Peace in the Middle East always seemed like such a great idea, but it has now become a pipe dream.
Israel's irresponsible attack on Lebanon - as well as the Bush administration's indifference to it - has effectively killed any chances of peace. Now, we have inched ever closer to all-out war.
In attacking Lebanon, Israel has essentially asked for whatever retaliation it receives-ยก - whether it be counterattacks by Hezbollah, attacks by Iran or Syria or suicide bombings. We are asking for the same retaliation by supporting Israel's ruthlessness and also by vetoing, on Wednesday, a U.N. resolution condemning Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip in retaliation of Hamas' kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.
President George W. Bush said Israel has a right to self-defense. I agree; every country does. But since when does self-defense mean collective punishment targeting bridges, airports and civilians? That's not self-defense. In fact, it constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
As of 3:40 p.m Sunday, more than 130 Lebanese citizens, most of them civilians and many of them children, are dead. Israeli forces have killed them because Lebanon is harboring a terrorist group that kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and harassed Israel's northern border. I hate it when little kids hide terrorists at airports. Don't you?
According to a Reuters article posted on Yahoo! at 3 p.m. Saturday, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad told Lebanese President Emile Lahoud that Syria would provide assistance to Lebanon. If Lahoud accepts Assad's help, things will really start to get nasty, especially if Israel decides to go after Syria as well.
Israel's attack on Lebanon mirrors the utter lack of logic behind Bush's War on Terror. It stems from the moronic idea that violence will end violence.
Is it any wonder, then, that Hamas won elections in Palestine and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the Iranian presidency? Is it any wonder that many in the Muslim world view Osama bin Laden not as an evil terrorist but as a heroic Robin Hood out to liberate them from American and Israeli imperialism and hostility? If you behave aggressively toward a group of people, they will do the same in return.
But some people have yet to grasp this basic truth. According to a Sunday Agence France-Presse article, Tony Blair blamed Iran and Syria for fuelling extremism. For saying that, Blair is incredibly naive, incredibly dishonest or both.
Iran and Syria don't fuel extremism. Rather, they manipulate extremism that has existed for decades for their own ends. Hezbollah didn't come out of nowhere. Rather, it - as well as Hamas, al-Qaeda and others - came into being because of widespread discontent among Arabs and Muslims. If anyone is fuelling extremism now, it's Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert might as well ask to become Osama bin Laden's second-in-command at this point.
For every Lebanese house that an Israeli bomb demolishes and for every Lebanese person an Israeli shell kills, a suicide bomber will blow up innocent Israelis, a young man will willingly lay down his life for Osama bin Laden, a Hezbollah rocket will kill an Israeli civilian, and a hotheaded Wahhabi imam's anti-Semitic rants will appear justified in the minds of his students.
And for every one of those outcomes, an Israeli bullet will kill another stone-throwing Palestinian child and an Israeli missile will blow up another Palestinian house in the Gaza Strip.
And the violence will go on and on.
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