Lebanon is in the crosshairs once again

As always, things have precedence, and you have to decide what was the inciting event. In my view, the inciting event in the present case, events, are those that I mentioned — the constant intense repression; plenty of abductions; plenty of atrocities in Gaza; the steady takeover of the West Bank, which, in effect, if it continues, is just the murder of a nation, the end of Palestine.

—Noam Chomsky
Democracy Now
July 14, 2006

By Nancy Hedrick

The powers-that-be expect that you will have forgotten (or have never known) many things about the historical relationship of Israel and Lebanon, especially the history of Israel’s incursions and bombardments during the Lebanese civil war from the ‘70s through the mid-90s. They can also expect that in light of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, you will forget the current situation in Gaza.

If the peace movement is to help put out the fire, keeping these things in mind will be key:

(1) Remember who is the Goliath in this picture.

None of Israel’s neighboring countries or the political-military groups of Hamas and Hezbollah come close to the military might of Israel. Israel receives the highest rate of per capita U.S. foreign aid of any country and has one of the world’s most powerful militaries.

(2) Remember what terror is.

The “conventional wisdom” certainly labels Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorists, but often says nothing about state terror. This simplistic view doesn’t adequately encompass terror from the air, of a military with a powerful air force and navy, as well as sophisticated artillery (whether we are talking about what Israel has recently done to Gaza or Lebanon, or what the U.S. has done to Iraq). The Oregonian accounts don’t really give a sense of the magnitude of the difference between the damage inflicted by the different sides. Five hundred thousand Lebanese have become internal refugees as the result of this bombardment. The infrastructure attacks have created a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. Israel’s attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and Lebanon are examples of collective punishment, which is prohibited under Geneva Conventions and is illegal under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act; likewise, a similar critique invoking Geneva can be made of Hezbollah attacks on civilian targets, though the individuals impacted are smaller.

(3) Remember the past. History didn’t begin last week.

Ron David has cited estimates that the Israelis’ intervention in Lebanon from 1978-1992 resulted in over 30,000 Arab deaths (compared with 487 Israeli deaths). Cut-off dates are arbitrary: Chomsky describes Israel’s “limited war” of 1993, and Robert Fisk talks of the Israeli massacre in Qana, Lebanon in 1996.

The 1982 Israeli invasion was particularly intense. On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and by the beginning of August it had destroyed most of Beirut, and many areas on the way there.

The Quaker national Web site has this to say in interpreting recent events (www.fcnl.org):

“This conflict, despite repeated assertions to the contrary, did not begin with the capture of an Israeli soldier nor with the firing of Qassam rockets. These are terrible and condemnable acts, to be sure, but the history and reasons for this current crisis did not begin with them.”

(4) Remember what radicalized whom.

Much has been said of Hezbollah’s ties to Iran and Syria. No one mentions that Israel has savaged southern Lebanon — the area of Hezbollah’s base — in the past war, and that prior to that earlier conflict, Hezbollah did not exist. Yes, there are connections between various Muslim entities in the Middle East, but in the case of Hezbollah, who lit the fire? Not that these statements are an endorsement of Hezbollah: rather the intent is to note the one-dimensional nature of our news. For example, the media may not tell you about the meetings of rapprochement between Hezbollah and sectors of Lebanon’s Christian community during the post-war years-though this is not to say that such ties may not be destroyed by recent events.

Robert Fisk gives us context in a July 16 article:

“The Israelis were yesterday trumpeting the fact that the missile [fired on an Israeli gunship shelling Lebanon] was made in Iran as proof of Iran’s involvement... . Since almost all the missiles used to kill the civilians of Lebanon over the past four days were made in Seattle, Duluth, and Miami in the United States, their use already suggests to millions of Lebanese that America is behind the bombardment of their country.”

(5) Remember the role of the pro-Israel lobby.

The Israel-right-or-wrong lobby, through AIPAC and related groups, is a powerful source of campaign funds for our Congress. This lobby as well orchestrates well-coordinated letter-writing campaigns.

The letters to the editor or the comments made to those who oppose the Israel-centric view seem of two kinds: alternately either making the issue out to be too complex for outsiders to understand (e.g., you’d have to take years to understand it) or quite simple (i.e., it’s all about Israel’s right to exist or to defend itself). Well, in a way the intent of Israel does seem to be its right to exist: its right to exist as an indisputable dominant power. Demonization of Arabs is frequently an element as well.

Ron Wyden is one of the top 10 senators for career recipients of pro-Israel PAC funds, at $277,562. David Wu has received $2,000 this election cycle. Gordon Smith a few years back had a fund-raiser at the Portland home of Jordan Schnitzer, where former Israeli prime minister and master racist Benjamin Netanyahu was a featured guest. Blumenauer has improved on such issues, and he joined DeFazio in voting against a measure to cut off aid to the Palestinians (a cutoff which has been part of the Palestinian crisis conditions).

6) Remember the neo-cons, their ties, and their vision.

A number of the neo-conservatives associated with the Project for a New American Century, that vision of U.S.-world dominance, worked on Netanyahu’s 1996 electoral campaign. Netanyahu is one of the advocates of mass Palestinian expulsion, under the cover of world events (perhaps an invasion of Lebanon?). A key goal of the white paper that the neo-cons wrote for Netanyahu was rolling back regional challengers (see www.irmep.org/PDF/3-27-2003_Clean_Break_or_Dirty_War.pdf). The paper stipulated that the long-term plan was to engage Syria, Iran and Iraq in Lebanon.

The U.S. has taken on one regional challenger in Iraq. Israel has struck against the Palestinian resistance and people by bombardments, incursions, kidnapping leaders, and blockades.

There are no brakes from the Administration or Congress on Israel’s overkill (or EU-termed “disproportionate” actions). Indeed, a Guardian piece is sub-titled “Bush gave green light for limited attack.”

This Lebanon side-bar could be extended into an Iran or Syria attack, and it seems the conservative pundits are testing the waters for expanded U.S. or Israel aggression. (The frightening World War III gambit of Newt Gingrich!)

ACTIONS YOU CAN DO:

1. Listen: Democracy Now, excellent commentary (11 a.m. on KBOO, www.democracynow.org).

2. Read: Fisk, Chomsky, Phyllis Bennis, Beirut’s Daily Star. Perhaps Jimmy Carter will write about how the U.S. should suspend aid to Israel to influence its actions: he wrote such an op-ed in 2002. For history: Arabs and Israel for Beginners (Ron David, a quick read), Fateful Triangle (Chomsky), Pity the Nation: the Abduction of Lebanon (Fisk). A 2-piece article on Hezbollah was in the New York Review of Books in 2004.

3. Connect yourself: at local AUPHR (www.auphr.com) or national U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (www.endtheoccupation.org). A rally probably will have taken place before you read this, on 7/30 at 1 p.m. in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

4. Express alarm, make demands: ceasefire now and negotiate, or cut/suspend aid to Israel. Your Congress and White House are being barraged with the opinions of the pro-Israel lobby: we need to ask them to have the U.S. act now as a fair and honest peace broker. Don’t allow this tragic synergy of the Israeli and U.S. plans for expanded war to advance without your input.

WHAT COULD BE LOST:

In 2004, central Beirut was a gleaming example of reconstruction, renewed commerce and tourism, with the peaceful mixing of Lebanese ethnic groups at outdoor cafes, along the waterfront, and in the parks. Though poverty abounded in the outskirt areas of displaced Shia (refugees from the earlier war) and Palestinians (refugees from 1948 and 1967), there was a sense that the country was moving forward. The individuals we met, however, shared their fears that Lebanon could again become the pawn of external powers’ war games.

There is a peace movement in Israel, but it is a minor player in the public discourse.

The U.S. is deciding now how much the dream of a pluralistic and democratic Lebanon, with an economic future, was a fool’s dream. Will the peace movement take up the challenge? This is one of the Empire’s sub-plots and the Empire is writing the checks. Robert Fisk describes what we are paying for:

“It’s an all-out war against the economic infrastructure of a country that was at last beginning to look modern again, after the 15 years of civil war, which cost 150,000 lives.” (Democracy Now, 7/19)

Nancy Hedrick visited the Middle East in 2001 and 2004. She is an occasional writer for the Alliance.