More of a mom than a blogger this week

The last week of the summer vacation... counting the days now. I get so little time to work nowdays. Sigh. At least their dad is home, and spends a lot of time with them. He is on his last week of his current place of work, then off to seek new adventures, career wise. We'll see how this goes.

I have to say, the new Middle East forums are taking up a large chunk of whatever computer time I do find. It's quite addictive, obviously not just for me lol, we just went over 1,000 posts already in a relatively short time. I find it very interesting to view things from new perspectives. Sure, sometimes those perspectives are so foreign to mine, that it can be almost frustrating. Also, people feeding from different sources of information can be challenging. Thankfully, there are still some relatively objective resources online, for us to compare notes every now and again. I am still looking forward to getting more people from the Middle East involved. We have quite a large number of Americans, Europeans and even Australians. All are very welcome and add a lot to the discussions, but I was hoping for some direct dialogue between people from the Middle East themselves.... so, if you have some "Middle Easterners" in your contact list, please drop them a word about our new hangout - http://www.metalks.com !

The New Middle East Forums

I've been asked by a fellow blogger to tell some more about METalks.com - the Middle East Forums that I launched a few days ago. So... here goes...

A bit about the forums themselves. So far, we have only two forums, one for political/ideological kind of threads, and another for social interaction/fun threads. We have 27 members as of right now, and growing daily. Members are from around the globe, many from the Middle East. It is actually not easy placing them on the map, as some are originally from the Middle East, now living elsewhere.

The site staff currently consists of myself and two others: JeanSouc and Janjo. Jean is Lebanese, living in Paris, and Janjo is Iranian and living in the UK. Both of them I met through this blog here, as they commented about posts I made. I always enjoyed their comments and their ability to keep things polite and even friendly, despite major disagreements with other commenters. I felt the would make great team members at a site like METalks.com and I still do!

So, what is METalks.com about? I want it to be a platform to allow people of the Middle East a place to interact and create some sort of positive dialogue. The emphasis here is certainly on the positive. I don't think we need yet another place where people will bicker, fight and insult each other. I want a place where opinions can be expressed, yet an overall respectful tone be maintained.

I also want to bring together those voices of the Middle East that call for peace, human rights, democracy and the associated values. Being an online forum, I realize that we're going to have all kinds of people joining, not all of them necessarily promoting those ideals, yet I hope that we will be able to create a strong community where diverse opinions can be heard, discussions can be held and yet a general line be maintained promoting these ideas, at least by the site's staff and core posters.

I was looking for such boards before and couldn't find quite what I needed. Some nice initiatives out there simply didn't have the right platform, IMO. I felt that these forums deserved some investments, in the form of their own domain name, a proper software and appropriate hosting. Hey, I guess it's the webmaster in me ;)

We are working things out as we go along. These days we are seeing our first threads where moderator intervention is actually needed. I bring with me six years of experience managing large forums, so hopefully that will help. There will be bumps along the road, of that I am sure, but I also hope that a strong and valuable community will be formed, where people of the Middle East will learn to actually know each other and, well, Talk!

Why not join us at www.metalks.com ?

Lebanese Army finally deploying

I wonder how this looks to an outsider. Two militaries, very peacefully switching positions. The Israeli tanks moving south, as the Lebanese tanks take their place. If there's anyone in Lebanon, or out of it, that still believes that Israel has any plans or wishes in regards to Lebanese soil (or water), I hope that these pictures show them how wrong they were. Israelis don't want to occupy Lebanon. Never did. Not for land, not for water, not for anything.

I hope Lebanon grabs the chance it's been given and make the most of it. This is their chance to finally get rid of the Iranian de-facto occupation of the South and reclaim their land. Current decision to allow Hezbulla to stay, and armed at that, even if their weapons are concealed, doesn't look very promising. I hope this is only phase one. I hope that the Lebanese government will have the sense to gradually and thoughtfully, yet decidedly and not too slowly, disarm the Hezbulla and take real control over the region.

He's back!!!!

After more than four weeks (seasoned with a couple of short home leaves of a few hours each), my dear man is back home!!! He surprised us this morning and just showed up at the door, looking extremely tired, his face covered with stubble, but very very happy to see us.

Our yonger son, aged two and a half, woke up first, and was very hesitant about this man that suddenly showed up... It took a few minutes of convincing that this is actually is his dad and he is back for good lol Then we woke up the older kid, aged four and half. He was thrilled.

I haven't even checked the news yet this morning. For now, all the news I needed is right here :)

Ceasefire Holding On So Far

Like most people here, I check on the news as often as I can this morning. Is it really over? Is the ceasefire still in place? IDF officials have said the the ceasefire is "fragile", and we all hope we won't hear the sound of shattering glass today...

So far, so good. There has been an incident earlier this morning, but looks like it's been contained. Just an isolated incident where, according to Israeli sources, a Hezbulla gunman shot at an IDF force.

Keeping our fingers crossed here. The kids are anxious to see their daddy back home. They've been told that the war ended today. "So, Mom, did we beat the enemy?", my 4 years old son asked. Good question. I told him that the enemy and us decided to stop shooting at each other, so that the dads can get back home. Told him everyone was tired of the war. He was happy enough with this answer. Now, they want to know why daddy isn't home already. I told them the army is waiting to make sure that everyone plays by the rules and that the enemy really did stop fighting.

lol, not trying to offer any of the above as sophisticated commentary here. This is what I explained to a 4.5 year old kid, that's all ;)

On another note, I am looking for interesting blogs from the Middle East. I want to focus on the ones that promote peace and sanity in this region, not war mongerers. I want to start a blog reviewing other blogs and recommending the ones that I like. If you know of any, they can be your own, please either comment here or email me - israelimom@gmail.com. Cheers.

Crazy last day?

How strange. Since yesterday, everyone's been counting down to the ceasefire (supposedly tomorrow morning). At the same time the IDF tripled its forces in Lebanon and Hezbulla seems to be firing eveything they can at us. It's strange, to say the least.

Yesterday afternoon, when both Israel and Hezbulla had announced that they agree to the UN's proposal, my sons were thrilled. We told them that the war will soon be over and daddy will be back home. We decided to celebrate by doing a small "BBQ". That means we lit a small bonefire and I made them some hot dogs at home and let them eat them on a stick by the fire. As we were sitting there, singing songs, the choppers began flying above. Flying in formations, they kept coming and coming, heading north. We knew something big was going on, as dozens of helicopters flew over. My sons were jumping happily and waving "at the pilots". The adults were worried, wondering who on board the aircraft will be coming back home in a coffin :( We heard later that evening that Israel had indeed expanded the operation. Dozens of soldiers already killed, probably some of them were indeed in the helicopters flying over our heads. How tragic. To lose a dear one when the sides have already decided on a ceasefire.

Then today, Nassaralla, joining in on this crazy race to "prove we won" just before the ceasefire, seems to be shooting everything he has left in his arsenal. Record number of rockets landed on Israel today, huge damage all over the north, coming close to where I live again, as well. I was taking my walk this afternoon, when my mom phoned me, in panic, saying I need to get back home and be with the kids, since the Hezbulla are going crazy on us today and shooting their long range rockets again. I tried to explain to her that they are as likely to hit our home, as they are to hit me during the walk :P

It's like in those horror movies really. You think the monster is dead, but then, at the last minute, the ugly monster of war raises its head for a final bite. My heart goes out to everyone affected, on both sides of the border. Stay safe everyone, hang in there for just a bit longer, and hopefully this will be behind us tomorrow.

Peace to all.

Oh, and if you are looking for a dose of something positive, hop over to the new Middle East Talks forums!

Introducing METalks.com - the Middle East Talks Forum

I've been toying with this idea for a while now, as some of you already know, and last night I decided to take the plunge. I set up new forums to carry out discussions about the Middle East. Everyone is welcome, only please read what I had already posted there. No rules are set in stone as of yet, but I do intend on keeping Metalks.com a friendly place. The idea is to promote communication and build bridges, not to spew hatred and feel all superior.

Everyone is welcome, from any place in the world. It shoud be a place to ask questions, talk and exchange views. Politely please :)

So, just head over to www.metalks.com, register for your account (it's free, of course) and start posting. Either reply to my threads or start one of your own. Let's get talking :)

A Ceasefire seems closer than ever

I was happy a few minutes ago, as I've been told that Nassaralla has basically accepted the UN's terms for the ceasefire. Very surprised, I think, but pleasantly so (if that word can be used in the same sentence with this guy...). Then I read the full quote from his speech -
Hizbullah leader, Hasan Nasrallah, said in a speech broadcast on Hizbullah's television network al-Manar that "if a date for halting all hostile operations is agreed upon, Hizbullah will uphold this decision."

Well... not sure if he really does accept all of the terms. But at least we may have a ceasefire during which things might be negotiated further. The Hebrew version of that piece of news did say that Nassaralla has accepted the UN resolution. It just seems a bit odd to me. Too much like wishful thinking.

Israel, on its part, supports and accepts the UN resolution and I guess a truce will come into effect as soon as Nassaralla will say the same. The official Lebanon also supports the UN resolution.

For now, though, the fighting continutes. The IDF seems to be making huge progress within Lebanon with some impressive operations being carried out yesterday and today. Some are already revealed, others were only hinted at. I guess the IDF will try and make the most from everyday now, before the ceasefire is declared, making life even harder for the Hezbulla and making sure that when the UN soldiers arrive, they will have an easier time.

Buffet and Hezbulla

The following piece was forwarded to me in an email from a friend. I am not sure who wrote it, but I think a lot of it is spot on, so I am re-publishing it here.

Warren Buffett. The most important thing you need to know about Israel today and how it has performed so far in the war with Hezbollah is Warren Buffett.Say what? Well, the most talked-about story in Israel, before Hezbollah started this war, was the fact that on May 5, Mr. Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and the world’s most successful investor, bought an 80 percent stake in the privately held Israeli precision tools company, Iscar Metalworking, for $4 billion — Mr. Buffett’s first purchase of a company outside America. According to BusinessWeek, as a result of the deal, Iscar’s owners were “likely to pay about $1 billion in capital gains taxes into the Israeli government’s coffers — an unexpected windfall. With the Israeli budget already running a $2 billion surplus, the government is considering slashing value-added tax by one percentage point to 15 percent.”In May, Israeli papers were filled with pages about how cool it was that Israel had produced a cutting-edge company that Warren Buffett wanted to buy. It was being discussed everywhere, pushing the Tel Aviv stock exchange to an all-time high.That is where Israel’s head was on the eve of this war — and it explains something I sensed when I visited Israel shortly after the fighting started. Nobody wanted this war, and nobody was prepared for it. Look closely at pictures of Israeli soldiers from Lebanon. There is no enthusiasm in their faces, and certainly no triumphalism. Their expressions tell the whole story: “I just don’t want to be doing this — another war with the Arabs.”
\n Israeli soldiers were napping when this war started — that’s why they got ambushed — for the very best reasons: They have so much more to do with their lives, and they live in a society that empowers and enables them to do it. (Unfortunately, the Buffett company is in northern Israel and had to be temporarily closed because of rocket attacks.)\n Young Israelis dream of being inventors, and their role models are the Israeli innovators who made it to the Nasdaq. Hezbollah youth dream of being martyrs, and their role models are Islamic militants who made it to the Next World. Israel spent the last six years preparing for Warren Buffett, while Hezbollah spent the last six years preparing for this war.\n “Israel was not prepared for this war,” said the Israeli political theorist Yaron Ezrahi. “It came upon us like the crash of a meteorite. ... The whole focus of debate in the country before this war was on withdrawal.” The Israeli Army had just taken on its own extremists, the settlers in Gaza, and removed them against their will, added Mr. Ezrahi, “and the country had just elected for the first time a prime minister who promised voters to unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank in return for nothing.”\n In the end, Israel will do whatever it has to do to prevail. But what is so troubling for Israelis is that this war is about nothing and everything. That is, Israel got out of Lebanon, and yet Hezbollah keeps coming. It is all about Hezbollah’s need to justify its existence and Iran’s need for a distraction.\n What is doubly sad is that Lebanon was getting its act together. Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister, represented a whole new type of Arab leader — one who rose to power by being a builder and an entrepreneur. He understood that Lebanon, freed of Syria, was a country whose youth had the energy and skill to compete anywhere. He thought Lebanon could again be a model of how Arabs can embrace modernity. But Mr. Hariri was murdered, allegedly by Syria, and now Lebanon’s democracy is being murdered by Hezbollah. Once again, in the Arab world, the past buries the future."

Israeli soldiers were napping when this war started — that’s why they got ambushed — for the very best reasons: They have so much more to do with their lives, and they live in a society that empowers and enables them to do it. (Unfortunately, the Buffett company is in northern Israel and had to be temporarily closed because of rocket attacks.)Young Israelis dream of being inventors, and their role models are the Israeli innovators who made it to the Nasdaq. Hezbollah youth dream of being martyrs, and their role models are Islamic militants who made it to the Next World. Israel spent the last six years preparing for Warren Buffett, while Hezbollah spent the last six years preparing for this war.“Israel was not prepared for this war,” said the Israeli political theorist Yaron Ezrahi. “It came upon us like the crash of a meteorite. ... The whole focus of debate in the country before this war was on withdrawal.” The Israeli Army had just taken on its own extremists, the settlers in Gaza, and removed them against their will, added Mr. Ezrahi, “and the country had just elected for the first time a prime minister who promised voters to unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank in return for nothing.”In the end, Israel will do whatever it has to do to prevail. But what is so troubling for Israelis is that this war is about nothing and everything. That is, Israel got out of Lebanon, and yet Hezbollah keeps coming. It is all about Hezbollah’s need to justify its existence and Iran’s need for a distraction.What is doubly sad is that Lebanon was getting its act together. Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister, represented a whole new type of Arab leader — one who rose to power by being a builder and an entrepreneur. He understood that Lebanon, freed of Syria, was a country whose youth had the energy and skill to compete anywhere. He thought Lebanon could again be a model of how Arabs can embrace modernity. But Mr. Hariri was murdered, allegedly by Syria, and now Lebanon’s democracy is being murdered by Hezbollah. Once again, in the Arab world, the past buries the future.

Israel mustn’t get sucked into that same grave. Israel needs to get a cease-fire and an international force into south Lebanon — and get out. Israel can’t defeat Hezbollah, it can only hurt it enough to make it think twice about ever doing this again — and it has pretty much done that. It must not destroy any more of Lebanon, which is going to still be its neighbor when the guns fall silent.\n Israel wins when Warren Buffett’s company there is fully back in business — not when Nasrallah is out of business. Because that will only happen, not by war, but when Arabs wake up and realize that he is just another fraud, just another Nasser, whose strategy would condemn the flower of Arab youth — who deserve and need so much better — to another decade of making potato chips, not microchips. Nasrallah can win in the long run only if he can condemn the flower of Israel’s youth to the same fate. Don’t let it happen, Israel.

Our Defense Minister Isn't Very Popular today...

Amir Peretz is showing his dovish tendencies again by declaring that diplomatic efforts to curb fighting must be exhausted before expansion of military operation in Lebanon. I just returned home and I can tell you people all over are saying the government should let the military move forward and get this business over with. The feeling is that the IDF is holding back, not using its full power and the result is the continuing erosion of our military and civilians alike. Soldiers are killed everyday, and as I mentioned before, this in Israel is as bad, sometimes even worse, than when civilians get killed (funny, I know, but there you have it).

I just hope the diplomatic efforts will move forward in full speed. I always prefer peace to war, there is not a question there. If there's a chance of acheiving Israel's goal (basically, disarming Heabulla or moving them away from the border) by using diplomacy, then I'm all for it. However, if we find out that this is not even possible, then maybe holding back and waiting will only cause more suffering on both sides.

On another note, a mom and her five year old son were killed today from katyusha rockets in Israel. The younger brother is severly wounded. Read about it here and note how you won't see any carbonated or torn bodies in the article, only pretty pictures of how the mom and sweet boy should be remembered.

One more thing...

Reading Nasseralla's response to the latest developments. The usual propaganda and all, but one thing bothered me -

In a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah said Israeli attacks had not weakened its rocket capabilities and called on the Arab residents of Haifa to quit the Israeli city to avoid being hurt by the guerrilla group's barrages.

Why does he only call for the Arab residents to leave? Why does he differentiate between Arab blood and Jewish blood? Goes to show just how much value he puts on human life. Seems like he's perfectly ok with Jewish children being hit by his rockets after all. So much for pretending to be a legitimate "military".

Widening Military Operations

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3288819,00.html
Looks like military operation on the ground is going to get more intensive. According to the government's decision Israel has five goals -

Israel is working towards five chief goals, which were noted in the cabinet decision:

The return of the kidnapped soldiers with no preconditions;

an immediate halt to all Hizbullah terror activity against Israel and Israeli targets, including ceasing rocket and missile attacks on Israel;

the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1559;

the deployment of an effective international force along the Lebanon-Israeli border for the length of the Blue Line;

and the prevention of Hizbullah rearmament and its regaining operational capabilities, mainly by preventing weapons transfer to Lebanon from Syrian and Iran.

At this point, I just wonder what does it all mean and how long this is going to take. I want my life back, and I'm sure there are numerous families, on both sides of the border who feel the same (and yes, most of them have it far worse than I do). My younger son has been waking up for the past two days crying, calling out for his daddy. I hug him and kiss him, but he keeps crying for daddy. Sigh. I hope this thing ends soon. I seriously have anything more clever than that to say about this war today.

On the Face :: Putting things in perspective

Remember the picture of the little Israeli girls drawing on artillery shells? Caused an uproar a couple of weeks ago. Check out this wonderful piece - you will learn not only about that picture, but about the power of the pictures and how their meaning can be manipulated so easily.

On the Face :: Putting things in perspective: http://ontheface.blogware.com/blog/_trackback/2142505

Civilian vs. Military casualties

I often see how the international media refers to civilian casualties differently then military casualties. Yes, I agree, in the crazy "rules" of war, one wants to make the distinction between "legitimate" targets such, i.e. soldiers, and illegetimate targets, i.e. civilians.

This issue has been on my mind for a while now. I think it should be noted that Israeli society is extremely sensitive to the loss of life, be them civilians or soldiers. People here break apart when they hear of soldiers being killed. We lost dozens of soldiers already in the current war. My heart goes out to the families.

Maybe it's the fact that we have little choice on whether or not to become soldiers. When a young man or woman turns 18, they join the military. Compulsory military service is one of the things that make Israeli society so special. It means that when you hear of a soldier being killed, you know it could have just as easily been your son, brother, husband or father (the same goes for women, though the majority of combat soldiers are male, so I'm using the male form here).

The IDF is known as the people's army. This means not only that it's there to serve the people, but also that it is comprised from the same people that make up the nation. These soldiers are not blood-thirsty. They are not indoctrinized to be blood-thirsty either. They are regular men and women, who did not ask to fight, yet once called in, they will do anything to protect their country and will give up their life for that.

In honor of our humane and compassionate soldiers, I want to share a few pictures that I got via email today. The title of the email was "the pictures that the international media won't show you". I am dedicating these pictures to my personal soldier up in the north right now, my sweet dear man, my war hating officer, who used to give candy to Palestinian children and comfort them when performing his hateful military duties in the territories. Take care, Sweetie, stay safe and come back home soon - we miss you so much!

Highest number of Israeli civilian casualties in a single day so far

At least 10 people killed in a katyusha rocket attack. Why the high number of casualties? well, people are getting fed up of sitting in shelters and being to go outside. Then it's just a question of luck, or lack of. I won't be cynical as to say I hope this pleases the people who were looking for proportionality. It only pleases some people, and that's not unexpected either. To me, this just proves the point I was trying to make before, that at least part of the reason for the discrepancy in the numbers of civilian casualties is due to the fact that the Israeli homefront is better prepared. The shelters, secured rooms and the fact that many civilians just left the area (evacuees, rather than refugees, though that is very much a matter of definition), were all contributing factors in keeping the numbers relatively low. Three weeks into the war, people are beginning to get tired of it all.

Visiting my father yesterday afternoon, in a nearby Kibbutz, I happened to overhear a family that came to stay there. They were from Haifa and were explaining to their hosts why they think it's time for them to go back home. Just missing home, is what it boils down to. There's a limit to how long people are willing to stay away from home with relatives and friends.

I think we may witness more casualties on the Israeli side, now that people are beginning to re-populate the north. Along with that, we'll also see growing pressure on our government to speed up the fighting and "finish the business". It's doable too. Going faster means using more brute force. It means more casualties for our military, and also more civilians hurt on the other side. Then again, given a few more days like today, with so many civilian casualties on the Israeli side, and our government may just be forced towards that direction.

This all relates to the question I see around quite often. How come we're still "not winning", after three weeks of massive fighting. Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again - we are winning. Slowly. Not a dramatic victory. It's not the Six Day War again. This is different, a slow war against sneaky guerilla fighters hiding in trenches. We'll win this one, moving forward one mile at a time. The more we move on, the more rockets we will get launched at Israel. Hezbulla still has many of them and they won't stop launching them until we get them down to their knees. Which we will. It's just going to take some time.

On another note - did you see the doctored picture on Reuters?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286966,00.html
Incredible that such a leading news agency would let this kind of picture get published. Makes you wonder who their sources really are and how reliable they are.

Maybe? perhaps? A chance at a possible light in the end of the tunnel?

US, France reach deal on Israel-Hizbullah resolution

The United States and France agreed Saturday on a draft UN Security Council resolution that calls for an end to the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese terror group Hizbullah , but would allow Israel to defend itself if attacked, officials said.

Of course, there is the tiny issue of the Hezbulla actually agreeing ;) Many people here had the gut reaction of "France again?!?", figuring that if France is involved this has to be a bad resolution for Israel. I actually think it's a great resolution, on paper, I just don't see Hezbulla agreeing to these terms, if indeed they include demilitarizing the zone from the border to the Litani river as the Hebrew version of the article claims. I wonder if someone in the UN is really naive enough to think that it will be that easy to disarm the Hezbulla?

Also, the Hezbulla's response has already arrived, as cryptic as ever -

Hezbollah cabinet minister Mohammed Fneish said the guerrilla group would stop fighting when Israel ended its bombardment of Lebanon and withdrew its troops."Israel is the aggressor. When the Israeli aggression stops, Hezbollah simply will cease fire on the condition that no Israeli soldier remains inside Lebanese land," he said.

Since they were the ones to launch rockets and mortar shells at us out of the blue on July 12, not to mention break into Israeli territory, killing and kidnapping solidiers, I'm not really sure what this response means. My only thought is that he's referring to the Sheba farms? In which case, it's amazing that they would bring this disaster over the Lebanese people for some measly pieace of land that Israel doesn't even claim to own...

Anyway, I am dubious about the new initiative, but I can't help but hoping that this will somehow work and bring this crazy war to an end. Speaking for myself and my family, and the close people around us, I can say that Israelis are prepared for a long and costly war, but it doesn't mean that we want it. My father-in-law put it nicely today. He said Israel is now the spearhead in the fight against radical Islam. It's no fun being the spearhead, as this is the part that gets eroded the most, but looks like we may be left with no choice...

Rockets landed in my town

Was about to post about just another day here... just as I was typing, I hear one blast, and then another one, a few seconds later. Pretty loud, made the windows shake.

I had just returned home from my evening walk, pushing my two and a half yo son in the stroller. I was listening to some music on my MP3 player, when suddenly a car pulls over next to me. "Excuse me, Ma'am, did you just hear the sirens?". I said I didn't, and he pointed at the headphones and smiled lol.

We get back home, I get Dan his dinner then put a DVD in the player for him and head for the shower. On my way, I stop by the computer of course, and thought I'd add a post here in the blog. While I was typing away, the two blasts went off. Wasn't sure what to make of them at first, but a few minutes later my brother-in-law came over to ask if we were ok. Apparently, the sirens went off about a minute prior to that, but we didn't hear them here (we're on the edge of town). So we relized these were indeed rockets.

Not to give away the exact location, but later reports on the radio and TV said these were two rockets, landing at the most southern point to date, and that happened to be two miles away from our home.

I need to go now, finally get that shower and tuck in my kid, he's waiting for his bedtime story. His older brother came home as well (having spent the day with my parents) and is already asleep in bed. Good night everyone!

More War News

Bad day here in Israel... Eight civilians killed in rocket attacks on the North, and another three soldiers killed in the fighting in Lebanon.

The reason for the heavy toll of casualties (dozens of people injured, some quite badly), is that many people got tired of staying in shelters/with their relatives. I guess they're be going back soon enough, but... this can't go on for much longer.

One of the commenters here, Jad, asked how can it be that after three weeks of fighting the Hezbulla's rockets firing abilities seem unfazed. Well, hardly surprising really. We are dealing with thousands of launchers, carefully hidden in woods and among buildings. And here's the surprising part... you're not going to like it, but there are many voices here in the Israeli public calling for Israel to finally pull its weight and "really" bomb South Lebanon...

I guess this takes some explaining. You see, the Qana village incident isn't the norm. Generally speaking, when the IDF knows that there are civilians in a building they avoid firing at it. Yes, I realize that close to 1000 Lebanese have been killed, but considering the amount of explosives the IDF dropped on Lebanon this isn't that high a number. Some people here feel that our attempt at maintaining moral standards is bogging us down and preventing us from winning this war. That burning down Southern Lebanon (the word Naplam comes up a lot in talkbacks) is the only solution to stopping them from shooting at us.

Now, before I get jumped on, let me make it very clear that I do not support this view. I don't think anything justifies knowingly hurting civilians. Ever. I do see that we have a problem here, but my view is that we have to stick to conventional fighting, i.e. use our troops (at a higher price in terms of casualties for our military) to gradually take over the South of Lebanon and uproot Hezbulla out of there. However, this is going to take time... maybe a long time too.

The only other way I can see of ending this sooner (and with fewer casualties on both sides), is for the international community to step in and actively intervene, including sending in military forces (I'm talking NATO forces, not just UN peacekeepers or observers), which would really take over and establish a demilitarized zone in the south. Not seeing any chance of that happening any time soon though. Sigh, I guess the fighting will continue.

Hezbulla manipulating the IDF into attacking non-Shiite villages

Bliss Street Journal - The Blog: The Siege of Mari

I have read this in several blogs by now. Very disturbing.... Looks like the Hezbulla is fighting local people in Druze and Christian villages in South Lebanon so they can position their launchers there. The people try to fight back, but the Hezbulla terrorizes them out of the village, or just into submission. Looks like this is a tactic by now. I guess they prefer to use non-Muslim Lebanese as their human shields.

Back to fighting...

I posted yesterday saying that I doubt Nassaralla can really stop launching rockets at us. He proved me right today, by launching over 70 of them and counting... Quite a few people injured, at least one man killed.

Some interesting tidbits in the news here today.

Same as with the Scuds of the first Gulf War, some Palestinians are so overjoyed by the Katyusha attacks that they are celebrating them in song and dance. Well, looks like some of them almost got to see it up-close, as apparently some of the long-range rockets launched at Israel last Wednesday crossed the lines over to the Western Bank. Apparently, they don't mind:
The Fatah member related that local residents cheered when they heard the rocket fall and saw the resulting flames. “Even if it were to fall on our heads, it wouldn’t have spoiled our joy. All of us here are praying for Hizbullah’s success and victory," he said.

Another thing about the Qana incident. Rumors here are that the Hezbulla housed invalid children in the building, to create maximum effect in world public opinion. They set them up as bait, then launched from next to the building and took the launcher back inside, knowing the IDF will shoot at it. I have to say, this seems a bit too diabloic even for me. I am not at all sure this is true. That said, the following article makes it quite clear that they were focused on making the maximum gain from the whole set. Looks pretty cold hearted, cynical and calculated use of dead children's bodies. I used to think it was just poor taste (in Israel, we avoid showing dead bodies of people who were hurt in terror attacks, out of respect to the dead and their families). Looks now like it was more than the usual display of poor taste though -
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284546,00.html

Looks like we have a few more weeks of war ahead of us

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284769,00.html

Interestingly enough, in the Grapes of Wrath operation back in 1996, the first Qana incident was enough to bring about a ceasefire. Looks like this time things are different. However, I think Hezbulla is doing the right thing (I know, weird combination of words there Hezbulla & "right thing"), by not shooting rockets into Israel anymore. If they continue doing this, Israel's ability to carry on with this war on Lebanese soil will be weakened overtime, both in terms of world public opinion and in terms of internal support.

IMO, it's not the two kidnapped soldiers that are driving Israel forward, at least not in terms of public opinion here in Israel. It's the constant shelling of civilian settlements in the north that propelled the Israeli response. Take that away and, personally, I doubt that Israel will be able to maintain support for the war for more than a few weeks. Though of course, who knows if Nassaralla can continue with his new policy... I bet he's itching to fire those promised Zilzals at Tel Aviv.