Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Chutzpah

Beirut and Haifa are about the same distance apart as Providence, RI and Lowell, MA

I haven't decided if I am brave enough to stare unflinchingly into the chicken gizzards of the current conflab in the Levant in order to try to offer up my humble thoughts here on what and who is driving the crisis. I did however want to take a second to record my incredulity at hearing an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman on the BBC this morning insist that Israel was engaging Hezbollah and attacking targets throughout Lebanon in support of UN Resolution 1559. "This is not Israeli policy" he noted "This is UN policy."

I wonder then with Tel Aviv's new-found respect for international law will Israel finally respect UN Resolution 242? Or even any of these?

Maybe the spokesman who was describing Israel as a faithful servant of international order this morning was also the one who described Hezbollah's firing of rockets into Haifa as a "dangerous escalation"; this after Israel had responded to the attack on one of its border patrols and kidnapping of two of its soldiers by launching a sustained and violent air assault on Beirut and blockading Lebanon from the sea? Lest we forget, that of course wasn't a "dangerous escalation" but rather "self defence". And now it seems it was a precursor for Israel's generous, unilateral, enforcement of UN Resolution 1559.

Meanwhile throughout the region people continue to be shredded by shrapnel, or see their worlds collapse, or risk death just buying a loaf of bread. I'd wish a a plague on all their houses but unfortunately it looks like they beat me to it themselves.

3 comments:

T. Oklahoma Bandwagon said...

Cosmic ... I was just chatting with a coworker, and found myself reflexively nodded my head as she said, "I hate reading the news right now ..." I have no idea what to think of the middle east?

What have you gone, George Mitchell, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo woo woo. What's that you say, Ytzak Rabin, joltin' George has left to clean up baseball ... hey hey hey.

Listmaker said...

I agree with absolutely everything you just said. I know a guy from Lebanon and a guy from Israel and the last time we spoke we spent approximately half the conversation mocking each other.

Wisdom Weasel said...

George Mitchell is half-Lebanese, but he's also from Waterville which is enough to crush any Mediterranean joie de vive out of anyone.

Apparently, GM and his Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee are still plugging away on the whole conundrum. I still think he has a better chance of Barry Bonds standing at the plate with a syringe absentmindedly sticking out of his butt than of solving the Israeli-Palestinian impasse, but there you go.

Listmaker; that's just Hezbollocks.

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