Newsletter No. 349
Editorial-Opinion
August 2, 2006

 

Today, the Asahi Shinbun has written a very strong and sharp editorial on the situation in Lebanon.

THE CRISIS IN LEBANON
By the Asahi Shinbun

In the early hours of Sunday, an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanon village of Qana killed about 60 civilians, including at least 37 children, at a housing complex. According to the Israeli Army, the intended target was a missile launch site operated by the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.

However, the strike missed the target and destroyed an adjacent building. The civilian death toll in Lebanon continues to rise in the face of the unrelenting Israeli onslaught that began July 12. Even though Hezbollah continues to fire missiles into Israel across the Lebanese border, we are outraged by Israel's military excesses.

Last week, four United Nations peacekeepers, including a Canadian and a Chinese, were killed when a U.N. outpost in the town of Khiam was hit in an Israeli strike. It was only natural that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan bitterly denounced Israel for these two airstrikes.

Qana was the site of a massacre in 1996, dubbed the Holocaust of Qana. An Israeli air strike killed more than 100 displaced Lebanese citizens who had taken refuge at a U.N. facility. Sunday's massacre was the second for Qana in 10 years.

With gruesome images of the victims of Sunday's tragedy now circulating around the world, shock and anger are spreading throughout the Middle East. Any further escalation of conflict and confusion must be contained.

In the wake of Sunday's fiasco, Israel announced a 48-hour suspension of airstrikes, claiming time out is needed to ascertain why the strike missed its mark, as well as to let local residents flee to safety.

But 48 hours is clearly not enough time. Israel should extend the duration. And Hezbollah, too, must reciprocate by refraining from firing missiles into Israel.

The U.N. Security Council has a heavy responsibility to fulfill in guiding this moratorium so that it evolves into a permanent truce. France is moving for a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire and dispatch of an international peacekeeping force, and other European nations and the Arab world are basically in step with France.

What defies our comprehension is the attitude of the United States. While we give Washington credit for exerting pressure on Israel into suspending the airstrikes, we take strong exception to its refusal to denounce Israel in the UNSC president's declaration. Also baffling is Washington's wariness about calling for an immediate cease-fire.

From the standpoint of its war against terror, Washington obviously has no problem with Israel's attacks against Hezbollah. But as Israel continues to pound Lebanon with a ferocity that far exceeds self-defense, moderate Arab nations and European nations are growing increasingly critical of the United States.

If nothing is done, the international solidarity that has already been shaken badly by the mess in Iraq will simply crumble. Anti-American sentiment will further escalate, and the hoped-for "democratization of the Middle East" will remain nothing more than a pipe dream.

Any deterioration of U.S. leadership in the region will have a negative impact on continuing international efforts to get Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program. By extension, it could also throw cold water on attempts to resolve the impasse with North Korea over its nuclear weapons and other programs.

The Israeli government says it will continue its military campaign against Lebanon for at least another 10 days in an effort to rid the boarder area of Hezbollah.

The world must not allow Israel to go ahead. The United States must take immediate steps to persuade Israel to stop the battle and support an early adoption of a UNSC resolution.

COMMENTARY

1) From Reinhard Drifte of Newcastle University on August 3, 2006:

I had picked up earlier the Asahi editorial you posted today and was struck that in no way did this editorial refer to what the Japanese government has done / said (or rather not done / said) despite being member of the Middle East Quartet and the 2nd biggest economic power. Moreover, Hezbollah's "sponsor," Iran, is closely linked to 18% of Japan's oil imports. Instead Japan leaves it all to the US and the Europeans to do something about the destruction of an already weak state, Lebanon.

Of course, it is difficult to do something about the Israeli intervention, and it is even more difficult for Japan to chose between American and European (in itself split) approaches.