Here is a link to an article “Break The Silence” that discusses the current situation in the Middle East. It is written by a friend of mine, Miriam Azar who is half Lebanese — I don’t recall which half.
It was interesting to read the article to get a perspective on the situation from a Lebanese point of view. Usually I myself have no interest in politics or political statements; I find they tend to be subjective and biased towards whatever “beliefs” an individual may or may not have. I like to look at the cold, hard facts so I can form my own opinion. In this particular case I agree with Miriam when she says that the Israeli attacks are disproportionate in reaction to having two of their soldiers captured. Yes, that’s right: two soldiers. Not twenty, not two hundred. It seems to me like just a convenient excuse to allow Israel to “justify” their attacks. What I don’t understand is that if the problem is Hezbollah, as Israel claims, then why can’t both the Lebanese and Israeli governments co-operate to flush them out? Perhaps send in ground forces. It would appear to be a more effective and certainly less destructive solution than air strikes! Why hasn’t this been suggested before? What if the Lebanese government has no interest in getting rid of Hezbollah? I will leave you to ponder that one as I certainly don’t have an answer.
Finally, while reading an article on the BBC website about the current situation in the Middle East, I came across a comment that I found amusing made by somebody called Steve Goss:
” Israel is acting with tremendous restraint, were they targeting civilian populations there would be thousands upon thousands dead.”
Restrained? Interesting point of view. No prizes for guessing which country he is from! I guess everybody is entitled to their opinion; we live in a democracy after all as politicians like to continually remind us.