i sent my kids to a war zone
The middle east has been involved in a family fued for well over 2000 years.
Why would you send your kids, take your kids, involve your kids with:
Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan or Israel.
Okay, I'll admit, I (still) desperately want to go to Israel. Not enough to risk having my person blown to next week, though.
Yesterday I was watching CNN (oh! The *only* other reason I'd go to the Middle East is if I got to help/assist/marry Anderson Cooper) and they were reading emails from "the public." One lady writes in that her daughter wrote, "Mommy, I don't want to die here.." and I thought- "YOU WENT INTO A WAR ZONE."
16 months of cease-fire does NOT a peaceful region make.
Now - just for the sake of my own mind - here's what I am understanding:
2005: Gaza Strip is emptied of all Israelis.
2005: (some) Gaza Strip residents starting digging tunnels into Israel. ? ? ?
Why? Oh, because we are going to harass Israel.
Now- if you are Israel and you feel that you were unjustly kicked out of your home; but you WENT for the better good - are you going to allow those that took your homes to start provoking you? (no.)
THEN! They kidnap a soldier. Not even a soldier who was spying or using aggresive measures against them - he was coming OFF DUTY.
Here is was the Prime Minister said:
"Israel did not seek these confrontations. On the contrary. We have done a lot to prevent them. We returned to the borders of the State of Israel, recognized by the entire international community.
There were those who misconstrued our desire for peace – for us and our neighbors – as a sign of frailty. Our enemies misinterpreted our willingness to exercise restraint as a sign of weakness.
The State of Israel has no territorial conflict, neither on our southern border nor on our northern one. We yearn for the day when peace will prevail between us, for the mutual benefit of our peoples from both sides of our common border.
And in Lebanon, we will insist on compliance with the terms stipulated long ago by the international community, as unequivocally expressed only yesterday in the resolution of the 8 leading countries of the world:
- The return of the hostages, Ehud (Udi) Goldwasser and Eldad Regev;
- A complete cease fire;
- Deployment of the Lebanese army in all of Southern Lebanon;
- Expulsion of Hizballah from the area, and fulfillment of United Nations Resolution 1559.
We will not suspend our actions. On both fronts we are exercising self-defense in the most basic and essential sense. In both cases, it is a matter whose importance and significance go far beyond the size of the military units involved.
We are at a national moment of truth. Will we consent to living under the threat of this Axis of Evil or will we mobilize our inner strength and show determination and equanimity?
Our answer is clear to every Israeli, and it echoes today throughout the entire region. There are moments in the life of a nation, when it is compelled to look directly into the face of reality and say: no more!
And I say to everyone: no more! Israel will not be held hostage – not by terror gangs or by a terrorist authority or by any sovereign state.
In the life of a nation there are moments of transcendence, of purification, when political and sectarian disputes which separate us are replaced by a sense of mutual responsibility. I highly value and appreciate the way the Opposition has been conducting itself in the Knesset these days.
The human competition and personal rivalries are dissolved and instead our feeling of mutual responsibility arises, our sense of partnership, and primarily, our eternal love for our people and our land. This is such a moment!
All of us – Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Circassians – now stand as one person, as one nation, subject together to the same hatred and malice, and fighting against it in consensus and partnership. When missiles are launched at our residents and cities, our answer will be war with all the strength, determination, valor, sacrifice and dedication which characterize this nation.
There is nothing we want more than peace and good neighborly relations – in the east, north and south. We seek peace, we pursue peace and we yearn for peace. At the same time, there is nothing we reject more than an attempt to harm us and make us give up our right to live here, in our land, in security and peace.
The strength of a nation is measured not only by its military capabilities.
The strength of a nation is measured by its welfare and morality, its strong and solid economy, its modern and developing market, its export of technologies and products for the most advanced world markets and its ground-breaking academic research.
In all these, each and every one of us has good reason to be proud. But above all, the strength of a nation is measured in times of trial, when the home front becomes the front, when the citizens of the country show admirable fortitude, patience and stamina and allow it to operate against its enemies.
NOW - this is the syrian ambassador:
"We do not provide Hezbollah with arms," Moustapha insisted in a conversation at Syria's embassy in Washington. He also denied charges that Syria had provided Hezbollah with financial support or that Syria enjoyed decisive influence with Hezbollah, calling it "an independent, autonomous organization." Rather, he says, Syria is a political supporter of such "national liberation" movements as Hezbollah. Israeli officials say that some of the rockets, including one that smashed into a train facility in Haifa and killed several Israelis, were made in Syria.
(So , you don't GIVE them arms but you support them. How is that different??!?!?!?)
Moustapha, who was appointed to the post by Syrian President Bashar Assad, laid blame for the crisis on Israel. "We're surprised by the brutality of the Israeli attack," he said. But he asserted that Israel has not importantly degraded Hezbollah's counterstrike capability. "Hezbollah's capacity to retaliate is still intact," Moustapha said. He said Syria supports an immediate cease-fire and the beginning of negotiations and that Damascus would be willing to participate in the talks actively, especially since the United States does not have any known contacts with Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, which are both designated by Washington as terrorist groups.
Hamas/Hezbollah comment was beyond ridiculous and I have to go to work -
more later. meghan
posted by meg @ 3:17 PM
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