UN appalled by Beirut devastation

[Karmadillo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5207478.stm

<edit>

Mr Egeland arrived in southern Beirut on Sunday just hours after Israeli strikes on the Hezbollah stronghold.

A visibly moved Mr Egeland expressed shock that "block after block" of buildings had been levelled.

He said the "disproportionate response" by Israel was a "violation of international humanitarian law".

He appealed for both sides to halt attacks and said UN supplies of humanitarian aid would begin to arrive in the next few days.

"But we need safe access," he said. "So far Israel is not giving us access."

more...

[theHandpuppet]

1. Didn't take him long to get the message, did it.

You can bet there won't be any more criticism coming out of the UK. What a shame.

(Excerpt)

"In other developments:

"UK Foreign Minister Kim Howells is due to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. A day after accusing Israel of targeting "the entire Lebanese nation", he said the British government understood Israel's need to defend itself and criticised Hezbollah for hiding weapons in civilian areas."

[mom cat]

2. Please read the whole article! This is a war crime!

[Ms. Clio]

3. he saw something like this

[Laughing Mirror]

5. and then he got a little closer ...

[malaise]

4. Just heard a professor from the

American University in Lebanon - he says what Israel has done is an abomination to humanity.
Edit - caps

[Scurrilous]

6. Ground Zero, Lebanon. n/t

[Spazito]

7. There is NO justification for this, NONE

Every country that has not stood up in opposition to this is every bit as responsible as those who have actually perpetrated this atrocity and I hear only silence and the mewing cry for a cease-fire while DOING nothing to bring it about, NOTHING.

[Obamarama]

8. Oh great...now we finally get to hear from the peanut gallery.

The UN did NOTHING for YEARS to root Hezbollah out of Southern Lebanon while they were sending rockets into Northern Israel. NOW they're appalled? Give me a break.

[Laughing Mirror]

9. Well it is appalling

[Obamarama]

11. I agree with you...it IS appalling.

What should be equally appalling to you is that Hezbollah has been allowed to flourish in Southern Lebanon. Whose fault is that? Certainly not Israel's. Israel has been forced by Hezbollah to do what the rest of the Western world could have and should have done through much more peaceful means. Believe me, this is not a first-line choice for Israel. It's the last option available.

[Chulanowa]

12. My favorite thing about fairy tales is now black and white they are

The perfectly good and just prince hops onto his sparkling white and fleet horse to rush off from his sunny and fertile kingdom into the dark and parched wasteland of the unquestionably evil and greedy dragon who is holding the totally pure and beutiful princess honstage, for no reason other than he's an unquestionably evil dragon who wants to hurt the pure maiden.

You're telling a similar story, wherin a totally evil Hezbollah sprang up overnight, as if by magic, to rain death upon the perfectly good people of Israel.

Hezbollah did not spring from miscast magic beans, KzooDem. They are, I would say, a perfectly natural response to a foreign occupation. Every time one nation occupies another, these sort of groups spring up. Pretending that they came out of nowhere and have no right to their own anger is foolish. Hezbollah's existance is the direct result of Israeli militay action against Lebanon. They have as much right to be pissed at Israel as Israel has to be pissed at them.

But never you worry about the UN. You're correct that they demanded the dismantling of hezbollah. It didn't happen. Now they're demanding that Israel stop its sledgehammer strikes against a swarm of mosquitos - this will also not happen.

One thing I can agree with the Righties about is that the UN is all mouth and no teeth.

[Obamarama]

15. If you're going to give me a history lesson, at least TRY to get it right.

I am perfectly aware of Hezbollah's history. It sprang forth in the mid-to-late 1970s thanks to a certain Iranian Ayatollah Khomeni. The centerpiece of their doctrine was - and still is - to destroy Israel.

For years, my relatives have had rockets rained down upon them in their northern Israel border town of Kiryat Shmona. In the past several months alone, about 500+ rocket incursions from Hezbollah strongholds have been logged.

You're exactly right...Hezbollah did not spring up over night from magic beans. Rather they are a nefarious weed that has been allowed to run rampant in the garden for far too long. Israel has simply had enough and they will have no compunctions about pulling them up by their roots.

If Hezbollah put down their weapons today, there would be peace tomorrow. If Israel put down their weapons, there would be no Israel tomorrow.

[Chulanowa]

16. I'm also aware of Hezbollah's origins

And they lie in Israel's occupation of Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.

Does Hezbollah want to destroy Israel? Yep. Does Israel want to destroy Lebanon? Apparently so. Is either side the good guy? No. Don't give me the "if they just threw down their weapons!" stuff. I'm certain you know better, even if it does feel good to say.

I'm sorry for the plight of your relatives. Nobody deserves to live under the constant threat of violence. I'm also sorry for the over 400 Lebanese who's lives have been ended through violence. Call your family, tell them how thankful they are that they're alive. hundreds of families to the north of them will never again have the chance to do the same.

[Minstrel Boy]

10. Hezbollah's rockets vs Israel's rockets

Nevermind who started it and who's reacting to what, it hasn't been much of a contest:


In June, 1993, Hezbollah launched rockets against a settlement in northern Israel, and then in July, 1993, both Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) launched attacks which killed five Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon. Israel decided to respond to these attacks by making southern Lebanon an inhospitable environment for Hezbollah.

During Operation Accountability, Israeli forces destroyed or damaged thousands of houses and buildings, causing some 300,000 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians from southern Lebanon to migrate towards Beirut and other areas outside of the combat zone. Israeli forces also targeted Lebanese infrastructure, (power stations, bridges, and roadways. This is a tactic that would be repeated in future Israeli attacks on Hezbollah and Lebanon. Hezbollah responded with more rocket attacks on Israeli civilian targets.

At least 118 Lebanese civilians and two Israeli civilians died during this operation.

1996--Operation Grapes of Wrath (April 11-April 27, 1996) --Israel's massive air and artillery attack on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon which attempted to end shelling of northern Israel by the Iranian and Syrian-backed Lebanese Islamic militia. Israel forces launched 1,100 air raids and fired nearly 25,132 shells at Hezbollah targets during the sixteen-day offensive. A United Nations camp at Qana, Lebanon, was hit by Israeli shelling, killing 118 Lebanese civilians who sought shelter there. Nearly 640 Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel in this time period, particularly the often-hit settlement of Kiryat Shemona. Israel's ally and proxy force, the South Lebanon Army (a mixed Christian and Shiite Muslim militia under the command of renegade Lebanese Major Saad Haddad), also engaged in ground fighting with Hezbollah.

At least 350 civilians were wounded in Lebanon, and 62 Israeli civilians were wounded in Israel.

http://www.historyguy.com/israel-lebanon_conflict.html

[mogster]

13. The UN does not exceed its mandate

Which is more than often the role of the advisor, or the role of the critic. It is a multinational body which need consensus to put force behind the words, a fact taken advantage of by the various parties in the ME conflict.

[PCIntern]

14. Are they now...???

God Bless the terrorists for standing up to the infidels...

Buses blown up in Tel Aviv, Shelling of civilians for decades, Passover Seders blown up, schoolchildren killed, Klinghoffer thrown overboard on the Achille Lauro, Jeebus, I could go on and on...never a word of disdain from your blessed UN. Recall that many years ago, the UN created a two state solution...Israel and Trans-Jordan. Ooops, whatever happened to Trans-Jordan...I clean forgot myself. Anyway, how many democracies in the UN now versus Monarchies or dictatorships? What was the ratio in 1948 upon the original partition? whoops, a little different now...especially since most of these countries are wholly dependent upon Arab oil.

Wow...you know, I watched all this same crap in 1967, Abba Eban verbally dismantling the UAR and Syrian diplomats. Didnt' matter..all Israel's fault that they were invaded and how dare they win the war in 6 days and embarass those poor underfunded Arabs? Terrible...

so they decided to fight a revolution with the help of all those around the world who love an underdog.