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FAO those who think Israel's actions have been justified & proportioned

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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What about the penchant for terror and mass murder of the Israelis, who insist on electing lunatic blood-thirsty war criminal butchers who think the lives of Arabs are little more than worthless and can be done with just as you would with a used tissue?

    Face it: the Israeli government and the IDF are terrorists and mass murderers and they deserve as much respect and recognition as the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah. Don't try to pretend otherwise.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^ Now I know you arent being serious.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't think it's much point saying anything to you Matadore, since you have been in a delusional state for a long time now and can't even agree (or even concede) that the Israelis are murdering civilians on purpose and that their response have been appalling and disproportionate.

    Even Disillusioned has indicated between very gritted teeth that Israel's response has been disproportionate, even if he had to use different words. You apparently are beyond that point.

    Perhaps it's the shiny uniforms. Should we all make a whip-round and buy Hamas and Hezbollah shiny uniforms? Because otherwise I can't really see what the difference is between the two?

    Hell, they're not even as bad as each other. Israel is a lot worse, simply on account of consistently killing between 3 times and 10 times more innocent people than Hamas and Hezbollah ever do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    SADDAM husien has been stripped of power and thrown in jail and charged with crimes against humanity.
    the charges relate to the deaths of 148 shias in the village of dujail.
    and the israelis ....................
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    In the name of fairness, Israel doesn't use their citizens as shields because it doesn't need to. If Israel were fighting an infinitely superior adversary that had the capability to destroy all their army barracks and bases effortlessly you can bet your bottom dollar they would be doing exactly the same as Hezbollah.

    Which is why I am happy to condem both sides equally.

    It's isn't intent which divides their actions, it's capability. If Hamas and Hexbollah had planes, tanks etc then you can bet your arse that they would act in exactly the same way (until they got their arses kicked) - which is precisely what Israel's neighbours tried... and precisely what led to the "occupied territories" being occupied in the first place. Remember that wasn't a land grab (at first) it was driving back invaders...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fair enough we should also remember that there is only one country here illegally occupying the lands of not one, not two but three neighbouring nations. And furthermore the same said country is the one with vastly superior firepower that enables it to destoy entire neighbourhoods in cities hundreds of miles away without resistance or even protection from the helpless locals.

    Both sides should stop the violence and the same time and immediately, but there is only one side that has really gone overboard here, even accounting for the usual violence and nastiness that all sides engage into.
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    SADDAM husien has been stripped of power and thrown in jail and charged with crimes against humanity.
    the charges relate to the deaths of 148 shias in the village of dujail.
    and the israelis ....................

    Post of the week right there.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    Post of the week right there.

    Agreed...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep.

    Isn't there a Post of the Week competition on thesite somewhere? Get nominating!

    (I wouldn't know how or where, I rarely venture out of this forum :rolleyes: :D )
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Aladdin wrote:
    Yep.

    Isn't there a Post of the Week competition on thesite somewhere? Get nominating!

    (I wouldn't know how or where, I rarely venture out of this forum :rolleyes: :D )

    I shall try to remember for the next one - wonder when it shall be?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    SADDAM husien has been stripped of power and thrown in jail and charged with crimes against humanity.
    the charges relate to the deaths of 148 shias in the village of dujail.
    and the israelis ....................

    Care to expand on that?
    I am not sure exactly what your point is...
    Thanks.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I am not sure exactly what your point is...

    He doesn't have one, its just the usual mindless anti-Israeli bullshit.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    migpilot wrote:
    Care to expand on that?
    I am not sure exactly what your point is...
    Thanks.
    i would have thought the point was obvious but never mind.
    saddam is removed from power and thrown in jail for crimes against humanity ...the jkilling of 148 civilians in a village ...cos someone in that village tried to kill him.
    the israelis ...kill and maim hundreds in one week ...cos someone nicked two soldiers ...why aren't we invading israel and holding their leaders toaccount for crimes against humanity?
    there they sit with WMD and the blood of hundreds of civi ...do i realy need to spell it out?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    Post of the week right there.
    i some how doubt it ...far to sensetive an issue for a site such as this ...i reckon they'd be in danger of loosing their funding.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i some how doubt it ...far to sensetive an issue for a site such as this ...i reckon they'd be in danger of loosing their funding.

    It will be in the mind of some of us mate, that's what count...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    He doesn't have one, its just the usual mindless anti-Israeli bullshit.

    By 'anti-Israeli bullshit' Matadore means ''how does anyone dare suggest Israel hasn't got the right to murder innocent men, women and children and do anything it pleases''?

    You're right Matadore, we're all anti-semite Nazis for having the temerity to criticise the State of Israel commiting War Crimes and murder.

    And of course the many Jews who have written to newspapers to complain about the Israeli government's tactics are all "self haters".

    Are they not mate?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Anyways, since a lot of people care about this issue one way or the other, I would suggest writing to the government and to the PM Tony Blair and tell them what you think of the crisis and the government's response to it:


    10 Downing Street,
    London,
    SW1A 2AA

    see website www.Number10.gov.uk


    - cc to the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett (FCO, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH) www.fco.gov.uk);
    - cc to the International Development Secretary Hilary Benn (DFID, 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE www.dfid.gov.uk )
    - and cc your local MP (who you can find via www.parliament.uk). CC in your local MP is really important as Government Ministers respond faster to letters cc to MPs, particularly if they are from the same (Labour Party).


    In addition to writing to Blair or instead, if you want to make a donation to the humanitarian appeal you can via red cross www.redcross.org.uk.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i would have thought the point was obvious but never mind.
    saddam is removed from power and thrown in jail for crimes against humanity ...the jkilling of 148 civilians in a village ...cos someone in that village tried to kill him.
    the israelis ...kill and maim hundreds in one week ...cos someone nicked two soldiers ...why aren't we invading israel and holding their leaders toaccount for crimes against humanity?
    there they sit with WMD and the blood of hundreds of civi ...do i realy need to spell it out?

    It wasn't obvious. ;)

    See, Saddam wasn't removed from power because he killed those 148 civilians, was he... He's murdered, or given orders to that effect, many more people than that. Saddam was a dictator, there was no democracy...
    He's in jail because of years and years of oppression and dictatorship and also coz the US don't need him no more.

    The US need Israel and will support it till the end, whatever the end may be. Israel will never be tried for crimes against humanity. A few Israeli government people might be used as scapegoats at some point, but that's it.

    You can't compare the two, mate.

    I agree that whoever is ordering this bombing needs to be hanged in public, but it ain't gonna happen.
    Therefore, I see no point in you posting that post as it's ONLY a reminder of how frustrating the state of world politics is!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    Anyways, since a lot of people care about this issue one way or the other, I would suggest writing to the government and to the PM Tony Blair and tell them what you think of the crisis and the government's response to it:


    10 Downing Street,
    London,
    SW1A 2AA

    see website www.Number10.gov.uk


    [/url].

    Why would I do that and get put on MI5's watchlist?
    Not ready for that.




    Yet. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    migpilot wrote:

    See, Saddam wasn't removed from power because he killed those 148 civilians, was he... He's murdered, or given orders to that effect, many more people than that. Saddam was a dictator, there was no democracy...
    He's in jail because of years and years of oppression and dictatorship and also coz the US don't need him no more.

    !!
    the reality is ...he's been a bastard from day one but ...when he was our bastaRD WE DIDN'T PROTEST HIS CRUELTY ...WE EVEN FACILITATed the cruelty and murder ...just as we are doing now with israel.
    the reality is ...he has only been charged with the murder of 148 people.
    he has only been charged cos he got in the way of the project for the new american century.

    when the oil runs out ...israel will be ditched by the americans.
    then there will be bloodshed on a scale unimaginable at the moment.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How does Israel help the US with oil?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Toadborg wrote:
    How does Israel help the US with oil?
    whaa? israel is massively funded by the yanks ...have a guess why america would bankroll a nation with WMD's in the middle east.
    why they would encourage turmoil.
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    i some how doubt it ...far to sensetive an issue for a site such as this ...i reckon they'd be in danger of loosing their funding.

    It isn't expressing the views of TheSite's owners or Admin though is it? It is just a comment from the board many users agree upon (if it wins). As such, I see no reason why it shouldn't be at least nominated? And put up if it wins?

    Alladin - I may well write a letter to our PM. I hope he reads it. Infact, I'll send the letter to everyone you listed if I write it. Even our conservative (GRR!) local MP. Gah... can't wait until I can vote next time.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    whaa? israel is massively funded by the yanks ...have a guess why america would bankroll a nation with WMD's in the middle east.
    why they would encourage turmoil.

    Why does this help with oil?

    Why does supporting the Israelis in bombing Lebanon help the US energy supply?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    migpilot wrote:
    Why would I do that and get put on MI5's watchlist?
    Not ready for that.




    Yet. :)
    One of my work colleagues emails Blair regularly about all sorts of issues. He has even called him names on occasion (though I would not recommend doing that at all). So far he's still with us, but I'll let you know if one day he 'disappears' without trace ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Toadborg wrote:
    Why does this help with oil?

    Why does supporting the Israelis in bombing Lebanon help the US energy supply?
    By having a long term goal of controlling the Middle East and ensuring there are puppet/friendly governments in every country in the area I suppose.

    If the US is supporting turmoil in the area as well as a strong Israel pounding neighbouring nations into submission, you could say they're doing so with the ultimate mid or long term goal of removing all unfriendly governments and installing puppet regimes in their place. This would ensure many decades of dead cheap oil supply to American SUVs.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Toadborg wrote:
    Why does this help with oil?

    Why does supporting the Israelis in bombing Lebanon help the US energy supply?
    your side lining me now and putting words in my mouth.
    america need israel in the middle east for strategic reasons ...americas polkiceman out there.
    the palestinians and the lebanese are just a pain in the arse for israel.
    america will contim=nue to fund the israelis only as long as they need a nuclear arsenal out there.when the oil runs out ...do you rely think the americans will continue to fund and arm israrel?
    do you think anyone in the western world will have any interet in the pplace whatsoever?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    By 'anti-Israeli bullshit' Matadore means ''how does anyone dare suggest Israel hasn't got the right to murder innocent men, women and children and do anything it pleases''?

    Israel has the right to defend itself. Israel has been provoked into conflict. If the British fired thousands of missiles into Spain from Gibraltar I doubt you'd expect the Spanish to sit around and do nothing. Hezbollah started this and the best way of ending it is with Hezbollah being dismantled.
    Aladdin wrote:
    And of course the many Jews who have written to newspapers to complain about the Israeli government's tactics are all "self haters".

    As Ben Gurion said 'for every two Jews there are three opinions.' While for some ethnic minorities there is a very strong tendency to vote Labour the British Jewish community is divided, I can't remember the figures but at the last election it was split fairly evenly between the main three parties.

    The British Jewish community is overall broadly very supportive of Israel however. That there are some extremely vocal Jewish critics of Israel is mainly explained by them being part of the far-left. Nobody in the West hates Israel more than the left. And anyway the views of Harold Pinter on Israel are no more valid because he happens to be Jewish.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Iran has declared war on the rest of the world
    Douglas Davis
    The Spectator

    The question is not why Hezbollah launched its attack on a routine Israeli military patrol along the Lebanese border on 12 July, but why it chose that specific time.

    One thing is certain: the attack was neither random nor impulsive. On the contrary, it appears to have been carefully calculated and intricately planned. Certainly Hezbollah would not have mounted such an operation without the prior knowledge and approval of its patrons — Iran, which arms, trains and funds Lebanon’s Shiite radicals, and Syria, which serves as a conduit and provides essential logistical support.

    In fact, the operation had probably been on the drawing board for several months. According to intelligence sources, a major weapons consignment destined for Hezbollah arrived at Damascus airport from Iran in March. That was just one month after Iran had ended its voluntary co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which included surprise inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

    The Iranian consignment was transported in a military convoy through Syria and along Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to Hezbollah bases in south Lebanon. The convoy had received an official transit permit from the Lebanese government, which knew not only the precise nature of the shipment but also its destination.

    The sources say the consignment included some 12,000 Katyusha rockets, as well as various other types of missiles. Of particular concern to Israel’s military strategists was the fact that the range of the new rockets had been substantially extended. They were capable of reaching Israel’s main port city of Haifa, possibly well beyond.

    At the same time as the missile consignment was heading to Lebanon, an unnamed senior Iranian official said that his country would inflict ‘harm and pain’ on the United States and its allies, and vowed to ‘use any means’ to ‘resist any pressure and threats’ designed to curb Iran’s nuclear programme. The rhetoric was not empty.

    One month later the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had called for Israel to be ‘wiped off the map’, made the dramatic announcement that Iranian scientists had completed the nuclear fuel cycle and were enriching uranium, the essential ingredient for a nuclear weapons programme (Iran insists its uranium enrichment is for strictly peaceful purposes).

    So why did Hezbollah wait until last Wednesday before unwrapping those missiles? Largely lost in the heat and dust of the attack and counter-attack was a brief statement issued in Paris on the same day by the French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy.

    The statement, on behalf of the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, came five weeks after the group had asked Iran to resume negotiations with the IAEA over suspending its nuclear programme. There had still been no response from Tehran. ‘In this context,’ declared Mr Douste-Blazy, ‘we have no choice but to return to the United Nations Security Council and take forward the process that was suspended two months ago. We have agreed to seek a United Nations Security Council resolution which would make the IAEA-required suspension mandatory.’

    That announcement, which had been anticipated in Tehran, is the likeliest trigger for last Wednesday’s attack. And the message that Tehran delivered in return, courtesy of its Lebanese proxy, was loud and clear: Iran would — and could — inflict ‘harm and pain’ on US interests; and not just in the Middle East. Hezbollah’s playground extends far beyond the region. It has a formidable global reach.

    That was underscored in a report to the US Congress in January this year by the new American intelligence supremo, John D. Negroponte. He noted that Iran was perfectly capable of sparking a wide conflict if it felt threatened. Hezbollah, he added, is ‘Iran’s main terrorist ally, which has a worldwide support network and is capable of attacks against US interests if it feels its Iranian patron is threatened.’

    Washington hardly needs reminding of Hezbollah’s lethality. Those members of Congress will not have forgotten that one of the first acts of the newly formed Hezbollah in 1983 was to launch a truck-bomb attack against the Beirut barracks of the US marines, who had been sent to the Lebanese capital on peace-keeping duties at the height of Lebanon’s civil war. The attack cost the lives of 241 US servicemen. But, as Mr Negroponte indicated, Hezbollah can also operate on an international stage.

    In March 1994, for example, Thai security officials arrested a Hezbollah terrorist as he was driving a truck laden with explosives near the Israeli embassy in Bangkok. If the truck had detonated, it would have destroyed the entire embassy and blown away several hundred people. Three months later, in faraway Argentina, Hezbollah got lucky. Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a Lebanese citizen and member of Hezbollah, drove an explosives-packed van into the seven-storey building in Buenos Aires that served as the Jewish community centre. Eighty-five people were killed and more than 200 wounded.

    Much is riding on the outcome of the current conflict, not only for Israel but also for the rest of the world. Three important battles are now being played out in the context of the Israeli–Hezbollah–Hamas conflict. Each will have far-reaching international implications — for US–Russian relations, for Iran’s nuclear ambitions and, not least, for the globalised Islamic challenges that confront a slew of states in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East itself.

    It was no surprise that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin hummed a distinctly different tune from that of his American guest at the G8 summit in St Petersburg last weekend. Over the past two years Russia has quietly moved from a position of co-operation with the United States to one of rivalry. While Mr Putin expressed himself in more nuanced terms than did his Soviet predecessors, the former KGB officer is staking a claim to superpower status –—bolstered by billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues — and to an independent position on a variety of international issues, including Middle East ones.

    This was confirmed by Professor Stephen Blank in a major report published last month by the Conflict Studies Research Centre at the Defence Academy of the UK. Russian policy in the Middle East, says the professor, is increasingly animated by a determination to check American power and influence in the region. This determination is driven in equal measure by a ‘fierce desire’ for global-power status and recognition. And while the Russians are using the language and grammar of multipolarity, their policies are essentially no less unilateral than those of the US.

    Quite apart from the fate of Mr Putin’s grand ambitions, the outcome of the exchanges across the Israeli–Lebanese border will provide Mr Ahmadinejad with a clear indicator of just how much (or, perhaps, how little) room he has for manoeuvre in his drive to become a full member of the ‘nuclear club’.

    Finally, if Hezbollah is able to emerge with even a shred of military credibility from its encounter with Israel when the Security Council calls time, the outcome will be perceived as a huge victory for Islamism. It is a ‘triumph’ that is likely to carry the seeds of accelerated radicalisation, with possibly devastating consequences — not only for the West but also for a clutch of Middle East states that are already facing a burgeoning Islamist threat: Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and, of course, Lebanon itself.

    Concern rather than outrage was the dominant theme at the hastily convened Arab League summit in Cairo last weekend. Arab foreign ministers, many of whom have now concluded that Israel’s enemies are theirs too, railed helplessly at the international community for failing to fulfil their promise to bring peace to their turbulent region.

    The heady days of sterile Arab League rhetoric are coming to a close. The ritual denunciations of the Zionist entity are muted. The extravagant expressions of pan-Arab solidarity are barely whispered. A new reality is in the air. Hezbollah’s attack last week represents the opening salvo in Iran’s war against the West — and anyone else who stands in its way.
    Douglas Davis, a former senior editor on the Jerusalem Post, is a member of the Middle East Writers’ Group
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Also from the Spectator. (Posted entire articles as you have to register to view their articles I think).

    The Lebanese really blame Hezbollah
    Michael Young

    Beirut

    The smoke from the countless fires burning in Beirut’s southern suburbs have turned the city’s skies battleship grey. It makes mid-July seem almost autumnal and saps Beirut of what remains of its spirit. Even the busiest high streets are largely empty now, and most shops close quickly at midday, not wanting to release their employees too late.

    Outside central Beirut, the effect of Israel’s attacks is more dramatic. Many of the country’s roads are pocked with craters, the damage to the infrastructure could take years to repair, 235 are dead so far — most of them civilians — and buildings burn. On Wednesday morning, Israeli troops crossed into southern Lebanon to carry out what they call ‘pinpoint attacks’.

    The Lebanese Prime Minister, Faoud Siniora, has said that ‘the gates of hell have been opened up in Lebanon’ — and it’s difficult to disagree. But what has not been so widely reported is that while officials will blame Israel for the misery and chaos, a substantial number of Lebanese — in some cases, ironically, the officials themselves — have a more nuanced view. Of course the people here are angry and anxious about the possibility of a widening of the Israeli attacks, but their rage, as they see the country being taken apart, is often directed against Hezbollah.

    The Lebanese people have watched as Hezbollah has built up a heavily armed state-within-a-state that has now carried the country into a devastating conflict it cannot win and many are fed up. Sunni Muslims, Christians and the Druze have no desire to pay for the martial vanity of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Nor will they take kindly to his transforming the devastation into a political victory.

    Some even welcome Israel’s intervention. As one Lebanese politician said to me in private (but would never dare say in public) Israel must not stop now. It sounds cynical, he said, but ‘for things to get better in Lebanon, Nasrallah must be weakened further’.

    Even some Shiites are beginning to have doubts about Nasrallah. If interviewed on television they will praise Hezbollah, but when the cameras are off, there are those who will suddenly become more critical. Many have had to flee, leaving behind their homes and possessions with no hope of recovering anything of any worth.

    One evening this week I looked out of my apartment window in the Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh and saw an Israeli shell exploding on top of the grain silo at Beirut port. The colossal concrete silo got the better of that exchange, but in the Shia quarters of southern Beirut the bombs have won outright. Hezbollah’s so-called ‘security perimeter’ — the party’s sanctum sanctorum, where Nasrallah and his officials lived and worked — has been reduced to a smouldering wasteland. Displaced Shia families have moved into Beirut proper, taking refuge in schools, public facilities and empty apartments.

    Here in Beirut, Nasrallah is also blamed for the suffering in southern Lebanon which, under heavy fire from Israeli cannons, has suffered in the same way as the southern half of the city. On Tuesday, a family of nine died after air strikes in Aitaroun; another family was killed in Tyre. It’s difficult for journalists to gain access to the south since the Israelis have bombed all the roads and bridges, but local television crews on the ground record an exodus of refugees northwards. Now that Israel has started targeting transport trucks — in the hope of preventing the movement of weapons to Hezbollah — it is becoming increasingly difficult for even UN aid to get through.

    It is quite understandable, then, that those who can have fled or are fleeing the country. Nearly 400 people left on an Italian navy vessel on Monday night, and a ferry chartered by France took 1,200 Europeans to Cyprus. On Tuesday the first Royal Navy warship, HMS Gloucester, took 180 Britons to safety, with a further 4,750 waiting on the dock, hoping to follow by the end of the week. An American cruise ship is on its way to Lebanon to collect many of the reportedly 25,000 US citizens here, followed by planes and ships from countries as far away as Chile. Even the UN has let its non-essential staff go.

    For the rest of us, stuck here in Beirut, the real question is how long the electricity, the water and the telephone network will last. Israel has not yet resorted to its usual tactic of hitting the power grid, and the electricity remains on in most regions outside the south; however, it seems inevitable that if Hezbollah bombs Tel Aviv, Israel will retaliate with an attack on the power supply. Even without a direct hit, if Israel pursues its blockade shortages will become acute — this could return us to the Israeli siege of Beirut in 1982, when we lived for three grinding months without electricity, water, fresh food or telephones.

    The difficulties of doing without food and fuel are obvious, but what people forget is that when the electricity goes, so does the television. All the main stations have special programmes on the conflict which means extended news broadcasts with reports from around the country and interviews with analysts — dismally protracted to fill up a 24-hour schedule. It’s exhausting but the coverage can also be life-saving. It provides an early warning system for us here, allowing us to gauge where the danger zones are.

    If the TV goes, so does Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s television station which is still transmitting from a remote location (though the Israelis have demolished its headquarters in the southern suburbs). Al-Manar is all rousing propaganda, stock footage of successful raids on Israeli positions, of intimidating militiamen marching through the southern suburbs, of poor Shiites throwing rice on party members celebrating the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000 — the party’s moment of absolute triumph. Interminable interviews with guests praise ‘the brave resistance’ — a phrase which even to Shiite ears sounds increasingly hollow.

    Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon and a contributing editor to Reason magazine in the United States.
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