The Lebanon War, a Post-Mortem
just read this article in Counterpunch published yesterday, here's a little summary for you
Alan Hart
"I can see two--One State of Palestine for All and real, lasting peace, or Catastrophe for All... and by "All" I don't just mean Israeli Jews and the Arabs of the region; I mean all of us, everywhere.
...I want to quote to you now from one of my Panorama interviews with Golda Meir. At a point I interrupted her to say: "Prime Minister I want to be sure I understand what you're saying... You are saying that if ever Israel was in danger of being defeated on the battlefield, it would be prepared to take the region and the whole world down with it?" Without the shortest of pauses for reflection, Golda replied: "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."
...The idea of Israel as a fully functioning democracy is a seriously flawed one. It's true that Israeli Jews are free to speak their minds (in a way that most Jews of the world are frightened to do), and to that extent it can be said that Israel has the appearance of a vibrant democracy... But in reality, and especially since the countdown to the 1967 war, it's Israel's generals who call most of the policy shots, even when one of them is not prime minister.
In June 1967 Israel's prime minister of the time, the much maligned Levi Eshkol, did not want to take his country to war. The war was imposed upon him by the generals, led by Dayan. What really happened in Israel in the final countdown to that war was something very close to a military coup in all but name.
...And that's where we are today--the generals effectively calling the shots in Israel, to the applause of the neo-cons. Why, really, did Israel's generals want to make war on Lebanon? I think there were two main reasons. The first was that Israel's generals believed they should and could restore the "deterrent power" of the IDF. The second main reason for the insistence of Israel's generals on 12 July this year that war was the only option...? I think it's also more than reasonable to presume that they saw the opportunity to ethnically cleanse Lebanon up to the Litani River, with a view, eventually, to occupying and then annexing the ethnically cleansed territory. For Zionism this would be the fulfillment of the vision of modern Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion - a Zionist state within "natural" borders, those borders being the Jordan River in the East and the Litani River of Lebanon in the north.
...And in summary of all that I've said this evening, what I really think comes down to this: The equation is a very simple one: No justice for the Palestinians = no peace for any of us"
...I want to quote to you now from one of my Panorama interviews with Golda Meir. At a point I interrupted her to say: "Prime Minister I want to be sure I understand what you're saying... You are saying that if ever Israel was in danger of being defeated on the battlefield, it would be prepared to take the region and the whole world down with it?" Without the shortest of pauses for reflection, Golda replied: "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."
...The idea of Israel as a fully functioning democracy is a seriously flawed one. It's true that Israeli Jews are free to speak their minds (in a way that most Jews of the world are frightened to do), and to that extent it can be said that Israel has the appearance of a vibrant democracy... But in reality, and especially since the countdown to the 1967 war, it's Israel's generals who call most of the policy shots, even when one of them is not prime minister.
In June 1967 Israel's prime minister of the time, the much maligned Levi Eshkol, did not want to take his country to war. The war was imposed upon him by the generals, led by Dayan. What really happened in Israel in the final countdown to that war was something very close to a military coup in all but name.
...And that's where we are today--the generals effectively calling the shots in Israel, to the applause of the neo-cons. Why, really, did Israel's generals want to make war on Lebanon? I think there were two main reasons. The first was that Israel's generals believed they should and could restore the "deterrent power" of the IDF. The second main reason for the insistence of Israel's generals on 12 July this year that war was the only option...? I think it's also more than reasonable to presume that they saw the opportunity to ethnically cleanse Lebanon up to the Litani River, with a view, eventually, to occupying and then annexing the ethnically cleansed territory. For Zionism this would be the fulfillment of the vision of modern Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion - a Zionist state within "natural" borders, those borders being the Jordan River in the East and the Litani River of Lebanon in the north.
...And in summary of all that I've said this evening, what I really think comes down to this: The equation is a very simple one: No justice for the Palestinians = no peace for any of us"
read the rest here
posted by Laila K at
16:19
16 Comments:
actually from the nile to the furat
wainik
bekhod maw3ad? :)
The Meir response is shocking but expected!
Keep up the good blog work...
mr n thanks, we try!
Peace for the Palestinians as a solution to the troubles in the Middle East is a mirage! The problem in the Middle East is the Arabs hate Israel, and want Israel to be eliminated, or wiped off the face of the earth. The also seem to love this world-wide jihad business, too, which is a hate of everything else. The problem, then, is not the Palestinians. The problem is the Arab hate of the world.
Iran should be paying a lot more than the $200 million for destroyed homes. This sum of money is a joke compared to the real costs of the war which amount to $10000 millions. At least if they wanna buy loyalties, buy em up properly with petro-dollars gained when the war artificially increased the price of crude oil.
I thought the Lebanese (besides from Hezbollah ) were against a One state Solution for Lebanon to be absorbed in Greater-Syria
That article is totally rubbish.
The Golda Meir quote is of decades ago and certainly can't speak for how Israel feels today.
Many Israelis demonstrated against this war. Openly on the streets.
Israel is a democracy. The army was ready, but the government held it back. The army can't do anything if the government not give the green light. Not like in Lebanon were Hezbollah tells the government what to do.
'allo 'allo!
mr. n., ya ahla, keef ye3ni shocking but expected :)
ac, most arabs hate zionists and not israel. please correct your info. and why do they, maybe you can enlighten me?
debate, not great debateing skills
anon(s), what..did you guys get spanked for not harassing us enough and now they uinleashed you backto work? sorry, i'm having a great weekend and cant waste a breath on you.
rouba: :)
Rubbish, indeed!
Let's take another paragraph from that article,
As Israel's bombardment of Lebanon unfolded, a great deal of nonsense was written and spoken by pundits and policy makers throughout the mainly Gentile Judeo-Christian world about why it was happening.* The main thrust of the nonsense was that Hizbullah started the war and that Israel was merely defending itself. I think the truth about Hizbullah's role in triggering the war can be summarised as follows - bearing in mind that the border incident of 12 July was one of many since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, and which more often than not, according to UN monitors, were provoked by Israeli actions and/or Israeli violations of agreements. By engaging an IDF border patrol, killing three Israeli soldiers and taking two hostages, and firing a few rockets to create a diversion for that operation, Hizbullah gave Israel's generals - and those politicians who rubber-stamp their demands - the pretext they wanted and needed to go to war - a war they had planned for months. - [FPF: for three years.*]
There are so many logical inconsistencies it is hard to know where to start. How about this: When Hezbollah responds to Israeli provocations, well, that's ok. When Israel responds to Hezbollah provocations, well, that is just plain provocative.
Even Hart admits that not all of Hezbollahs provocations are in response to Israel.
"which more often than not, according to UN monitors, were provoked by Israeli actions"
There just plain provocative.
That "not" will get youi every time.
I'm shocked by Golda's response .. I had never heard that! Well - in essence I think the guy is right, he's logic ... nobody needs Zionism - but EVERYBODY needs peace!
ac blue eagle ... I think you should re-read the article!
thanks for posting this. i don't read their comments anymore, it's like an istwene maksoura.
how are we doing today?
i'm very depressed still.
i quoted you here:
http://mirvat.blogspot.com/2006/08/lebanese-whispers.html
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
i dont agree with your opinions.. but i really admire your nature.. you are very elegant
lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
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