Text 21556, 84 rader
Skriven 2006-08-02 09:09:54 av BOB SAKOWSKI (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JEFF BINKLY
Ärende: OPINION 2
=================
Hey Captain, is this guy anti-Jewish community, too?

Morality is not on our side
By Ze'ev Maoz

There's practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is
a just war and that morality is on our side. The bitter truth must be said:
this holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an
introverted worldview, and double standards.

This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without
distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is
extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah's
side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah "started it" when it
kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin
to tilt the scales of justice toward our side.

Let's start with a few facts. We invaded a sovereign state, and occupied its
capital in 1982. In the process of this occupation, we dropped several tons of
bombs from the air, ground and sea, while wounding and killing thousands of
civilians. Approximately 14,000 civilians were killed between June and
September of 1982, according to a conservative estimate. The majority of these
civilians had nothing to do with the PLO, which provided the official pretext
for the war.

In Operations Accountability and Grapes of Wrath, we caused the mass flight
of about 500,000 refugees from southern Lebanon on each occasion. There are
no exact data on the number of casualties in these operations, but one can
recall that in Operation Grapes of Wrath, we bombed a shelter in the
village of Kafr Kana which killed 103 civilians. The bombing may have been
accidental, but that did not make the operation any more moral.

On July 28, 1989, we kidnapped Sheikh Obeid, and on May 12, 1994, we
kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, who had captured Ron Arad. Israel held these two
people and another 20-odd Lebanese detainees without trial, as "negotiating
chips." That which is permissible to us is, of course, forbidden to
Hezbollah.

Hezbollah crossed a border that is recognized by the international
community. That is true. What we are forgetting is that ever since our
withdrawal from Lebanon, the Israel Air Force has conducted
photo-surveillance sorties on a daily basis in Lebanese airspace. While
these flights caused no casualties, border violations are border
violations. Here too, morality is not on our side.

So much for the history of morality. Now, let's consider current affairs.
What exactly is the difference between launching Katyushas into civilian
population centers in Israel and the Israel Air Force bombing population
centers in south Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and Tripoli? The IDF has fired
thousands of shells into south Lebanon villages, alleging that Hezbollah
men are concealed among the civilian population. Approximately 25 Israeli
civilians have been killed as a result of Katyusha missiles to date. The
number of dead in Lebanon, the vast majority comprised of civilians who
have nothing to do with Hezbollah, is more than 300.

Worse yet, bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges
and other civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population
into a victim and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians.
The use of bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal - namely, coercing the
Lebanese government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - is
an attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF
soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner exchange.

There is a propaganda aspect to this war, and it involves a competition as
to who is more miserable. Each side tries to persuade the world that it is
more miserable. As in every propaganda campaign, the use of information is
selective, distorted and self-righteous. If we want to base our information
(or shall we call it propaganda?) policy on the assumption that the
international environment is going to buy the dubious merchandise that we
are selling, be it out of ignorance or hypocrisy, then fine. But in terms
of our own national soul searching, we owe ourselves to confront the bitter
truth - maybe we will win this conflict on the military field, maybe we
will make some diplomatic gains, but on the moral plane, we have no
advantage, and we have no special status.

The writer is a professor of political science at Tel Aviv university.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742257.html

Careful Captain, you are about to take the mantle of The Biggest Fool in
FIDOnet away from The Pathetriot.

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