Grim proof ordinary folk are dying in the killing zone

PARKED outside the small general hospital in Tyre is a badly refrigerated lorry container in which are stacked the bodies of 91 Lebanese civilians, 55 of them children.

The bodies have been placed inside black plastic rubbish bags and labelled in anticipation of the time, days or weeks from now, when their surviving relatives - if any - can come to collect them.

The stakes in the Israel-Hezbollah-Hamas war are significantly higher than most observers understand. If Hezbollah and Hamas win—and winning just means surviving, given that Israel’s objective is to destroy both entities—a powerful state will have suffered a new kind of defeat, again, a defeat across at least one international boundary and maybe two, depending on how one defines Gaza’s border. The balance between states and “fourth generation warfare” forces will be altered world-wide, and not to a trivial degree.

This is obviously the outcome of the newly emerged Hebraic arithmetic laws. For 2 kidnapped Israeli soldiers who are still kept alive, 500,000 innocent Lebanese civilians are displaced. For 2 abducted Israeli soldiers, Lebanon, a sovereign state, is brought back down on its knees. Its civil infrastructure is ‘gone’. Some of its capital’s residential quarters and southern villages are already wiped out. Indeed, ‘two equals half a million’ is the new arithmetic the Israelis insist upon imposing on the region. Is it that surprising? Not at all, as predicted by Gershon Sholem already in the 1930’s: once the Jews start to speak Hebrew, it won’t take long before they consider themselves to be God.

The United Nations’ top human rights official said Wednesday that the killing and maiming of civilians under attack in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza and the West Bank could constitute war crimes.

“The scale of killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control,” said Louise Arbour, the high commissioner for human rights.

Cole condemned hezbollah's arrest of jewish soldiers. "I roundly condemn Hizbullah's criminal and stupid attack on Israel and escalation of a crisis that is already harming ordinary Palestinians on a massive scale." (Juan Cole `The Beginning of a New War? Will it Spill over on Iraq?' July 13, 2006). He believes that hezbollah should have done nothing to bring about the release of its soldiers who are being held illegally in the jos.

Israelis inspecting a house damaged by Katyusha rockets, fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon,
in the northern city of Karmiel 15 July 2006. (MaanImages/Moti Milrod)

The patterns and routines of the war have become evident in the last eight days. The day usually begins with huge headlines about overnight Israeli operations meant to buck up morale with reports about tons of explosives dropped into Hizbollah hiding places or ground operations by elite special operations forces hunting Katyusha launchers or Hizbollah squads trying to infiltrate Israel across the northern border. By mid morning it becomes evident that the tons of explosives did not manage to kill the Hizbollah leadership, and the guerrilla group's rockets begin flying into Israel, hitting towns and villages throughout the Galilee. But by noon, a relative, tense calm descends over the hills of northern Israel. IDF cannon fire continues into south Lebanon, the air sorties continue over Tyre, Beirut, eastern Lebanon and everywhere else the IAF spots suspicious trucks. And then, in the late afternoon, as dusk begins to settle over Galilee, just as it seems that perhaps the day will have passed without significant casualties on the Israeli side, a barrage of rockets flies into Israel's northern cities and the cycle resumes.

 From Lebanon, we turn to Gaza, where a parallel Israeli assault continues to claim lives on a daily basis. On Wednesday, 30 Israeli armored vehicles entered Gaza's Mughazi refugee camp at sunrise - just hours after Israel's withdrawal from northern Gaza on Tuesday. Israeli soldiers occupied the camp while bulldozers leveled the surrounding farmland. An Israeli drone fired a missile into the edge of the camp. Six Palestinians were killed and over 50 injured in the attack.

 As the Israeli assault on Lebanon enters its ninth day, Hezbollah is continuing to fire rockets into Northern Israel. We go to Haifa to speak with Israeli historian and author Illan Pappe about the crisis.

 In a major military operation in Nablus this morning, Israeli forces attacked the Palestinian Security Headquarters and arrested over 150 national security officials. Three members of Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed resistance wing of the Fateh party, were killed in the operation.

Israeli jets have dropped bombs on an area of southern Beirut where senior Hezbollah leaders were thought to be sheltering.

Hezbollah said none of its leaders were killed during the air strike.

Israeli military officials said dozens of aircrafts dropped 23 tons of explosives on the bunker in the Bourj al-Barajneh section of southern Beirut.