Reuters: Israel rejects plea for pause in fighting

[mogster]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Saturday rejected U.N. calls for a 72-hour pause in fighting to enable relief workers to evacuate elderly, young and wounded people from south Lebanon and to bring in emergency aid.

"There is no need for a 72-hour temporary cease-fire because Israel has opened a humanitarian corridor to-and-from Lebanon," said Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner.

U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland asked on Friday for the 72-hour cessation of hostilities to facilitate aid efforts.

Reuters

[mogster]

1. More, from Ha'aretz

Egeland said that, for now, he would ask the Israelis and Lebanese "for at least a 72-hour start of the cessation of hostilities, so that we can evacuate wounded, evacuate children, evacuate the elderly and the disabled from the crossfire in southern Lebanon."

He said that humanitarian workers were "stepping up" their work and, awaiting security guarantees and safe routes for convoys, will be able to provide 10,000 to 20,000 tons of food in Lebanon in the next month.

"But is only the cessation of hostilities that will end the suffering of the civilian populations," Egeland said.
(...)
Dan Gillerman also said Israel would not allow the United Nations to join in an investigation of an Israeli air strike that demolished a post belonging to the current UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Four UN observers were killed in the Tuesday strike.
"Israel has never agreed to a joint investigation, and I don't think that if anything happened in this country, or in Britain or in Italy or in France, the government of that country would agree to a joint investigation," Gillerman said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/743541.html

[Magical]

2. WTF ?

This is really more than I can stomach.

What is this? A freaking extermination.

There are wounded civilians and trapped civilians just waiting to die under Israeli bombs.
The international community is PLEADING for their freaking lives.
Who knows how many are trapped with no food, water, electricity, medical help.

All I can say is God Help Us All...
The repercussions of this are going to be far and wide.

[MGD]

3. Is anyone really surprised by this?

Israel is on a mission of attrition to avoid repetition and it's going to take a hell of a lot more than a Bush/Blair press conference to make them stop.

[ixion]

4. Israel, with blood and entrails clinging to its teeth, refuses to stop

the carnage.

IMO, collectively speaking, Israel is paranoid psychotic killing spree and should be stopped. Humanitarin corridor my ass. The logic of that is astounding.

[psychopomp]

5. "They want to replace life with graves

and business places
want to destroy life oasis
destroying the earth wherein life must I live..."

Today's US-UK-Israel: the real "axis of evil"

[samhsarah]

7. "Today's US-UK-Israel: the real 'axis of evil'."

Judging from the illegal wars, illegal occupations, absolutely criminal and murderous human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation, state-sponsored terror, and on and on and on perpetrated by and supported by these three governments, I'm sure many around the world would say that this has been the case for quite some time now. This is just one of those situations that makes it absolutely crystal clear.

[mom cat]

6. Has anyone heard an update on the UN peace proposal.

Lebanon accepted it. What about Israel.

[stepnw1f]

8. Fucking Sick

Well... my image of the Israeli government is shit. They are no better than the Neo-cons here. Same go for their apologists.

[MrPrax]

10. I hope most people...

especially democrats start to see the fact that Israel has been run by a very rightwing militarist gov't that no more listens to Israel's peaceniks (or the international community) than Bush's scumbag administration listens to 'peaceniks' (or the international community).

But the supporters don't see it. They are presumeably against Neo-Cons here, but not in Israel. How is that possible unless they aren't really against Neo-Cons?

[stepnw1f]

14. Most People I Talk To, Blame the Govt.

In fact they usually say, "Well... look at us." We here have a runaway neo-con govt waging war on the world.

I tell every person that it's not the Israelis... it's their govt. I don't wanna see anti-semites taking advantage of this situation and further dividing us. Unwittingly, the Pro-Israeli Duers are doing just that. Maybe they really are Neo-cons themselves...hmmmmm. Makes me wonder...

[MrPrax]

16. Exactly...

That becomes as unacceptable as collective punishment: indicitng an entire nation of people because of the actions of demonstrably evil people.

Here in Canada, a few people will simply right off the whole US simply because of policies, national character, actions of essentially a few in a nation of 300 million. Americans are fine people and are just as much a victim of their insane killer posses as anyone else.

If you do that, then you don't have a consistent morality and you do end up sliding down that road towards hatred and as such become either useless or an embarassment to Progressives.

[leesa]

9. Bastards! Right. Lure them onto the corridor and then bomb them.

[hadrons]

11. Israel has opened a humanitarian corridor to-and-from Lebanon

not IN Lebanon, but to and from

[uppityperson]

12. at what point does it stop "defening themselves" and become genocide?

at what point? http://www.genocidewatch.org/8stages2006.htm
http://www.genocidewatch.org/

Those Rwandan Hutus were just defending themselves against decades of Tutsi oppresion and Murder, right?

[High Plains]

13. CNN now reporting the main border crossing to Syria is closed

Due to Israeli air strikes nearby.

Hope you're enjoying your Katyusha rain showers, Israel.

edited in attempt to spell the rocket's name correctly.

[bemildred]

15. "The giant beast, unable to see its enemy, flailed wildly about,

bellowing in rage ..."

Seriously, I think they are worried they will run out of time with the situation as it is, and I think that that idea drives them bonkers. Does it make any sense to worry about Hizbullah's logistics when you only have days anyway? Will putting a divot in the road really close the border? This border bombing is just incoherent flailing about. Hmmm.

Anyway, what is going to happen is that the IDF is going to try to bomb the living shit out of S. Lebanon and then send in a massive ground force, and in a hurry, I would say. There are forces working against that scenario too, and it's hard to say how long they will decide to bomb first, there is a definite element of "making things up as we go along" to the "war strategy" so far.