Israel-Lebanon War 2006

The war on Lebanon seems to be over, at least for the time being. But the effects of that war will be felt for a long time. In stark contrast to the Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank, the Lebanon War, as we shall see below, was much more about American designs than Israeli ones.

It looks very much like we are at the beginning of a long period of renewed and intensified conflict in the Middle East. It is important to understand how these events came about, and to at least try to understand the motivations of the players involved. Jewish Voice for Peace brings you this extensive in-depth analysis. There's a lot of information here, so you can use the Table of Contents below to get to the subjects you want to learn more about.

By Uri Avnery (long-time Israeli peace activist; former member of Knesset; former editor /publisher of widest-read Israeli news weekly, Ha'Olam Hazeh).

IN HIS latest speech, which infuriated so many people, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uttered a sentence that deserves attention: "Every new Arab generation hates Israel more than the previous one."

Of all that has been said about the Second Lebanon War, these are perhaps the most important words.

The main product of this war is hatred. The pictures of death and destruction in Lebanon entered every Arab home, indeed every Muslim home, from Indonesia to Morocco, from Yemen to the Muslim ghettos in London and Berlin. Not for an hour, not for a day, but for 33 successive days - day after day, hour after hour. The mangled bodies of babies, the women weeping over the ruins of their homes, Israeli children writing "greetings" on shells about to be fired at villages, Ehud Olmert blabbering about "the most moral army in the world" while the screen showed a heap of bodies.

Yossi Beilin, from Fresh Air interview,
as described by Jon Wiener, in The Nation

Israel's military defeat in Lebanon has created new
opportunities for peace -- that's what Israeli Knesset
member and peace movement leader Yossi Beilin told Terry
Gross on the NPR show "Fresh Air" on August 23. Beilin,
chairman of the left-wing Meretz party, has served in
different Labor governments, and was one of the
architects of the 1991 Oslo Accords and the 2003 Geneva
Accord.

The Israeli government and military today are facing
popular anger and strong criticism over their failures
in Lebanon. Beilen recalled that the government faced

by Amira Hass
Haaretz (Israel)
August 17, 2006

During the past month, Hezbollah's Katyushas killed 18 Israeli Arabs among the 41 Israeli civilians who died in the war. Clearly, Hassan Nasrallah didn't mean to kill them. But as someone who knows that many Arabs live in northern Israel, and as someone who knows that the launchers for his inaccurate Katyushas cannot choose the target they will hit - the fact that it was unintended is meaningless.

More than anyone, Israelis should understand Nasrallah's claims that this was "unintended," identify with the primacy he attaches to the "unintendedness" relative to the fatal results, and identify with the disjunction he creates between the rationale that is inherent in the war machine he has built and his subjective will.

12 WAYS TO SAVE THE LIVES
OF ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN

(Provided by The Shalom Center http://www.shalomctr.org)
(Please circulate this list to all who might respond.)

We have received many requests for ideas on how to do tzedakah for people damaged by war in Lebanon, Palestine / Gaza, and Israel.

"Tzedakah" is a Hebrew word that means something similar to charity, but more obligatory -- rooted in "tzedek" – justice. We might say: "acts of social responsibility" to help those who are suffering.

The first three items below make some suggestions for direct aid in each country.

Item 4 is an action to move public policy by going beyond cease-fire to calling an Emerghency International Conference on Middle East Peace.

By Yossi Sarid
Haaretz, Aug 1, 2006

The government didn't mean it and the military didn't mean it and the pilot didn't mean it. "We didn't mean it" is a good argument, certainly, and yet not good enough. That is the last thing we need: to kill 60 civilians, including 30 children, intentionally, with malice and forethought. 


The government warned the residents of southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces dropped pamphlets and declared: If you don't run for your lives - you will die. "We warned" and "We warned often" make a good argument, and yet not good enough. 

"We are sorry" is also true and very nice, but it is impossible to be too sorry until all the regret is used up.

Days of Darkness
By Gideon Levy
Haaretz.com

Sunday 30 July 2006

In war as in war: Israel is sinking into a strident, nationalistic atmosphere and darkness is beginning to cover everything. The brakes we still had are eroding, the insensitivity and blindness that characterized Israeli society in recent years is intensifying. The home front is cut in half: the north suffers and the center is serene. But both have been taken over by tones of jingoism, ruthlessness and vengeance, and the voices of extremism that previously characterized the camp's margins are now expressing its heart. The left has once again lost its way, wrapped in silence or "admitting mistakes". Israel is exposing a unified, nationalistic face.

Dear Friends,

We are taught: "pekuakh nefesh, saving lives" is our highest duty.

This war is killing people now. And the rage it creates will kill more people later.

As Akiba and the sages taught: Learn for the sake of acting. The action site will come toward the end of this letter.

This war marks not only a crisis in the future of Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine, but also a crisis in the moral universe of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

There is a teaching in the Talmud: "If someone comes to kill you, kill him first." Then the Talmud continues: "But if you can prevent his killing you by wounding him rather than killing him, and nevertheless you kill him, you become a murderer."

The Shalom Center is posting this essay by a leading Israeli thinker and activist as a stimulus to our thought as we wrestle with the issues posed by the Lebanon War.  

In times like these, it is hard but crucial to give ethical leadership not only to the Jewish people but also to the world – which, so long as we assert  "God is One, the Breath of Life/ YHWH Echad,"  is also part of our congregation.

With blessings of shalom, Arthur

(Rabbi Arthur Waskow)

Peace Now NEWSFLASH: Peace Now Op-Ed in Yediot Aharonot, "No Blank Check"

 Yediot Aharonot, Israel's largest circulation daily newspaper, today published an op-ed by Peace Now founder Tzaly Reshef, who argues, "It is our right to fight to eliminate the threat to our civilians. It is our right to chase out Hezbollah and to demand Lebanese and international responsibility for quiet on our northern border. But this right is not a blank check for unlimited military action."

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Ki Tetze is a portion of great compassion (Deut 21: 10 to 25:19):

Compassion for the poor person who cannot redeem a debt-pledge, for your neighbor who might fall from the unprotected roof of your house, for your enemy whose sheep has wandered away, for a mother bird who is sitting on her eggs. –- Then suddenly there is this puzzling, paradoxical command:


“Remember what Amalek did to you on the road as you came forth from Mitzrayyim, the Narrows: how he met you on the road and smashed the stragglers among you, all who were enfeebled in your rear, when you were faint and weary. For he did not revere the Divine Creative Power.