War in The Middle East

[Davo88]

Re: War in The Middle East

The internet is now known as being the best way to spread propanganda. Israel recognized that. Yes, one of the fronts of this war is right in front of us.

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

IDF Pulls back under fire from Hizbollah and are trying to find a way out of this crisis

First reported by Hizbollah sources

Israeli elite troops forced out of Bint Jbeil and Resistance pound northern occupied Palestine with rockets. The Islamic Resistance retaliated to Israeli aggression targeting Lebanese civilians and homes. Resistance fighters fired a barrage of rockets at the settlements of Safad, Naharya, Tiberias, Maalot, Capri, Shlomi, Ye'ra, Keryat Shmona, and Akko, were according to Israeli media, extensive damage was caused. In Tiberias, rockets targeted the Delton intelligence base and the Branit base. Israeli media sources said that more than 90 Katyusha rockets fell on northern area today. Meanwhile sirens were heard in Haifa, Rosh Pina, Carmiel, Abu Snan, Beit Je`an, Western Galilee, and residents were ordered into shelters. http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/N...px?language=en

And now, they admit it on Fox New Network.

TYRE, Lebanon — Israeli troops pulled back from a Lebanese border town Saturday after a weeklong battle with Hezbollah, the bloodiest ground fighting of the 18-day Israeli offensive, as Hezbollah's leader vollied new threats at Israel on a TV broadcast. Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes blasted bridges and demolished houses, killing seven people, including a woman and her five children. The battle for Bint Jbail has symbolized Israel's difficulty in pushing guerrillas back from the border, whether by air bombardment or ground assault. Hezbollah on Friday escalated its cross-border attacks, firing longer-range missiles deeper into Israel than ever before. Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah threatened more rocket attacks on cities in central Israel and dismissed a new diplomatic effort by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying the United States wants the fighting to continue.

And Nasrallah says:

Sayyed Nasrallah: The victory of the resistance will be the victory of every honest Arab, Muslim and Christian

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stressed in a televised speech on the airwaves of Al-Manar TV channel, the fundamental element for ending the confrontation is the developments on the battle ground. In his forth televised appearance since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the Israeli enemy is trying to find exits out if this crisis as he failed to materialize any military achievement.

His eminence added that Israeli maritime and ground forces have been defeated and thousands of air raids did not prevent the Islamic Resistance from launching rockets against Israeli settlements in northern occupied Palestine. Sayyed Nasrallah underlined the Israeli enemy is hiding its losses while imposing a firm media blackout adding that their surveys are all fabricated within the framework of Israel's psychological war.

Hezbollah's chief also said that bombing "Afula" is the beginning of a new phase and that there are many cities that have been chosen as targets. "The courage of the resistance fighters will defeat the arrogance of the Zionist entity," he added. Sayyed Nasrallah also said that Israel is an obedient tool to serve the American plot. His eminence said: "we all know that despite all this destruction, we are in front of an historic opportunity to liberate our land, sea, sky and detainees." On the internal level, Hezbollah's chief stressed Lebanon needs a national determination not less than the determination of the resistance fighters and the Lebanese people who left their homes and towns.

"Lebanon needs a comprehensive national determination," he said. His eminence warned that the enemy wants to achieve through politics what he failed to achieve militarily. Sayyed Nasrallah added: "We emphasize on the cooperation of the government and some political parties in accordance with what the Lebanese people want." He also said that the victory of the Islamic Resistance will be the victory of Lebanon as a whole and will be the drive to materialize national unity adding that the victory will also be the victory of every honest Arab, Muslim and Christian.

Sayyed Nasrallah called for downplaying some positions and "fatwas – religious decrees" so as not to be dragged into serving the enemy. Hezbollah's Secretary General also addressed Arab leaders telling them: "we don’t want you to defend us or to fight for us, all we want from you is not to cover for the Israeli aggression" adding: "we are not seeking enmities." His eminence praised Syria and Iran for not encouraging anyone against Lebanon and its people. Sayyed Nasrallah thanked Syria for receiving and taking care of thousands of Lebanese who sought refuge in the neighboring country. The Islamic Resistance leader did not forget the steadfast people in his speech: "We have promised you of victory, you will return home with honor and pride as you have always been."

And to resistance fighters, Sayyed NAsrallah said: "As you said, you are the sincere promise, you are the freedom of the detainees and you are the protectors of the country. You are the honor, the real history of this nation, you are this nation's manhood and the eternity of the cedars. You are the glory, like the high mountains of Lebanon, you are the hope after Allah and we bargain on you. You are the men of Allah, no matter how long this war takes, we are the men of this war, no matter what the sacrifices are."

[Sip]

Re: War in The Middle East

Advice. This is how you figue out what is truly happening on the ground in Lebanon: You read pro-Hizbollah news media and then you read western/Zionist news media - more often than not, the truth is some where in between.

I couldn't agree more!

[Anonymouse]

Re: War in The Middle East

Now get back on topic please.

Correct, the topic being the War in the Middle East and not Armenian politics/history which we have a separate section for and might I add, highly underused and underrated.

[sheila19624]

Amazon touts anti-Israeli views,

On July 4, Amazon spammed its customers with advertisement of Norman Finkelstein's virulently anti-Semitic book, Image and Reality of the Israeli-Palestine Conflict. On May 30, Amazon similarly advertised Beyond Chutzpah: on the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History. I have never received any other ad from Amazon.

On April 4, in an unprecedented move, Amazon deleted all reviews of Obadiah Shoher's Samson Blinded: A Machiavellian Perspective on the Middle East Conflict. A few days later, Amazon forced its subsidiary Booksurge to terminate publishing contract with Shoher whose book is now available for download from www.samsonblinded.info . Google earlier banned advertising of the Samson Blinded for "unacceptable content." Shoher, indeed, is pro-Israeli, yet realistic and critical of Israeli policies.

Obadiah Shoher, an anonymous politician, abandons myths and moralizing in favor of realpolitik. He argues for raw efficiency of antiterrorist operations and shedding liberal idealism. Shoher asks inconvenient questions and gives honest answers. Amazon does not like that. Anti-Semitic lampoons by Norman Finkelstein are more to Amazon's taste.

[Armenian]

Re: Amazon touts anti-Israeli views,

Israel's Government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda. The Foreign Ministry has ordered trainee diplomats to track websites and chatrooms so that networks of US and European groups with hundreds of thousands of xxxish activists can place supportive messages.

In the past week nearly 5,000 members of the World Union of xxxish Students (WUJS) have downloaded special “megaphone� software that alerts them to anti-Israeli chatrooms or internet polls to enable them to post contrary viewpoints. A student team in Jerusalem combs the web in a host of different languages to flag the sites so that those who have signed up can influence an opinion survey or the course of a debate.

I'm begining to like Amazon more.

[skhara]

Re: War in The Middle East

Armenian,

Why were the Maronites allied with Israel?

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

Armenian, Why were the Maronites allied with Israel?

Basically, to save their butts. When the Lebanese civil war broke out Israel took the opporunity to make a pact with the Moronites. They allowed themselves to be manipulated by western powers with hopes of ruling Lebanon. These Maronites can't be trusted one bit, they are a shallow self absorbed people. We Armenians had more problems with them than we had with the Muslim Lebanese.

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

Lebanon to Israel: Return Shebaa Farms

by Cilina Nasser in Beirut
Saturday 29 July 2006 6:08 PM GMT

Siniora: Re-taking the Shebaa Farms would be a victory for all Lebanese

Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said that if Israel wants secure borders it must withdraw from the disputed Shebaa Farms area that it has occupied since 1967. Israel, which has bombarded Beirut's suburbs and southern Lebanon with aircraft and artillery since July 12, says it wants to weaken Hezbollah so that the Lebanese government can disarm the group.

In an interview with Aljazeera.net late on Friday, Siniora said his government cannot force Hezbollah to disarm as long as Israel continues to occupy the Shebaa Farms. “I’d like to remind you that the Shebaa Farms is not a property of Hezbollah. It’s a property of Lebanon and it’s for all the Lebanese,” he said.

“So anyone who would say that giving this land back to Lebanon would be considered a victory for Hezbollah is mistaken. This issue has to be looked at in totality. Lebanon gets back its land and, ultimately, Israel gets a safe border.” Israel withdrew from the country in May 2000 but it maintained control over the Shebaa Farms that is claimed by Lebanon. The UN says that the Shebaa Farms are Syrian territory captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Ceasefire plan

Siniora also cited Lebanon’s casualty figures as indication of who was paying the price for the recent conflict. “Do you think that Israel has been bombing Hezbollah fighters? No, this is a war against Lebanese civilians.” The Shebaa Farms is the name given to a 10 km sq area of farmland at the point where the Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli borders meet.

The Shebaa Farms were first occupied by Israel in the wake of the 1967 War, also known as the Six Day War. On Saturday, the United Nations said at least 600 Lebanese have been killed and over 3220 injured so far while nearly 800,000 have been displaced. “Israel cannot win this war. Yes, it can kill; but it cannot win the war,” Siniora said.

His comments came a day after two Hezbollah ministers agreed to his seven-point package delivered Wednesday at an international conference in Rome. The package calls for an immediate ceasefire to be followed by the release of Lebanese and Israeli prisoners; Israeli withdrawal behind the border; the return of Lebanese displaced by the fighting.

The two cabinet ministers representing Hezbollah voiced their reservations over some parts of the plan, such as the call for spreading Lebanese government authority over the entire country and strengthening an international force in south Lebanon. But Siniora told Aljazeera.net that Lebanon can no longer afford to be heavily bombarded by the Israelis every few years. That’s why, he insisted, the country should get to a situation where the Lebanese authorities are the only body that could hold weapons.

Disarming Hezbollah

So far, the Council for Development and Reconstruction has estimated Lebanon’s losses due to the destruction of infrastructure in this war alone to be over US$2 billion. However, the prime minister said that confining arms to the Lebanese army would have to be done only after Israel pulls out from the Shebaa Farms.

“Hezbollah has expressed many times that it has the following objectives: liberating Lebanese occupied land, getting maps of all landmines planted in southern Lebanon during the Israeli occupation, and securing the release of our detainees who are held in Israeli jails," he said.

He further said that those who want Hezbollah to disarm should work on removing the causes that are enabling the Shia group to keep its weapons rather than exerting pressure on it. “There are reasons why Hezbollah’s military wing exists. If we take them away, there will be no reason for it to continue.”

Establishing security

Siniora then placed the ball in the Israeli court: “If Israel does not want to withdraw from Shebaa, it means it does not want to establish stability in the region. Who is really causing the violence here? It’s the warring party insisting on aggression by keeping other people’s lands.” Siniora warned that the continuation of the Israeli wide-scale attack on Lebanon would only lead to more deaths and destruction, and thus, more hatred.

The premier refrained from criticising US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for failing to call for an immediate truce following their meeting Friday to discuss the Middle East crisis. Asked if they have let him down, he said: “I don’t like to use the word ‘disappointment.”

You can find this article at:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B99073EF-D5EA-4F81-BCFC-6755FF28BF92.htm

[TomServo]

Re: War in The Middle East

Basically, to save their butts. When the Lebanese civil war broke out Israel took the opporunity to make a pact with the Moronites. They allowed themselves to be manipulated by western powers with hopes of ruling Lebanon. These Maronites can't be trusted one bit, they are a shallow self absorbed people. We Armenians had more problems with them than we had with the Muslim Lebanese.

So true.

I remember when my Armenian-Lebanese relatives came to visit, my father asked my cousins' father (who is a Lebanese Maronite) how things were going in Lebanon. The Maronite father replied, "It's going well. It would be even better if your kind got the hell out." By this he meant the Syrians. (Lebanon was still under Syrian occupation at the time.) Just because my father is from Aleppo he said that. What an arse. And they also hate Palestinians very much. Anyway, after that debacle I'm not surprised to hear that the Maronites have gotten into bed with the Hryas...