Mideast Dispatches

Civilians are bombed and there are appologies. The second time civilians are bombed, there are explainations of surgical practice and that mistakes happen. The third time civilians (and UN Peacekeepers) are bombed there is moral justification that in war people die as collateral damage. The fourth time civilians (and aid convoys) are bombed there are excuses of people being pre-warned. When does the continual targeting of civilians (ridding the world of Hezbollha)become ethnic cleansing?

One question, because the media says Hizbullah is a terrorist organization so we say that they are, but what exactly makes a an organization a 'terrorist organization'? If he defends his country? If he defends his land? Or if he plans to make nuclear weapons because his near neighbour is and he would want to defend himself in case of war? Would hizbullah be here today if THE Israelis did not occupt lebanon? Odf course Hizbullah is going to fight, stand up for it's people. They've been living under the Isreali govt for years.

"Serve God, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious;- "
Verse From The Quran.
A truly muslim individual would do good deeds to neighbours,strangers no matter whom.This is Islam, not a terrorist organization.

There will never be an "everlasting peace" as we would like to have in this world as long as hatred towards others is taught from an early age and tolerated. I hear people interviewed on the CBC that their country "Lebanon" is being bombed.

If you are a Canadian citizen, this is your country now. Start living like a Canadian citizen, and be grateful for what you have here. If you don't like the way things are being done in government, vote accordingly or run for parliament OR if you still don't like it, as Stomp’in Tom says, "You can better serve your country living somewhere else.”

I'm sorry but the terrorist group started things going against Israel and the Lebonese government is showing intolerance with the situation by not doing anything.

Is the Israeli government right in what they are doing? I think so. They are protecting their sovereignty from a group of terrorists that want them all annihilated, and with that they are also terrorizing the people of Lebanon by continuing their actions against Israel.

I am also sorry for all the innocent people that are being killed over there, but that is the price of war. Does this make it right? (war) No, but lets put things into perspective. There are more people that die each and everyday from cancer (as an example) than the numbers of people that are dying there.

Israeli people are the chosen people of God and all thru time, groups of people and nations have been trying to annihilate them. God will intervene when the time is right with His army. It may not be in my life time, but if it is, sign me up!

Where are the international courts and the UN in condemning the activities of Hezbollah in Lebanon as "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity"? Clearly Hezbollah, as the occupying force in southern Lebanon is held reponsible under international law to undertake no action that would wilfully or by action, or failure to act, directly or indirectly, put the civilian population in the area it operates in danger of suffering casualties.

The World Council of the Cedar Revolution notes: "…attributes the responsibility of the deaths of Lebanese citizens..., to Hezbollah’s leadership and to its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. For installing guns and launchers just next to a civilian shelter and firing from it,...is a calculated decision to cause retaliation and deaths, which are being used in the media to further the image of Hezbollah. This tactic...using the pro-Jihadi media in the region,.. abusing the horrific images of corpses of Lebanese citizens, won’t change the reality of Hezbollah’s responsibility and won’t be used to shield Nasrallah from the international community or from the popular majority of the Lebanese people."

The release closes with the following show of support for the victims of Hezbollah's butchery:

"...expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the massacre’s victims, the Council calls on the Lebanese masses to resist the tactics of Terrorism and to upraise against Hezbollah’s control of civilian centers. Let M. Nasrallah and his supporters chose another land to wage their personal wars with whomever they want. Lebanon is not their private property to use and abuse. The Council calls on the Lebanese people to mobilize in order to end this suicidal war, even if it is going to take another revolution."

Well, to that I say, "Vive le Revolution!"

*to John Laww

I think Blair stated something very interesting today, that many extremists rather have a certain dynamic where they rally Muslims against a common cause rather than killing each other over certain views. In the Case of Iraq, the dynamic, being very different than that of the brooding hatred between Israel and the Arab world, is, less newsworthy because of the fact that it is an internal conflict. However, I agree that this view is appalling and that perhaps the news coverage of Israel is more so because we do expect more from a democratic country. The media is a fickle thing really, and what it makes worthy is what the majority of the population is worried for, or concerned with.

There's the equivalent of a Qana taking place in Iraq every day, folks. The Shia "resistance" are busily murdering Sunni
and the Sunni "resistance" are busily murdering Shia. One wonders why these innocents are any less newswothy than the ones killed at Qana; is it because the murderers in Iraq are mostly only killing Muslims from the other "tribe" or because we hold Israel to a higher standard?

I have just spent the last hour and a half reading and re-reading all the comments posted on this topic.

I have noticed two things:

1) Everyone needs a thorough and immediate lesson in spelling and grammar.
2) 50% support Harper and 50% do not support Harper.
3) I will now start to refer to Stephen Harper as Steve-O or maybe The Stevester.
4) There are approximately 6 ways to spell Hizbollah, Hezbollah, Huzbola, Husbola, Hesbula and Hesbullah.
5) I believe that only one of them is correct.
6) One of the most grammatically correct respondents is a Steve-O support. (shudder)
7) The Liberal Party has a large sum of money they spend on supporting media in Canada according to Stevester supports.
8) This is beginning to sound like a Letterman top ten list.
9) I have made a couple of spelling and grammatical errors myself! (shudder)

And finally ...

10) The UN was once a powerful organization that countries were held accountable too. It is no longer a force for safety and fairness in the world. Its final curtain was called by the United States of America and Ultimately the rest of the world for not believing in it. Faith is needed, with a little dose of childish naiveté.

So long as Hezbollah hides behind the helpless and the innocent, then there will be casualties. Innocent men, women, and children are going to die and moral outrage is an appropriate response. However, we need also remember how and why these people perished. They died, I believe, so that the cowardice of terror would be revealed; they died to help us realize the futility of warfare in ending campaigns of terror.

Disarm, educate, feed, employ. When people are busy with the day-to-day concerns of living, and are actively engaged in their communities, they have little time left to plan for the destruction of others.

Just a thought...

I do not expect our government to support a country that sides with terrorists groups. I can understand the position of our Canadian government in this regard. One thing I cannot understand though is how we can remain silent watching the killing of innocent people and especially young kids and not get angry at our government for doing so. I cannot remain indifferent to the news of killing of innocents, Jews, Lebanese of Palestinians. My reactions were the same while watching the massacre of Israelis that were killed by a terrorists that blew himself on a bus. It is not more acceptable for me to watch an Israeli bomb land on a building killing young and old than a bombing on a bus. All this has to stop and all the government have to get together and find a solution to this terrible situation. Both the Israelis and the Arabs have to be forced to get to a solution even if it means giving up a little of their demands. We should cut the help to all of them until they agree to sit down and find solutions to their problems.
Representative from all countries should get involved in finding a way to get all of them to come together and end this terrible conflict. Special help should them be given to those who agree to remove all terrorists organisations from their government and arrest those who commit terrorist acts and bring them to trial.
I am sure that there are extremists in Israel also and it is the duty of the Israeli goverment to control them and keep them from causing conflicts with the arab population.

It is not just a shame on Harper who is supporting the killing of children in Lebanon and wait for his word to come from his boss (Bush), it is also a shame on our canadian media who rushed to put the comments of israeili soldiers and their regrets (which is just some acting and lies) and did not bother to show even the pictures of the massacre that killed 60 civilians (most of them are children) with the israeili cold hand. Is it too much to show the 10 month old baby killed in this attack as a measured response like Harper said? Or our media is also controled by the Bush administrator, same as our goverment? too bad we even have no more faith with our Canadian media. Where is Canada going next??!!!

The fear is undescribable,i'm a 1982 invasion survivor,i can to a certain point imagine what people going through,i still remember clearly the day after the (Sabra and Shatela Camps massacre}i use to stay up all night staring at the ceiling that i couldn't see because the power was out thinking we're next.
I saw what israelis do first hand.
After they invaded ,i remember the one incident ,it happenend few doors down my street,someone threw a bomb at a military jeep, seconds later they started firing at every house in the neighbourhood,my lips and my whole body started shaking but the first thing came to my mind that my mother and my three year old sister were in the field across the street picking grapes, i immediately went outside and started calling for my mother,until this day i can't figure out why i couldn't hear MY voice,i went back inside to look for my other sister ,after looking through the whole house, i found her standing in the closet with the door closed shaking ,she couldn't talk for a few days.
Again i went back to look for my mother and when the soldier threw a granade on the balcony,i went back to the living room they started firing at the house the bullet barely missed my head.I'm sure other people have mor horrifying expriences.
THIS IS ISRAEL THAT DOESN'T TARGET CIVILIANS.

I have a daughter and two grandsons that are stranded and have no way out of Lebanon,every time i see a picture of a child killed in the war my heart jumps out of my chest thinking it's one of my grandchildren.
Stephen Harper use your power to save the children before it's too late!

To Terry Rooney:
Obviously we don't see eye to eye which is fine. About the Shebba farms you mention correctly that the UN sees it as a Syrian land. I didn't see the Lebanese turning to the UN asking to address this issue. But since Hizbollah does what it wants in the south they choose to ignore the accepted border line and they've caused all this mess.
The Palestinian issue is not related here but Israel did pull out from Gaza and does intend to negotiate a peace agreement with the PA. One problem though...the Palestinian people chose the Hamas. They don't recognise Israel's right to exist. How can they talk with Israel then? In 1948 I believe Israel wasn't occupying any land (the partition plan which was rejected by Arab countries, by the way). There were still many terrorist attacks against Israelis then (before 1967)....and there was no excuse for them to take place.
Israel does want to live peacefully with its neighbours. Israel accepts that in order to do that the west bank should be given.
And if I remember correctly Israel is the only country who its existance is under a threat by a leader (Iranian) who calls out loud for its elimination. People in the west are beginning to realise that Islamic extremism is a great threat to the whole world. Not only to Israel...Not long ago I read a plot to commit a terrorist attack in Canada was published...What would be your view if this plot would have taken place? So it is easy to critisize Israel. Israel does what it needs to do to protect its civilians (who have been sitting in shelters for 3 weeks now, but that isn't mentioned in the media). I don't see how Canada would not respond to missile attacks on its citizens...

Its just unbelievable.My parents & I left Lebanon just a few days ago but I didnt want to leave my country like this.I got the chance to leave but there are still hundreds of thousands of people stuck in Lebanon.I cant stop watching the news here.I mean they gave the Lebanese a 48-hour ceasefire.Is it some kind of break?Are they just going to start destroying more areas and kill more innocent people again?I wish all of this could end soon.God Bless Lebanon & its people.

Who cares, who cares about the mid east. Pretend it's Rwanda and ignore them. It is a war, they all lie and it has nothing to do with Canada.

To Vance: Why are all muslims considered terrorists? In your argument I guess all Germans tried to kill the Jews, and all Japanese tried to bomb Pearl Harbour right? This war has nothing to do with muslims and Jews. War is war and it is wrong. Should the people of Lebanon not think that the Israel's are terrorists? Why are they not allowed to feel that way? No, people automatically assume if he or she is muslim he or she is a terrorist! Is that the world we live in today? Israel's have a RIGHT to feel that Hezbollah are terrorists! Lebanaese have a RIGHT to feel that Israel are terrorists! I am upset at Mr. Harper for not saying anything. I guarantee you if it was a muslim attack on an Israel city killing innocent Israel women and children Harpe would stand up and say something. It is a sad world we live in when we as people do not learn from our mistakes. The world was silent in 1933 when Hitler took power and slowly started killing off the Jews. Hitler then defined a non-Aryan as anyone descended from non-Aryan, ESPECIALLY JEWISH, parents or grandparents. One parent or grandparent classifies the descendant as non-Aryan...especially if one parent or grandparent was of the Jewish faith. Hitler then tried and almost succeeded in destroying the entire Jewish population before the world realized what happened. Let's fast forward to today and basically a terrorist is described as anyone from the middle east ESPECIALLY MUSLIM tha disagrees with the USA and Israel. How long before the world begins to realize that history is slowly repeating itself!

Despite claims to the contrary I see a lot of Canadians unleashing their hatred. So much criticism of Israel and so little understanding of the situation. Do they know that all of Israel is just over half of Vancouver Island? If there are so few Israeli casualties it's because a million of them live in bunkers they built while the "martyrs" built rocket lunchers. Unless I see suggestions of alternatives, I know critics are hate mongers, no less than hezbollas.

These guys are playing for keeps, the rockets fall in northern Isreal and the bombs fall in Southern Lebanon. How can they fight someone who hides within the civillian population without collateral damage.

Excellent, intelligent points raised, in particular by PWR, Erol, GAP and Robert Warren.

To those of you who are "ashamed" to be Canadian, you have the freedom to speak out against our leaders BECAUSE you are Canadian. Try and look at the global essence of this situation .. there is no right and wrong side .. No doubt you would be welcomed as a resident in any of the war ravaged countries on the planet, so may I help you pack if you find our homeland so disagreeable a place to call home?

It galls me that Canada has become a nation of "hyphen-Canadians". I refer specifically to the Lebanese-Canadians who demanded evacuation from the area, and had the audacity to complain about the conditions of the evacuation, when a large number of those Lebanese-Canadians, for a fact, have not resided in Canada or been on Canadian soil for years. What is 'their' Lebanese government doing for them amid this chaos?

Militants/dictators control through illiteracy, limited education, charged emotions, secrecy and corruption.

Doesn't seem to be the Garden of Eden, now does it?

WE are not asking our MR. HARPER TO CONDEMN, but the least he could have done as a Canadian, as a true Canadian was not to take sides and stand neutral as Canada have done for the past decades. A shame, a true shame to everything Canadian we hold dear to us.

Israel doesn't care because it doesn't have to! It has the full support of the US, GB and even Canada (sorry, the support of Steve Harper, not Canada) to continue to kill innocent people. Slowly Israel is building another generation of people that are going to hate them as much as the Palestinians, after years of killing their civilians, do! We are lucky not to have Israel as a neighbour!

As I sit here with my running water, electricity, cable t.v., internet, food, and all the other luxories of the western world I have to ask: what is the real Israeli plan.
I know its not oil, but with the U.S. backing them I have to wonder about the true motive: is this the New World Order, or the spark for World War III? I don't blame the American public but U.S. leaders in charge of peace keeping for the sake of stopping the "axis of evil" is really wearing thin. We're not that dumb. Meanwhile the children and civilians die. Fighting for peace is like having sex for virginity.

Criticism of Israel is just hypocrisy! How many of Israel's neighbours would sit idly by while being subjected to rocket attacks and cross border incursions & kidnappings? Would the USA? Would Canada? (Well, maybe we would if we had a Liberal govt.) Israel had no choice but to strike back, and strike back hard against bullies pledged to destroy them. Their tactics may seem brutal, but compare it to Hamas, Hezzbolah & Al-Qaeda. They purposely attack innocent civilians with suicide bombers. War is nasty & innocents get killed. The difference is that Israel does not target the innocent.

What I find disappointing at this time, is the attacks by Israeli planes in a moment which was meant to allow the hosilities to pause so that civilians could get away. Like Qana, this is a serious military (and moral) blunder on Israel's part. I believe an immediate ceasefire is needed and an international force (with teeth) to head in disarm Hezbollah and stabilize the region. Most of all however, we need to get the humanitarian aid out there where its needed. A child bleeding and dying, is a child bleeding and dying regardless of its heritage. The carnage has to stop.

For your information, it began not as a kidnapping of 2 soldiers, but as another shelling of Israeli towns by Hezbollah on the same day (this, by the way, has been going on for years, even after Israeli pull-out), then they crossed into Israel, killed 8 soldiers and kidnapped 2.

Since people have been posting the links to some web sites already (see Tony Van Eyk post above), I think it is only fair to let everyoone visit the following site for the actual facts: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/

Enough is enough… Loss of life and human suffering must come to an end. It's sickening that Governments do not put a stop to this because of their own greed. There is a growing shift in consciousness and we all must have our voices heard! Reading the headlines in newspapers, watching the negativity on T.V. fuels what's happening in our lives today. Instead of putting blame on country A or country B, we should speak in one voice for PEACE. We all recognize there is a problem. Instead of having pro-Lebanon or pro-Israel rallies, PEACE rallies would be most effective.

Our thoughts become our realities... let's picture a world of peace for all!

I am extremely saddened to hear and read the on-going reports about the autrocities happening in Lebanon. There are 'no winners' here - and innocent children are being killed in both Lebanon and Israel/Palestine. Canada, once upon a time, was known by other nations to be the "reasonable voice" at the table and to speak on behalf of the oppressed. When did we lose our voice!! And the oppressed are of all faiths and cultures and beliefs in this case!!

Prayers for the innocent people - whether they are Lebanese or Israeli or Palestinian-who have been caught in this situation.

In 2000, in Beyrouth, a conferance of ALL arab governments (including Syria but not Iran that is not an arab country) called for a full recognition of Israel's right to exist and a global peace treaty in exchange of the recognition by Israel of the palestinian Republic's right to exist and the the restitution arab territories invaded in 1967. Even most of Hamas leadership agree with such a settlement.

Why Israel doesnt accept that and finaly live in peace. The root cause of the current bloodbath would be eliminated. There may remain some extremists of both side denying each other's right to exist but the vast majority of arab and Israeli population would agree with such a settlement.

All this talk about "innocent" civilians. What exactly is an "innocent" civilian. Isn't everyone innocent? Does anyone really deserve to die?

The bottom line is there is NO JUSTIFICATION for taking anyone's life - be it soldier, civilian, man, woman, or child. A life is a life. That's why this preoccupation with the phrase "innocent civilians" has me scratching my head a little bit. Are not the soldiers who are kidnapped and tortured innocent? Are not the politicians who are murdered for disagreeing with particular militant factions innocent?

This is all rhetoric...

Hezbollah, Israel, Iran, Syria, the US even the UN... they all have a blood on their hands in these senseless death of civilian populace.

I am the first to want peace in the middle east, but so as long as there is a weapon in that region of the world, the Israelis and Arabs will try to kill eachother; nothing will change that.

The US is still, today, providing tonnes of weapons and ammunition for Israel to drop from their US made F15s and F16s on suspected Hezbollah position.

Iran and Syria provided thousands of rockets and short range missiles to Hezbollah so that it may rain terror in Israeli cities.

The UN does what it does best - try to pass resolutions (which are often vetoed by the US) to call a ceasefire upon Israel and get them to return to pre 1967 borders.

The politico-economic agenda in this whole Middle East crisis stinks and it will only get worst so long as foreign nations provide weapons to Israel and groups that oppose Israel.

Reena,

I think everyone feels for those caught in these struggles.

Peace be with you and yours.

Having just returned from Israel/Palestine during the time of this conflict I am hoping gives me a little bit of credibility.

The loss of life on both sides of the border is deplorable. What is also deplorable is that militant Islam which is vying for Israel's destruction is the root cause of this and so many other problems in the Middle East.

Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Al Aksa Martyr's Brigade, Jemaat Islami, The Moslem Brotherhood, etc. are all terrorist groups which have essentially the same goals, regardless of Shia or Sunni adherences. They employ the same means to advance their agenda's, they target the same peoples and of course in their universal blame of America and Israel.

Western societies are sadly asleep to this reality. The political left in the west seem to think the blame lies in social injustices in these societies, while turning a blind eye to the spiritual root causes of this militantism within Islam.

Arab countries are equally to blame, especially their media outlets. I have yet to see a consistency in the Arab media which can actually show a balanced perspective. Most media hype is given to blaming Israel, while Hezbollah is portrayed in a positive light as a resistance movement, one which deliberately targets Israeli citizens Arab and Jew with ball bearing and explosive laden rockets and missiles with sole intent to kill.

It is easy to go to functions where Arabs, Jews and foreigners can celebrate the world cup or weddings with a good degree of comradery.

Too bad some of this good spirit cannot be found outside of the cafes and dance halls.

If you want peace then do not make enemies.

Israel does not want peace yet. They want to secure more land and resources. Hezbollah, Hamas, etc are trying to defend themselves and re-gain their lost land. Israel did not exist 70 years ago.

The anger against Israel is growing and if world pressure grows enough against the US support then Israel is in deep trouble.

Let this be a lesson to Canada. A country that does not have a strong military to defend its sovereignty gives up that sovereignty. Hezbollah is the defacto government as long as they have the might to keep the Lebanese Army at bay. Those killed this week are not just the casualties of war, but are victims of the Lebanese people who are unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to rid themselves of Hezbollah. Instead, their children are sacrificed. Remember Lebanon when we are asked to sacrifice our tax dollars for our own defense.

As others have mentioned and as the Israeli ambassador to the UN stated so eloquently yesterday morning, every life lost, every building detroys, every bridge dropped, every drop of blood spilled is the direct and sole responsibility of Hezbollah and their backers. All day long all we see are reports after reports of the damage in Lebanon, then we are trearted to two or three lines of "oh, by the way, 140 rockets and missiles struck northern Israel today killing x amount of civilians".

If Hezbollah, the Lebanese and the other Muslim neighbours of Israel want peace they need only recognize her right to exist and put away their guns. peace will break out immediately thereafter.

I also see above (in a previous post) that one writer was condemning Israel for its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. I wonder if they realize that back in 1948, when the Arab League lost the first war to Israel that the Jordanians and Egyptians snatched those two territories and refused to give them to the state of Palestine (as was dictated by the UN 1947 plan). More recently, the Israelis actually did pull out of Gaza,...they were thanked by a tunnel attack acroos the border that killed some six soldiers and kidnapped a seventh.

So what do we have? An attack into Israel by Hamas followed by a seond attack into Israel by Hezbollah. Tell me again,...who has precipitated this crisis and started a new war? How can any person, examining the cold hard facts, come to any other other logical conclusion.

All I'd like to say is that I am ashamed to be Canadian. Are we watching the same news, Mr. Harper? How can you support a country who kills innocents? Oh yeah.. right.. the Hezbollah kidnapped 2 soldiers. Does that justify their MASSIVE attacks?? Is that what you call "measured" actions?
By reading this board, I observe that there is a huge gap between the public opinion in Quebec and in the rest of Canada. Maybe we feel closer to the Lebanese people because of our common language, but I don't know anybody who supports Israel.
If being Canadian is supporting acts of cruelty, if being Canadian is being American, then I am definitely not Canadian.

I'm disgusted by some comments flying around. If you don't have family there, you don't have any right to raise ignorant opinion. I have lots of relatives in Lebanon, particularly in Qana. They have suffered ALOT. They fled already but they still have their houses and property there. Only one of my elderly uncles refused to leave his house because he wants to protect it from theft. We are NOT terrorists. The southern Lebanese are generous people and Israel has stained their image with disgrace. If Israel and the west want to flex their muscles, then go fight those of your own size, those who implanted militia groups within peaceful civilians.
At least HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE DAMN CONCERNED ABOUT OUR FAMILIES!!

As much as the loss of all these innocents should not be,(they should not have perished, they had fair warning to leave), the harsh reality is that Hezbola must be defeated. One must wonder why Libanon would welcome a terrorist group on it's territory, and not expect what is happening right now. Did the Libanese people ever stopped and wondered what triggered this war? If you welcome and protect a murderer, one day, you will, unfortunately for all the innocents, suffer the consequences.

RE:To Terry Rooney
To Michel:
First:Notice? There is nothing written regarding prior notice. Besides in your mind and Pro-Israeli blogs, where is the evidence, proof, that would be recognized by a legitimate court?
Second: What were the civilians, collateral damage? The Hizbollah, armed with the type of armaments the Israeli state has could target Israeli military with the same precision Israel has. Maybe then there would be no more than 400 - 600 Israeli collateral victims in stead of the 18 so far.
Third: Hizbollah has an objective to remove the Israelis from the Shebaa Farms that Israeli curently occupies. The Lebanese and Syrians agree the lands are Lebanese. Although the UN states they are Syrias, Israel has as much claim to these lands as they do to the other occupied lands they have stolen. What about resolution 446 telling Israel to give back the West Bank and Gaza strip to the Palestinians? Oh, I know, they're "terrorists" right? Because they're fighting for their own property against an occupying force that treats them like cockroaches, to be exterminated as soon as possible to allow for future Zionist expansion in the West Bank.
You should look beyond the world as you see it as the rest of the world is watching. If not for your American backing there would be 100's if not 1000's of UN resolutions condemning Israel.

The insinuations that Harper is a Bush lackey confuse me. Harper has represent conservative viewpoints for his entire political career, in fact he has tamed many of them down compared to his early years in the Reform party. When he expresses conservative values he is not moving towards Americanism, he is being himself. In a democracy (theorectically) we elect leaders for who they are, because we agree with their point of view. Harper is acting like Steven Harper, showing strength of character and integrity. If you don't like the conservative point of view and conservative values, then don't vote for them.
The Liberals wait until they can do a poll to find the most popular opinion before they express one, at least Stephen puts his opinion out there to be judged. Direct your anger at the Canadian electorate who put him there, or at Chretian and Martin who forced the hand of the electorate.

To Dwayne Albert from Ottawa:
"the onus now is on the Arab community to stop its war against Israel. And by war I mean verbal, actual or by proxy from countries such as Iran."

Your ignorance is amusing, especially considering all of your apparent reading. Iran is not an Arab state, Iranians are not Arabs. there is a big difference.

And if you think this war is against israel, then you should keep reading. this war is against innocent Lebanese civilians. period. israel traps them in the south, then drops leaflets telling them to flee. those that are able to get past the bombed raods and bridges, and can fill up their tanks from all the bombed gas stations, are being bombed on the road as they leave. Those that stay put are being bombed. south lebanon is becoming as flat as a pancake. The ONLY blameless here are the innocent Lebanese civilians.

Qana happened ten years ago. And here it goes again. What kind of sick message is the israeli government trying to send?

And anyone with a little brains would realize that Israel is producing more terrorists than it thinks it is killing. How do you make a terrorist? Kill his mother, father, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts...etc., demolish his house, kill his soul until all he can see is revenge. There is your recipe Israel.

Not that I am a fan of Hizbolla, but their attacks on israel with their katyoushas are peanuts compared to the 5 ton bombs israel is demolishing lebanon with.

When more children are dying than soldiers there is a serious problem. It makes you wonder who the real target is.

I think that Prime Minister Harpur has it right on by taking his present position on the crisis beetween Israel and Lebanon/Hezbollah.

Imagine if Windsor were being shelled by an armed group living in the United States. What would we as Canadians do? Move away? Apologize for being there? We'd demand that the US government close dowm the group that was shelling us. And we'd expect that they would honour our demand immediately.

The UN tried to do that with Lebanon by way of Resolution 1559, but Hezbollah is still there...with the blessing of what purports to be the Lebanese government, but which is in fact a puppet government of Syria, Iran and even radicalized militant Islam itself.

The true goal of Hezbollah is the destruction of Israel. Nothing less. Israel has a right to exist...without being shelled. Every Soverign state has that right. If Hezbollah and the Lebanese government has seen fit to allow rocket launches and munitions stores to locate in schools, residential neighborhoods and other populated areas, that's terrible. But they themselves have willingly planned where the targets will be and Israel has tried to warn the population to leave the targeted areas. The loss of life is absolutely horrific and so is the human suffering...on both sides. But Lebanon's appeasement of Hezbollah has unfortunately scripted the tragedy that is unfolding.

The militant Islamic script for Israel's population is equally chilling.

Hezbollah and the unchecked spread of fundamentalist Islamic hatred toward Israel and the West in general, must be dealt with. The buck stops here, whether we like it or not. Appeasement resulted in WWII. Appeasing Hezbollah and world-wide radicalized Islam, will ultimately have no less of a catastrophic effect.

How things can turn around on a dime!

When the Israeli Hospital in Haifa was targeted, we did not hear any outrage or regrets from Hezbollah. Luckily for Israel, Hezbollah does not know how to aim.

On the other hand, when Hezbollah fires rockets within meters of civilians hidden from view, and get targeted back, it is those civilians that are killed. Hezbollah had time to flee.

Quoting “freely”” Golda Meir (one of past Israeli presidents) said it so sadly: “The war will be over when they will love their children more than they hate us”.

This does not justify killings from any side. However, one side tries to avoid “collateral human damage” while the other tries to increase it!

Shame on all of you who watch the news and actually believe everything that is being said. It is sad to think that you people believe Hezbollah is using children as human shields. Hezbollah is in this war to protect the children from the real terrorists. It's about time Israel stood up and admitted to the crimes its military is committing. Enough lies.

After the horrific attack in Qana this weekend, this crisis in the Middle East is no longer about the differences in ideologies, religion, politics, skin colour, or history...it's been reduced to the base emotion of hate, hate of one person by another, and one person doing harm to another. Sympathies towards "a cause" are going to be hard to find from anyone. God help the human race.

I am extremely disappointed by Canadian Government. I always admired Canada's fair and liberal stance against world issues. My disappointment with UK and US started with the Iraq war and their faceless lie to the rest of the world about WMD. Now, seeing a country like Canada not responding to such a big tragedy of Lebanese people is the proof that center right governments are hijacking the real global issues and running their neocon politics. I hope Canadian public, like it has always been, wakes up to go against its government's indignity.

war is war is war. some comments suggest that --war should be conducted with gloves in hand ...that is humanely (and practically) impossible. during wars people get killed -- from both sides, i.e. soldiers, men, women and unfortunately children and innocent bystanders too. the issue is -- not to have "war" to begin with...and to find a solution before "war is necessitated". It is now -- over 2 weeks -- and it is impossible not to take sides depending on who we are --i.e. israelis, lebanese, hezbollah sympathiser etc...and last but not least..depending on who we believe is right or wrong and how we are educated. the simple solution is to find a modus vivendi...a livable solution before "war starts!" --How is that done? send all children and re-educate them to love, love and love "thay" neighbor and see the results after the next generation...voila. I rest my case.

The Lebanese Government is to blame for the crisis. They are the ones that allowed the Hezbollah to set up shop with the stated intent of destroying Israeli. Why are we surprised and outraged when many people get killed? If Canada allowed a group like Hezbollah to set up shop in Toronto with the clear intent of destroying the U.S. should the U.S. defend itself? And if so, wouldn't many Canadians die?
Personally, I'm tried of both sides trying to justify their actions. I'm tired of this conflict. It is an unfortunate reality that the Middle East conflict will never be resolved until one side destroys the other.
Even then I doubt it will end.

Funny, all sides believe that "thou Shall not kill".

What is taking place in the middle east is tragic. I think we can all agree on that. Who is right or who is wrong is not an easy question to answer; but consider this...

If Hezbolla laid down their arms we would have an end to killing and a chance at peace, if Isreal laid down their arms the killing of Jewish civilians would still continue. Who is committed to peace and who is not, I think it is obvious.

It is these sorts of events that prove the rule: violence begets violence. When civilian lives are destroyed, their anger generally gets chanelled into support for fighting back. And so, the killing continues on both sides.

It is unfortunate that Israel played into the hands of Hezbollah, who were looking to create conflict. They succeeded. Although I hear so often that Westeners cannot know what how best to deal with Middle East issues, there is always more than one effective option. As one Isreali woman recently stated in a CBC interview, a real hero is the one who can convert his enemy into a friend.

It's so funny to come on this website and see so many US bashers and calling Harper "Steve" aka Bush poodle etc. You have all become victims of the liberal media and too stupid to do your own research and form your own opinion. Also, you should ask yourself - could any Canadian leader actually drive a solution to this conflict? Chretien? What leverage does Canada have on the world stage - NONE!

Secondly - the bottom line is this: As long as Israel exists, there will never be peace in the middle east - period. The PLO ignored the OSLO accords, and if you re-established the pre-1967 borders, there would still be fighting - it's useless. I guess the US should stop supporting the only democracy in the middle east? Should the world sit by and watch the slaughter of the jews as well while the muslims cheer and celebrate? Would that make most Canadians happy?

Now - instead of reciting history and espousing whatever rhetoric the liberal Canadian media is serving up these days - how about what the solution should be?? I'm all ears.

To Terry Rooney: Some facts - the king David Hotel's bombing in Jerusalem back in the 40's - there was a notice prior to the attack notifying people to leave the hotel before it took place with the attentioon that innocent people won't be hurt. Second, the Jewish organizations fought against men in duty and killing civilians indiscriminately wasn't part of their objectives (unlike Hizbollah). Third, Hizbollah has no reason to fight Israel since it withdrew to the blue line and according to UN resolution 1559 Hizbollah should have been disarmed. So, I guess the world does see it as a terrorist organization (not only Israel).

It is very clear to me what needs to happen in the conflict in the Middle East. I have read opinions from all sides in the last weeks. My conclusions are simple and I believe shared by most of the world. As deplorable as the loss of human life is in this conflict, the blame must be squarely put where it belongs. The Arab community as a whole shares all of the blame. Despite numerous past crimes committed by Israel, the onus now is on the Arab community to stop its war against Israel. And by war I mean verbal, actual or by proxy from countries such as Iran. Without the total condemnation and cessation of any aggression by the Arab community towards Israel it will never end. You can nuance every action from every side and the result will be the same until the worldwide Arab community ceases its anti-Israeli crusade. Until then, the world community and I will always support Israel in it’s right to self-defense regardless of the cost of human lives sacrificed towards this end.

Again, I am shocked and dismayed by the atrocities in Lebanon. These people have suffered enough and I just want this to end. In closing, I just want to say one thing: Blaming Israel does not equate to blaming Jews. How can one possibly blame a Jewish person for the decisions taken by the Israeli State? I have plenty of Jewish friends who are sickened by this. We have decided that we can't do much, but in giving to the Lebanese Red Cross, we managed to feel better about helping those in need.

I simply want the Middle - East countries to just say "Never Again" to this absurd, tragic (Massacre?) war.

Let us em-power the UN for a genuine and lasting peace in the region and around the globe.

It's mostly the innocents who pays dearly in every conflict currently raging, in Sri-Lanka, Congo, and Middle-east and not the warring parties.

I wonder where all these self righteous Canadians were when Canada was bombing innocent Serbian civilians in the name of Human rights?

Same question goes to all the Muslims outraged by Israelis killing Muslims but say nothing when Muslims kill each other, Christians, Hindus, Jews etc.

Those justifying Israels actions say Hezbollah is a "terrorist" organization hiding behind civilians.
In the 1940's the Zionist groups "Irgun" and the Lehi, called the "Stern Gang" by the British were both described as terrorists by the British at the time.
The goal of the Zionists was the establishment of a Jewish state in the lands called Palestine. Both of these groups used terror as a means to achieve their goals.
Former Israeli president Yitzhak Shamir was one of a triumvirate in the leadership of the terrorist group Lehi.
Shamir was originally a member of the Jewish terrorist gang "Irgun", which was headed by future Israeli PM Menachem Begin. Shamir later moved over to the even more radical "Stern Gang,"
Some of their terrorist actions included the assassination of Lord Moyne, the British Minister representative in the Middle East in 1944 and UN Peace Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948, after the establishment of the state of Israel, to protest his diplomatic efforts to modify the Palestine partition plan.
Shamir defended the various assassinations committed by the Irgun and Stern gangs on the grounds that "it was the only way we could operate, because we were so small. So it was more efficient and more moral to go for selected targets."
Menachem Begin as leader of the terrorist group Irgun was among other terrorist activities, responsible for the bombing in 1946 of the King David hotel in Jerusalem that killed 91 people, most of them civilians: 28 British, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews, and 5 others. Around 45 people were injured, many, innocent women and children.
They were the first terrorists who established the practice of hostage taking in the Middle East and the first who hanged hostages.
Hezbollah denounced as "terrorists" is a group that has been driven underground as a means to survive and fight a superior force.
However when it was useful to the Zionists in their effort to creat a Jewish state, it was justified as a means to an end.

An immediate ceasefire is what the world should be seeking at this time. Taking the position of "waiting for a lasting peace" is resulting in more and more deaths. Canada must take a stand even if the U.S. is unwilling to do so.

This is what will happen when a relatively small militia group faces an experienced and trained army. Fear should been seen in the eyes of there leaders for the young Hezbollah fighters. The death of every Hezbollah will only lead to the peace treaty being called for by the Lebanese government not the Israeli.

Jesse

There is one big difference between Israel and Hizbollah (or Hamas, Islamic Jihad etc for that matter). Israel doesn't target civilians (although in a war innocent people get hurt unfortunately, especially when militants shot within civilian population), while Hizbollah is firing missiles in order to kill as many civilians as possible. When Israeli civilians die in a "succesfull" suicide attack or a missile attack or whatever...the whole Arab world is chanting in the streets, so happy Israelis have died. I haven't seen Israelis happy about loss of innocent lives in Lebanon. That, in my oppinion, represents the big difference in these 2 cultures.

Stephen Harper shouldn't be taking a side on this issue.

Civilian death is a tragedy. The bigger tragedy is that Israel and Lebannon have no insurmountable quarrel with each other save and except the fact that Hezbollah uses Lebannon as a base of operations for its terrorist attacks inside Israel (thousands of rockets fired indiscriminately this year alone). I think the real fight is between Israel and Syria/Iran (who have a stated policy of wiping Israel off the map). Unfortunately both of these countries are well aware of what would happen if they confronted Israel directly so they fight their proxy war and the Lebanese are quite literally caught in the crossfire. Isral is the stronger combatant and it is human nature to feel sympathy for the underdog. I feel for the lebanese but make no mistake, Hezballah are murderers and Israel ultimatley is in a fight for survival. To achieve long term peace on the north border of Israel, the only real answer is to stop the proxy war being ewagfed by Iran/Syria.

The fact that people can even argue that destroying the infrastructure of an entire country and killing hundreds of civilians in response to the capture of 2 soldiers shows how one-sided and unbalanced their thinking is. There are hundreds of Palestinians that have been captured and kept in jail for months with no official charge against them all in the name of "security". Somehow this is ok for the Israelis but the capture of TWO of their soldiers justifies the horrors we read about in the paper every day. For too long the world has been reluctant to criticize Israel, who are always portrayed in the media as "victims" - but the media "spin doctors" will not be able to disguise this naked aggression and dispoportionate use of military force

How can the civilians leave when the Israeli military keeps targeting civilian and aid convoys over and over and over again.

I would like to see an anchor or journalist ask this question the next time an Israeli spokesperson say we told the civilians to leave.

I think the world is in a very sad place when a country is absolutely villified for doing what any other country would have to do under similar circumstances. It is horrible that Israel has to defend itself against attackers so cowardly, that they must hide behind Lebanese women and children with their rocket launchers. But as a country, Israel cannot let its population be in harms way. When approximately 100 rockets land each day in Israeli cities from those very same rocket launchers, when 1 million Israelis are displaced or living in bomb shelters for protection, instead of blaming Israel for having to defend themselves, some should offer solutions to get Hezbollah rocket launchers off the streets, to keep Hezbollah on the Lebanese side of the UN accepted border, and to disarm Hezbollah so that Israeli and Lebanese children could live in peace.

The major building collapse that occurred in Qana occurred 6 hours after the building was struck. Why weren't those people evacuated? Could it have something to do with the fact that there was a Hizbollah rocket site right next door, and they didn't want to lose their human sheild? Why is there no mention of the large number of rockets that had been fired into Israel over the previous few days from Qana? (And why is it that CBC isn't asking these questions?)

I just want to point my comments at the malicious smear of the media in disseminating the propoganda that Hezbollah "hides behind civilians" - a convenient re-arranging of facts to suit the Israeli apologists. Ofcourse one wonders why the media "bends over" to promulgate the Israeli version of events.

What makes this propoganda so vicious is that it seeks to provide an explanation as to why over 500 Lebanese civilians have died.
------------------------------

The "hiding among civilians" myth
Israel claims it's justified in bombing civilians because Hezbollah mingles with them. In fact, the militant group doesn't trust its civilians and stays as far away from them as possible.

By Mitch Prothero
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/28/hezbollah/index_np.html

And let's be clear, this whole kerfuffle started not when Hamas kidnapped the IOF soldier, but when the IDF kidnapped a Palestinian Doctor two days earlier FOR NO REASON other than to harass and provoke Hamas:

Noam Chomsky says the IDF started this:
"It was when Israel abducted two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother. We don't know their names. You don't know the names of victims. They were taken to Israel, presumably, and nobody knows their fate. The next day, something happened, which we do know about, a lot. Militants in Gaza, probably Islamic Jihad, abducted an Israeli soldier across the border. That's Corporal Gilad Shalit. And that's well known; the first abduction is not. Then followed the escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which I don't have to repeat. It's reported on adequately."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=10577

WHY DIDN'T THE CBC REPORT THAT VERY SALIENT FACT?

The women and children in Qana killed like dogs by the Israelis were not held there as human shields by Hezbolla. They could not leave ... perhaps because the roads and bridges were bombed? Perhaps because the IAF targeted civilian convoys leaving the south, rocketing their cars and leaving charred corpses and childrens bodies strewn by the road. It is disingeneous to blame the civilians who were unable to leave for their own deaths or to say that Hezbolla used them as human shields. Look at the IDF in WB/Gaza where they DO use innocent Palestinian civilians as human shields and within Israel the IDF places strategic military installations beside Arab towns.

Harper is a disgrace. Shame.

I find it very interesting that Syria and Iran will soon be surrounded by US controlled or US supported countries. Afghanistan is controlled by the US, so is Iraq and the puppet country of Pakistan who has alway supported the US. Israel now controls Lebanon. Is it not only a matter of time before either syria or Iran get invaded or go to war now?
Even if Lebanon wants Hezzbollah out, how are they to accomplish that. The Lebanese army is useless and Hezbollah is probably the only group that can defend them if need be. Would you not support anyone who came to your defense in times of need? Right now, Hezbollah is all that Lebanon has in support of them! If the two soldiers this war was about (which I doubt, but is used as a minor excuse to invade a country) were alive before the attacks on Qana they will certainly be dead now. It's funny how a resolution is suddenly at had now that the attack is made public. So, which country is next Syria or Iran? Only time will tell.

hezbullah is 100% responsible for ALL the direct and indirect damages from this war. They constantly launch rockets from schools, mosques and hospitals and then scream foul when their launch sites are targetted. Israel can't ever win the propaganda war because of the world's double standard, but they certainly can destroy the TERRORIST hezbollah. Let the Lebanese lay the blame where it should be. If the Lebanese threw hezbollah out in the first place, this never would have even started.

Harper has lost my vote. If this is a measured response, I fear to think what it would take for Harper to call it excessive. What kind of sustainable peace can be built on war crimes? I fear that we are witnessing the foundation of a sustainable war. No more than 10 or 15 people have been

killed by Hezbollah rockets this month. As criminal as this is, is it proportional force that 1000 civilians, many of them children, have to pay for this with their lives? Would we respond to the presence of a gang killing by flattening the city they live in?

I voted for this government but now regret my choice. I also had empathy for Israel before this month. Both have lost my support and the support of most people I know. This type of extreme response will only flood the ranks of extremists on both sides and sow seeds of hate and conflict. Israel has fallen into the same trap the US did in Iraq. The extremists who initiated all this are likely happy to goad the Israelis to commit new attrocities,
given the growing support they are enjoying. While both sides are to be condemned for waging such a wantonly vicious war that kills more children than soldiers, the only way to peace is a unilateral unconditional cessation of hostilities. We should be applying all the pressure we can to achieve this, not giving Israel excuses to continue the slaughter.

First, remember the accusations in the Jenin incident reported over and over by news organizations for over 48 hour period that 10,000 Palestinians were massacred by Israel? The Israelis reported correctly that 56 Arabs died some of them civilians and 27 Israeli reservist died in the fighting. Israeli Army spokes person today showed a video of a rocket launcher firing two missiles into israel near the building that was bombed, they also report a possibility that the building collapsed 7 hours after they last bombed, and the building may have collapsed as a result of an explosion of something inside the building. Arab states and their media have an illustrious track record of lies to win the propaganda battle, CBC and other media have no means of own investigative reporting even when they so desire, most time they are content to report directly what the Arab propaganda machines dictate.
It really is not an issue of Israel‘s wrong doing (or not) but question of the behavior of individual soldiers or officers in the battle field in Qana. Israel’s policy is to minimize or avoid the killing of innocent by-standers at all times, at all cost. The civilians in Qana were warned about the pending attack and the army unit doing the bombing had every reason to believe that no civilians were there when intending to bomb the rocket launcher. Lets wait for facts, in any event Hezbollah must bear the brunt of the blame, not Israel.
Canada the US and thier allys have targeted with carpet bombing civilians in Germany, Serbia, Afghanistan and without Canada in Iraq. Give Israel at least half the lattitude you allow these countries.

I find it disgusting that on the very day that Israeli military killed a Canadian soldier several thousand "Canadians" had a rally in Toronto in support of Israel. Our loyalty should be with this fallen hero, not the country who killed him. Shame on our Prime Minister for not being more outraged by the, as the secretary general of the UN said, "deliberate killing" of our military serviceman.

Many are been very critical on Israel’s action. May I ask what Canada should do if we are under attack by constant kidnapping and terrorism when their ultimate goal is to push us out of the sea? What is the right action here?

... If Hezbollah is really fighting for their people, why are they firing their weapons within civilian? It is because casualties will gain support for them. They can fight away from the cities and the civilian, but they chose not too. They are the one who create civilian casualties. Then why are we always pointing fingers at Israel when it is trying its best to limit casualty?

It's time the UN authorized its forces into Lebanon to stop the Hezbolla from shooting rockets into Israel. Israel has the right to protect herself and if the world is going to critize they need to get in and help Israel end this stupidity on the part of Hezbolla.

1) It is Canadian policy to fight the war on terror. Hezbollah is on our list of terror groups.

2) The UN was observing for how many years? Was there no report to Mr. A that rockets were flying overhead? Would seem to me that the UN is responsible for this situation.

3) Where is the government of Lebanon? How is it that this terror group has taken over? It would be like as if the Bloc had there own army and was picking fights with the USA. The rest of Canada sits back and takes it from the USA as a response but refuses to do anything about the Bloc.

I'll admit that P.M. Harper should be more tactful in his approach to foreign policy at times. However I fail to understand why certain Canadians become angry every time our Government doesn't take the time to condemn something that happened in their former corner of the globe. Of course any tragedy is terrible but tragedy in the Middle East does not outweigh tragedy elsewhere. The unfortunate fact is Canada is not a World power and does not influence World policy to any significant degree. We're already doing our part in assisting global stability by serving in Afganistan. I'd rather have P.M. Harper concentrate on issues we can solve than taking the time to call a press conference every time something terrible happens in the Middle East.

What happened in Gana is unspeakable tragedy.

Violence begets violence which will never end until everyone can participate in solutions that include forgiveness, equality and sharing.

As far as Canada's position in the world, I hadn't realized how much it is determined by our prime minister. How can this happen?

Where are the voices of Canadians?

is the world gone mad if alaska was a country and was firing rockets into canada and killing canadians.what would you want done? this is going on today 140 rockets fired into israel.no one will listen and the killing goes on.the idf can show rockets sent from where they droped their bombs today.does any sane person thing the idf would want to kill those who are not trying to kill them. look at the history of the idf and
you tell who tells the lies. my father died at juno beach for canada. i love canada usa and israel g d be with those who hurt tonight.
russell hoffer lt. col. usmc ret.

Let us face it. Lebanon is the scapegoat used by America, Britain and Israel to lure Iran into the conflict. This will give Bush the excuse to bomb Iran. America and its allies will do anything to destroy Iran's quest for nuclear power. This is why Bush is giving Israel the green light to keep bombing Lebanon while hoping that Syria and ultimately Iran will eventually interfere. So far, Iran and Syria seem to understand the game and are keeping out of it.
As for Harper, he is either complicit in this game which is murderous and horrible for the innocent Lebanese, or he is a real simpleton. He will never get my vote. It does not matter who leads the Liberal party; they have my vote. Harper will lead Canada to become a target for extremist terrorists. I do not want to live in that Canada, because, it will lose the one important quality for all its citizens, which is personal security.

In 1999 NATO bombed by 'accident' Chinese embassy in Serbia, and some 500 civillians (collateral damage).
Yet no such outrage as the in the supposed 'intentional' attack by Israel on the UN? We can choose our victims.
There is no sincerity in apologies by Isreali government,
yet we can be sure of sincerity and pride in killings committed by Hizballah et al.
An just a reminder to all of us proud and indignant Canadians: massacres? invasions?
Perhaps we could ask the aboriginal nations what they think of this?

Stephen Harper's 'measured' response kills 4 UN observers.
Stephen Harper's 'measured' response kills 54 - 60 in Qana. At least half of them children.
Stephen Harper's 'measured' response goes against the commandment "Thou shall not kill".
By acquiescing to this gross line of action the blood is on all our hands.
Stephen Harper's measured response does not represent Canada or Canadians or true Christians.
It is time for 'Steve' Harper to wake up to his true Canadian roots and say something meaningful for all Canadians not influenced by geopolitical pressure but by human morals and ethics.

This war is insane. Hate breeds hate and exists on both sides of the border. My question is why hasn't our Prime Minister spoken out about the attack? It is appalling! Today, I am ashamed to call myself Canadian (actually, I've been ashamed ever since he stepped into office). It is a sad day when we as Canadians must wait to hear what George Bush has to say before our Prime Minister speaks!
I can only assume Mr. Harper still thinks that the deaths of 60 innocent civilians still count as "measured self-defence". So, the lives of 2 soldiers outweighs the lives of the innocent. Is that what I am suppose to teach my child? As a muslim in this country, I don't support Hezzbollah but ask since Lebanon has no army, how are they suppose to defend themselves against Hezzbollah or Israel? My fear is now that Israel will NEVER leave Lebanon, and this strike was done on purpose so that Israel can have an excuse to cross into and stay in Lebanon.

Shame on all the powerful world leaders! Those oh so mighty powers who are standing by watching as a country is turned into rubble and smoke. Who cares who started it, who cares who is to blame? Has no one learned anything from past experiences? Does no one realize that you only cultivate what you plant? For the last god knows how many decades these mighty powers have planted nothing but hatred, ill feelings, unfair decisions, frustration, poverty and opression. And now they are surprised that the beast they created is actually lashing out. Violence creates more violence, opression creates fundamentalists, poverty creates desperate measures, occupation creates resistance. What ever happened to live and let live? What ever happened to "never again"? Why is peace looking more and more like a fairy tale each day? The more violence you use and the more "terrorists" you prentend to kill, the more hate and retaliation you will get. It is high time to break this vicious cycle. Who is going to be man enough to step up and put an end to all of this, an actual peacful end that will be fair to all parties involved not just one sided justice?

The great educator Paulo Freire, in his work with the most disadvantaged groups of people in the world, spoke of how the oppressed unfortunately tend to internalize the values of the oppressors when they find themselves in a position of power. The recent atrocities committed by Israel, and sadly supported by the U.S., provide an excellent example of Freire's position. Surely, the current needless massacre of civilian populations in Lebannon rivals such historically appalling acts as the bombing of Guernica and nuclear holocausts on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Canadians, we ought to be ashamed that we are now tainted with the blood of innocents through "Steve" Harper's acquiescence to American hegemony.

How can the Lebanese be forced to support the Hezbollah, when they have always done so, by allowing them to grow and arm in Lebanon's back yard, sending missiles into Israel and then resuming their socker game? How can the Lebanese blame the Israelis for the dead children when it is apparent that Hezbollah kept the children there as human shields. What kind of people allow their hate for Mr. Bush to cloud their judgment and expect the people who have vowed "Never Again" to sit there as target practice for the Iranian and Syrian gangsters who have vowed to rid the Middle East of all Jews? Once they have finished with that plan, it will be our turn. Wonder if we will back off when the terrorists use babies and children as sand bags?

Sadly we have watched the UN be rendered an ineffectual puppet of the U.S. for reason of American veto power.
Despite global revulsion of the slaughter of civilians resulting from Israeli aggression.Still no ceasefore!

The Facts: Israel wants to live in peace,they are constantly getting killed in suicidal bombings,buses,market places etc.And more recently by rockets indisciminantly killing inocents,and lets not forget the 8 soldiers murdered on Israel soil and 2 or 3 taken hostage whom i suspect ARE dead and also the Hammas deal! All this from a bunch of thugs and homicidal murderers backed up by a couple of so called soveriegn nations(Syria and Iran)Yet articles that involve anyone of Arab descent can't seem to form the words that it isn't right to be doing these things to Israel and the U.S. and it would seem any other Nation that would dare say any thing to dicredit these actions. The World had best wake up and the more powerful leaders ought to be doing something about it!A cease fire is ludicrous,my heart aches for the inocents but the facts of the matter are,if Iran gets its hands on a deliverable Nuclear device everything I read over the last few decades will come trus and Nuclear war will follow.Wake up World,I don't want this for my children!

Although I regret the loss of life on both sides, what exactly do you expect Israel to do? If Hezbollah chooses to fire rockets from civilian centers and those civilians are more than willing to let them do that, what do you expect will happen? Should Israel just sit back and let rockets rain on their cities and villages simply because Hezbollah decided to fight dirty?
These “numerous“ Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails that Hezbollah speaks of, they mean all 3 of them? We are not talking about political prisoners here either – these are people with blood on their hands. One of them killed a little girl, her father and a policeman for no apparent reason. Wouldn’t you want a person like that in jail?
They claim that they are defending Lebanon. Please explain to me how coming across the Israeli border and taking solders hostage helps to defend their country? Wasn’t there a better way? Israel and Lebanon have been officially at war for decades. If the Lebanese wanted their prisoners back, couldn’t they negotiate a peace deal with Israel and make release of their prisoners part of that deal?

Condemnation is due for all sides in this conflict. The amount of force used by Israel cannot be considered a measured response. Furthermore, it amounts to collective punishment of the Lebanese people. Hezbollah has continued its futile political campaign that callously risks human life. The Arab governments (particularly that of Syria and Iran) that have not denounced this violence on both sides are complicit in it. And, the United States, Canada and other Western democracies have not done enough to stop this latest round of unnecessary killings. Every death that results in this conflict is senseless.

Israel's apology means absolutely nothing! They will keep bombarding and killing innocent peolple until these vivid images show what really Israel did in the Middle East since its "creation"/occupation.

Israel defends itself by saying that they informed all the civilians to get out from south of Lebanon. The Question is: How the civilian is going to get out if the roads are bombarded and a taxi ride from The South to Beirut costs $400 USD per person? Even the taxi driver is puting his life at stake in order to make this money, hoping that the israeli aircraft will spare them (at least for now).

There is no excuse for killing children, but when you use children as shields, fire your rockets where children play, You are part of the crime. Hisballa is just as guildy, have as mucg blood on there hands. It is a shame that the arab world can only use murders as there heroes, because they are impotent
to forfill there dream of sending all the Jews into the sea, Look to Africa, Sudan, Serbia , 10,000 civialns were killed to save moslems. No regrets then by the moslem world.
Its a game they play in the media. People know already of there sickness the hisbolla.
Tell the suni and the shites in irag stop killing eachothers children, where are there regrets.

What Israel is doing now, it is to force the Lebanese people to help and support the Hizbollah. What do you expect the Lebanese to do when they watch countries like the United States, England and all their allies be on Israel's side and not speaking out about the killing of thousands of civilians in their countries. If they do not help Hizbollah, who will help and support them? Who will speak against the terrible killings of their country's men, children and women?

The hatred between the Muslims and the Jews is so deep who could bring them to live in peace with one another?

I was in Israel seven years ago and have observed the way the Jews and Palestinians behaved with one another. The hatred is so eminent you can feel it. I have seen young and old Palestinians being turned back at checkpoints by young Jewish soldiers for no apparent reasons other than they just did not like their faces. These Palestinians were trying to go to Jerusalem to work in order to feed their families. One of them told us that this was the second day in a row that he was turned back. His children and wife had had nothing to eat for days now. What do you think that this young man will do if asked by a terrorist to join their movement?
Poor people and people who have no rights are more likely an easy prey for these movenments.
The Jews and the Muslims are taught at a young age to hate and distrust each other.
I have also observed, in the Old City of Jerusalem, young Arabs, on their small bikes, intentionnally run into Israeli soldiers patrolling the area. They seemed so proud of their action and I could not help but be surprised and saddened by this.

All this talk about people conforming to their interest... what interest is that exactly? Israel provides no oil, has no real resources to speak of, destabilizes the region, and is the cause of the terrorism that seeks to hurt us in the west.

There is no interest to us other than the Israeli lobby which has so many of our politicians in their pockets.

"Steve" Harper, in his backing the Bush line, has become George Bushs' poodle. If he keeps it up, our kids will be taking the maple leaf of their backpacks when they travel.

I no longer see any sincerity in the "repeated" apologies from the Israeli government. If Israel was sincere, it would stop shelling and bombing unnecessarily the Lebanese civilians. Excuses like "Hizbollah is using civilians as shields" is simply a pretext to kill. The UN post attack in the south of Lebanon which killed 4 UN observers is another example of this false excuse from Israel. UN stated that no presence of Hizbollah was in or around the UN post the day of the attack. Israel has not contradicted this UN statement publicly but again "apologized"...

I wonder why are the Jews the only ones feeling the need to regret?

I have not heard any regrets from the Arab nations for starting this war - have you?

I'm somewhat surprised that Israel is even expressing regret, considering that it has already killed hundreds of civilians in similar attacks.
Nevertheless, Israel still blames the deaths on Hezbollah. Baby steps...

I never cease to be amazed at how those that propose to all that they are so 'God' fearing -i.e. fundamentalist Christians -read Bush,Harper et.al- are so certain that might is right & God is on "our' side.The U.S has much to answer for for its wanton destruction of life and civilization and its support of the same by others.I am totally ashamed of our government by its silence and/or open support of such ruthlessness.The loathing that is being generated is most understandable and frightening. WHO ARE THESE HATEFUL PEOPLE THAT PURPORT TO LEAD??They leave the world in tatters with little hope for today or tomorrow.History has taught nothing.

I believe what Harper did and said was based on Canadian interest, although I think maybe he followed Bush a little bit too closer than he, as the prime Minister of Canada, should. It is very sad that not many people in the world really tried to help Lebanea people, and what most people did or said, either supporting or against Israel, is actually based on their own interest.

WHY?!!! How many more civilians will the world stand by and watch the total destruction of a country by Israel? Where i sthe Arab world, standing by while Israel destroy Lebanon. It goes to show the double standard of the USA and how the UN serves no purpose at all if the call for even a 72 hour ceasefire is not being heard by Israel. When Sadam was given so many UN resolution along with the false pretence of WMD, the USA used these are the basis to destroy Iraq and now it is siding with Israel while children and families are wiped out. WHY?

Regret in Lebanon? What about regret at home?

We haven't heard a word from Prime Minister Harper condemning Israel's latest atrocity.

Perhaps he's still waiting for President Bush to tell him what to say.