Mideast Dispatches

Steve white? are you daft, do you even read the news, war crimes are being committed by Israel in Lebanon and Gaza, you probably actually believe Israel when they say bombing the clearly marked UN post after repeated warnings was an accident or do you take the view of our biased prime minister and blame it on the UN itself.
Israel like real terrorists has no concern for
The safety of civilians or unarmed military observers yet this murder and destruction continues all in the name of the so called war on terror and all the while
Planting the seeds for tomorrow’s extremists.

Connect the dots..
Both hamas and hezbollah are known internationally as terrorist organizations.
As such, they have no qualms about attacking civilian targets directly and intentionally, as seen by the rockets launched and the suicide bombers, and to endanger their own women and children by firing rockets from within civilian locations, hoping to gain media points if their own civilians are hit.
Both organizations have dedicated , as a main objective of their existence, the complete destruction of Israel.
Both organizations are not and have never been interested in a lasting peaceful co-existence with Israel- no matter what is offered(see above note)
Both organizations receive support financially and militarily from Iran.
The president of Iran has publically stated his intention of wiping Israel off the map, and has declared that this will happen soon.
Iran has been working on obtaining nuclear weapons capability and will probably reach that goal soon.If they do , it is quite conceiveable that Iran will use Hezbollah's forward missiles to bomb Israel with nuclear warheads.
Should Israel try to stop this?

How far would Canada go faced with a similar threat?

What is deemed to be in the best interest of the children. A 48 hour cease-fire to move the children and their stressed families. This makes a lot of sense. Some person thinks that a child should be ripped out of their home, bed, toys and neighbourhoods to go where. A bunch of tents, yes its better they live, I agree. But what are these big men fighting over really. The big adult words: It's MINE! Yes I am a peace activist but also a realist knowing only one side can be right and that's the guys who can drop the most bombs and kill the most people and children, folks. I also know that being moulded news society, comments like mine can not get out to the people so I expect to be squashed because questions like who are the "children" and who thinks the bullies need to be stopped? OHH! who are the bullies, maybe thats us. Stop the hypocracy and the double minded apathy and get off the pot!

Assume for a moment that Lebanon is North-Korea...I guess the USA and Israel would think twice before droping one single bomb!
They all talk about Isreal's rights to defend itself. Who is defending the innocent Lebanese civilians?
Is it not an incentive for everyone to build a nuclear capability? I think that it will happen soon. A future Hizbollah-like group could get some kind of nuclear devices and impose their rules without firing one single rocket.

Re.: Archetypal "RIVALS"
It's painful and dreadful to witness such strife, still...
It's painful and dreadful to watch the use of the same outmoded solutions, resulting in the same outmoded outcomes...
It's abominable the violence and the horrific pain inflicted on so many.
Disregard for the preciousness of every human life cannot justify any man's inability to strive consistently and unequevocally towards peaceful solutions, no matter on each side of the (inexistent) line of separation he lives on.
Perhaps one day soon, we, as peoples, will only accept another man as a leader if his most honourable skill is the ability to achieve peaceful and harmonious solutions to any adversity presented to him. And perhaps that will only come if we teach children today to achieve I win-You win solutions, instead of I win you lose...

Shame on you Mr. Harper, for attributing to violent acts causing harm, death and destruction, the definition of 'measured response'.
My Canada can only represent my values as a Canadian if it continues to represent PEACE AND JUSTICE FOR ALL --- unprejudiced.

With a bleeding and sorrowful heart which goes out to all innocent victims, no matter where you stand, I offer the words from Helen Keller, a woman blind, yet possessed of such magnificent vision.
She said:
"It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui." -

As a mother and a woman I'm shocked that the rest of the world is watching what is going on , and not demending to stop this sensless war! After seeing the pictures of little kids killes on Saturday I'm asking all the politicians, would you be able to sacrifice your family for your political ego?

Like children fighting in the play ground it must be stopped. No matter the size of each child or who is winning. We are all children of God no matter what your religious beliefs are. Now is the time to stop fighting and think about a better resolution. Suffering on both sides is not the answer and both sides know that is the truth. Look to your faith for answers, not your weapons. Share the land and live in peace, and set an example for people who do not believe that peace is possible, and you will win them over. Look to the future and forgive the past, for it is the past that is dark and the future that will be bright.
We always try to rationalize and justify a situation when the answers and solutions are much more simple than we think. It is possible to forgive without forgetting, for that will help prevent it from happening again.

Where is neutral, peaceful Canadas input into all of this. Why is Stephen Harper not condeming the atrocities occuring in Lebanon and the reprehensible conduct (as usual) by the US and Israel. I feel that the majority of the Canadian people are appalled by Israels use of force and agreeable to an immediate ceasefire. Stop the killing NOW and talk later! Are your puppet strings too tight Steve?
I am neither an Arab or a Jew but am starting to realize the justification of hate that the arabs have towards westerners and it scares the **** out of me. Please give to the Red Cross or some other organization to do something as it seems we are powerless as average Canadians to do anything else but watch in horror.

If the world declares I must share my land with you so you can build a home because they say it is just, I will be angry and try to remove you from it because it is not fair.
If while trying to remove you from my land you end up with more than before, I will be angrier and try harder to get back what was once mine.
If the world declares you must give back the extra land you took from me, I believe you should, even though I am still angry at having to share my land with you.
If you ignore the world that gave you part of my land and build a larger home on it giving various self-serving reasons, is it fair?
If I am relegated to poverty and misery by actions of yours, while you become rich and fat at my expense, is it fair?
If while I languish in poverty and misery, you decide the conditions in which I will live and die while the world watches, is that humane?

The actions of both sides in this insane military action are reprehensible. Our Canadian government stands by and says little while environmental and human rights disasters are occurring on a horrific scale.

If the baggage of history, religious rights, and outside meddling are left out of the equation, what is left is just plain murder.

In the war of words about who is more at fault in the current Middle East conflict, perhaps some readers who claim to be objective (as if that's possible) would like to address 4 simple questions:

1/ Who is the occupier, invader, and who is seizing more land (and water)?
2/ Who has more military power and domination by a factor of a thousand to one?
3/ Who has killed more civilians and destroyed more civilian homes and infrastructure?
4/ Who has the full backing of the U.S. government?

Or perhaps there are those who really want to simplify things by taking the myopic view that the history of tensions really began just a few weeks ago with the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldier, and we can simply ignore all the inconvenient facts of the past half century?

When will Israel realize that they will never have peace until they deal fairly with the problem of the occupied territories that they captured in the 1967 war. The UN has repeatedly voted that this occupation is illegal and should be ended . History has taught us that you cannot forcefully take another people's lands and then continue to occupy them and expect them live beside you in poverty and not expect some sort of violent resistance. It took years but the colonial powers in Asia and Africa were eventually overthrown as the local people took back the power and the land they rightfully deserved. Why would the Palestinian people be any different in wanting a fair deal and at least some of their land back? And as for the much touted Israeli reponse that "they attacked us and we won it in a war" - imagine the turmoil and violence that would have resulted in Europe if France, Britain and USA had decided to establish a permanent "occupation" in Germany after their defeat in WWII. There is no good reason not to give back the lands taken in the 1967 war other than an ongoing "land grab" and settlement expansion being pursued by the Israeli government.

The main quesion i want to some answers for is do we think that what israeli do in palestine and lebanon is fair and acceptable?. well for myself if i dont respect anyone or even consider myself vulnerable to punishment for my acts i can do whatever i want. i think they should show some respect for the world unless it is universally accepted that they can do whatever they want. What hezbollah did was nothing but a tiny thing compared to what has been committed by isreali for decades. according to Newton law "each action has a reaction which is equal in magnitude". if isreali stop their actions they wont get any reaction. let us try to be fair and hope that one day peace will prevail.

Hi;

Why is everyone so excited by Ms. Ayed's stories? They seem quite good. In one she simply describes the state of Beirut compared to the `old Beirut' which to her is the one she lived in for the past 2 years. In the other story she basically let Mr. Lahoud give his opinion. There was very little personal colour in either story - a description.For balance there ar reports from Tel Aviv and Haifa - on the CBC.ca. As for her credentials, her bio indicates that she is from Wpg, did all her journalism studies in Canada, and has won North American awards for her work. Besides, in the end if we don't like a report, we're
all free to argue about it.

The southern people, the displaced , the victims that all we keep hearing about. We all have to remeber that it was the southern people who voted for the resistance in the south in 2005 election and the slogan of the that southern election was " a vote for hizballah is a vote for the resistance, more than 60 percent of southeners turned up and voted for the resistance. The people in the south are now being held acountable for their vote. I know there was no other option in the south except for hizballah, but they should have done what the chistians did in the 1992 election and boycotted the election. This would have sent a message to hizballah that it's time to built a new lebanon and the border must have peace. The shia community has been kidnapped by hizballah, and i do understand why, the shias have been marginalized in the lebanese community since the creation of the state of lebanon, they have had fuedal leaders like kammel assad who did nothing for them but the question remains , does 60 years of marginalization allow them to destroy the county? If it does than they have a justified cause but if it doesn't which seems more logic, they need to revolt against this iranian style of leadership and replace them with more moderate , younger, secular leadership that is going to keep the shia political power on the same level as all sects and at the time lebanize the shia community in lebanon. When people talk about hizballah , they talk about mousa alsader> If mousa alsader was alive , he would not turn the south into a batteleground for the us and iran. So please enough about alsader. The southerners are paying the price for what they choose and the only lebanese sect can change anything in lebanon by avoiding a civil war will be the shia community. No body can disarm hizballah by force without taking the country into a civil war therefore the ball is in the shia community.

Unfortunately it is hard to be objective about anything that Israel has done lately. I think that what many people, including reporters, have good reason to react strongly to Israel's legitimacy or justification for the slaughter of innocent civilians in Lebanon. It seems to me that what drives people to be revolted is the double standard of countries like Israel and the United States.

These governments go around the world taking the moral high ground and preaching about the horrors of genocide and the barbarism of terrorism, yet when it serves their purpose they behave the same way.

The National Post in a recent editorial touches on this issue to some extent in that they point out that we don't expect much from countries or groups like Russia or Hezbollah, yet we do expect Israel, the Middle East's only true democracy (sic), to do better.

It seems to me that the citizens of Israel were under no great threat from the christian suburbs of southern Beirut. So why the overkill? It makes no sense and it increases our perception of hypocrisy on the part of Israel and the United States who decry the barbarism of terrorist acts of a similar magnitude.

Personally, I think that the killing by any state of innocent citizens no matter where they may be is a crime against humanity. The number of lives lost is not a criteria for judging a crime but when it is deliberately perpetrated by a state it is a war crime.

Every time I read any report from any news person from the Middle East I don't see the pasion for the place that I see in Nahlah Ayed.

I saw her interview with the Lebanon's PM and not only did I see see his no-nonsense leadership but also Nahiah's feel for the place. I got a sense of the tradegy of what's happened to the the Jewel of the Middle East.

I'm a history buff so I find it sad that people that are related (Geneticaly) and should call each other brothers should instead call each others enemies.

I guess it's "A little more than Kin and a little less than Kind"

Ms Ayed should be ashamed. Almost every journalist reporting on the middle east conflicts shows at least a thread of journalistic objectivity. Not Ms Ayed.

Her interview with the president of Lebanon tonight was a lovely piece of total one sided journalism. Did she get her credentials from Al Jazeera ? Was she not able to ask one tough question of this excuse of a president, as every other journalist has done in their interviews with Israeli officials ?

I think we would be better served if Ms Ayed were given the post of top canadian correspondent reporting on the elections in Congo, perhaps there her personal bias would not be so evident

I just wonder why no one in your wonderful CBC reports of 500,000-700,000 internally displaced people in Israel?