Israel fires rockets into crowd of Palestinian civilians

Are we really convinced? "The US is sparing no efforts to bring a durable and lasting end to this conflict." (State Department spokesman) Meanwhile new weapons shipments to Israel from the US have been sped up to keep Israeli stocks ready for continued fighting. Im sorry every time I try to get the latest quick information on CNN. I see the smiling faces of my president and secretary of state. Why do we as responsible, respectable people leave crises such as these in their hands? They say we must address the root of the problem--Hezbollah and Hamas, to achieve a lasting peace. No mention of what has been sparking these movements to action the past 20 years enters their minds. If you have no background...Hezbollah has been asking for Israel's withdraw from land that has been under continuous occupation since the first invasion of Lebanon. (Shebaa farms) They have also been asking for maps of mine fields that have remained in southern Lebanon since the first war. Lebanese shepherds, children and villagers have continued to be the casualties of these mines 20 years on. They have asked for release of prisoners arrested for actions during the first Israeli invasion. They have asked that Israel respect its airspace and not carry out sonic-booms over southern cities to strike terror in all who live there. They have asked that Israel refrain from bombing civilian areas in their artillery attacks. All of these requests have been left out to dry and I would challenge you to find any mention of more than one by the Bush Administration or the mainstream press. They are not, because the US government will not accept any claims against the state of Israel, however legitmate and appalling. It just simply could have no bearing in reality. So long as American's continue to accept their governments position, which is no more than the position of Israel, there will be no addressing the roots of this conflict.

I will now leave this blog to silence as I retreat to a monastery for the week. I will be praying that the roots of this conflict will be brought before the eyes of the world, that we might use the conscience God gave us to address it with respect to all peoples involved. Salaam and Shalom.

"I am not saying that Muslims have not attacked and injured Israelis and Westerners in the name of Islam. But I am saying that much of what one reads and sees in the media about Islam represents the aggression as coming from Islam because that is what "Islam" is. Local and concrete circumstances are thus obliterated. In other words, covering Islam is a one-sided activity that obscures what "we" do and highlights instead what Muslims and Arabs by their very flawed nature are." -Edward Said

I think this comment speaks well to many views in the West that Hezbollah and Hamas are speaking solely out of an ideology of fundamentalist Islam. It might be helpful to trace the development of these groups...rooted in American supported Israeli wars of aggression/annexation. The situation you have today will not be solved by the classic wars Israel has been carrying out for the past half-century. The people of Palestine and Lebanon will not be silenced. This is because their cries are rooted in the demand for rights...rights to life, their homes, free movement, protection from annexation, abuse, arbitrary arrest...bombing. Such natural rights cannot be suppressed because they are at the root of our existence. Without them we will be driven to action, whether that be nonviolent protest and active work for our rights, in the best case, or militant/suicidal attacks. Hezbollah will only find more support when their children and other casualties rally once more hopeful hearts to their cause. Israel's bombing only demonizes them more in the sight of the whole world...excluding those who continue to believe in imperialism's divine righteousness. Take off the lenses of CNN/FOX/your government. Discover the history of this land and its people. I think were we to grow up in South Lebanon or Nablus, we would find ourselves not to far from their current stance in this ongoing. That being support for Hezbollah and Hamas- in a word the only groups massing active support for their rights, albeit at the cost of Israeli lives.

Might we in this light reform our handed imperialist views of these "flawed Islamist" people, and actually see them as people not unlike ourselves. Somehow by our hand and those we blindly aid we have created the call to violence if not "the need" especially in these currently abhorrent attacks. It is thus in our court to refrain from violence, or in the current case "silence", as the oppressor. Yes we are the oppressor... one only need see the US marked shells scattered throughout the dismembered streets of these places.

The WALL OF Hate

Here is a helpful educational piece if you have limited background on aspects of the conflict in Israel/Palestine. Just to help understand the resistance seen today. i.e. Hamas, Hezbollah

If you've always thought it was the sole role of Palestinians to raise their children to hate and endorse terrorism... here are some visuals from the Israeli camp. Yeah, those are most likely a gift we (Americans) gave to Israel, which they will now share with the people of Lebanon. Nice that someone took the time to write a note. (I won't share them here, but to see how the presents were received go here-http://www.sabbah.biz/mt/. It is our responsiblity as the original giftgiver.)

I am American. And I am shamed by my government. I am shamed by the indifference to Palestinian and Lebanese suffering. My national representatives have given absolute confidence to an Israeli military carrying out massacres on countless Lebanese and Palestinian communities. It's time to use our freedom America. It's time to be free from the bondage of "fair and balanced" reporting. Go here- http://www.arabvoices.net/archives/060719_190001av.mp3. Find the stories that won't be told on CNN or Fox News. I beg you. You want more look at the links on the side. Please don't bite the lies of defense. Terrorism is not reserved for small militant populations within a state. State terrorism is one of the most heinous ongoing problems in this world. Please if you aren't aware wake up to Israeli policy. Wake up to daily annexation, demolition of property, illegal arrest, indefinite imprisonment without trial, willful incursion and curfew...all this on land they do not inhabit or own. If you need documentation and number, concrete events, names, ages, etc. just ask!

It moves north once again. But please, by God, don't forget Gaza...don't forget Nablus and the West Bank which continues to be torn, perhaps more under the blanket of this new revived conflict. My American family please don't let your anti-terrorist vigor blind for you the humanity in South Lebanon. If it comes to proportion you have no choice but to side with Lebanon and Palestine. If it comes to cause and ideology, I suggest informing yourself on the historical plight of the region. I do not accept the actions of Hezbollah as justified, but I would remind you of the mirror image you will find in the Israeli military along the Lebanese border and all through the occupied territories. Neither party has a truly justified cause. The violence that has been escalated to a magnitude only conceivable with Israeli or American militaries is where we must realize there is a disproportionate use of force and rising numbers of massacres. As one who does not endorse any military resolution to conflicts I have no place condemning one and not the other. But for those with a say...meaning a country who supplies one of the key participants with over two billion dollars a year... we might at least afford critique. And that is what I see missing...eyes to see the political and military reality. Please look.

Yes a war. And they talk about how the stocks fell. They condemn Hezbollah. And they laugh around a table where the name G8 gives them all the influence over where the conversation goes. And we can forget the numbers of dead in Gaza, we can pass over Lebanese deaths with the label militant. It is absolutely fanatical.

It wasn't enough to take their land in all that is now Israel proper. You must find fault with them under your constant occupation, harassment, annexation, arrest, and demolition. Any chance to strike and lessen their grasp on the land. Don't you have enough? Haven't you stolen enough.

What do you all think? Does anyone know why Palestinians and Hezbollah are so upset? Does anyone understand this situation? Do you give them the same ability to defend themselves as Israel? Is it possible that Israel's actions can be labelled defense? How can Israel claim the capture of two soldiers an act of war, when the Palestinians and Hezbollah cannot even get attention when their people: civilians, soldiers, children are captured, killed, mutalated... It's unbelievable. I don't even know the half of it. If only freedom of the press brought us the voices of those families lying in wait to run their homes.

A little about the recent invasion of Gaza... http://www.arabvoices.net/archives/060705_190001av.mp3