means that they dont have to pay around 2500US$ a year to put their child through school because they are christians who are “living on the land of hizbulla”, while school is FREE in lebannon for all muslims, among other things). hibulla’s aim is to destroy, and its very clear, they are talking about israel, a cease fire at this time will give them what they want: a chance to once again gain time and strength, as they did last time.
to anybody in lebannon who is a civilian, i send condolences, and no, you certainly dont deserve this war..
Some things, (1) Hizbullah is “Party of God” and not “army”. (2) I agree that a ceasefire will give them to to rearm themselves, but i don’t think it’s needed. A ceasefire is a temporary arrangement for a permanent solution; that’s not that good. we need something concrete, something to do.
Yup, I agree.
Its sad and stupid. With a little more care, this terrible incident could be avoided.
Except the sorrow for the loss of innocent lives, Israel loses lots of points. Neogtiations on a ceasefire, that began recently will take a shift to a worse position for Israel.
Last night while sitting in Tel Aviv cafe with some friends of mine, I failed to convince them that killing civilians is also wrong for practical reasons, and reminded the “Grapes of Wrath” story.
Unfortunately, it came earlier than I expected, and in the same place !
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It will become harder to be heard on Lebanese blogs. Especially when the government blamesthe Hizbullah for the incident. Maybe there is some truth to it, but I think it would be wiser to keep quiet.