Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.08.2006, Blaðsíða 9

This article refers to the conflict between Is-
rael and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It shows why
Israel is only making use of its right to self-
defence. The motivation to write something
about this conflict has grown continuously the
more I read about it in European and Icelan-
dic newspapers. In particular, I was motivated
by some lines in the Reykjavík Grapevine,
which highlighted a demonstration in Rey-
kjavík of a so-called Icelandic-Palestinian
group against so-called Israeli aggression.
At the same time I had phone conversations
via Skype with friends in Lebanon – whom
I know from my studies at the Technion
– which were interrupted by sirens, warnings
about incoming rockets.
Hezbollah is using guided and unguided
artillery rockets against cities with hundreds
of thousands of inhabitants, making a normal
life north of Haifa impossible. Unfortunately,
the majority of European newspapers cover
this issue more or less only from the point of
view of Lebanese civilians who suffer enor-
mously from this conflict. But by showing
only one side, some newspapers even violate
their task to deliver objective information and
finally support the side that is responsible for
this mess.
According to the majority of European media
the roles are like this: on one side is the Israeli
aggressor invading Lebanon, while on the
other side Lebanese civilians are buried by the
Israeli Air Force. One reason for this picture
is the inf luence Hezbollah has on photogra-
phers and journalists in southern Lebanon.
Southern Lebanon under Hezbollah rule is far
from being a democracy like Israel. Hezbollah
threatens journalists with violence [1] if they
don’t act in their interest. Several journalists
reported that they were only allowed to take
pictures of destroyed apartment blocks and
civilian casualties [2], while it was not allowed
to picture the modern weapon systems or
heavily armed fighters of Hezbollah. Fur-
thermore, journalists in southern Lebanon
can only move with help from and under the
supervision of Hezbollah. Delivering objective
information is thereby actually impossible.
Under these conditions, it is at least very dif-
ficult for Israel to compete in the media war.
The imbalance of coverage in this conflict can
be seen in the pictures printed in Fréttablaðið,
showing long lines of Israeli tanks on the bor-
der of Lebanon, while not one single Hezbol-
lah fighter was pictured.
Some other examples of how easily some
European media became a fifth column work-
ing in the hands of an extremist organisa-
tion are the following observations. In this
conflict, Israelis are mostly shown as soldiers,
whereas Lebanon seems to consist only of
women and in particular dead children. No
Hezbollah position and Katiusha battery was
ever pictured, nor was there broadcasting
about the refugees inside Israel.
The problem on the long run: Iran
After nearly four weeks of news about this
conflict, the reason why the IDF is hunt-
ing down Hezbollah terrorists in southern
Lebanon came a little bit out of sight for
readers and listeners of European media.
During this time it was nearly forgotten that
the conflict was started by Hezbollah and
Hamas when they kidnapped three soldiers
in a well-prepared and professionally carried-
out operation. Even Israeli military members
had to admit that this was one of Hezbollah’s
best planned operations during which eight
Israeli soldiers died. Considering that Iran is
the major financer and supplier of Hezbollah,
it is hard to believe that the kidnapping of the
two soldiers was not initiated or at least sup-
ported by Iran. Iran needs this conflict to hide
behind and is probably just testing the western
world as to what extent they give the Israelis
a free hand in its actions for self-defence and
how far the west would go to support Israel in
a serious military conflict.
The real problem will show up in the
future. An Israeli with whom I have spoken
knows that Israel cannot win against the idea
of Hezbollah, as it is funded and motivated by
Iran (and it officially gets military-grade am-
munition from Iran and Syria). Israeli intel-
ligence sources reported that in several cases
the cargo f lights during the help and rescue
operation for the victims of the Bam earth-
quake in Iran (2003) were used on their return
f lights to transport 302 mm guided rockets
from Tehran to Damascus. Even if Hezbol-
lah is completely destroyed after the current
Israeli operation “Change of Direction”, Iran
will pay and nurture a new Hezbollah.
The violence now also draws attention
away from the real problem, which is Iran.
This allows one to think about what will hap-
pen to the western world once Iran completes
its atomic bomb. In one way or another they
will use it. The logic behind a second strike
ability that stabilised the situation between
Russia and the U.S. during the Cold War
would not hold between the western world
and Iran. The current president of Iran served
as a volunteer and officer in elite units in the
Iranian army during the Iran-Iraq war. He
became one of the chief commanders of a very
special unit. This unit was called Basitschi-e
Mostasafan, the members were all volunteers
and had the same approach to life as Hezbol-
lah does today. A speciality of this unit was to
send numerous fanatic (and probably drugged)
children on suicide missions over mine fields
[6 and 7]* so that the mines exploded and the
area was cleared for the major attack. The
children had plastic keys around their necks.
These keys were meant to open the door to
paradise [7]*. Same tactics today: Hezbollah is
like one of these children on a suicide mission
running through a mine field whereas the
commander is watching how far they get and
where it can get dangerous. The Basitschies
are considered to be “the inventors” of the first
modern suicide attack [7]*, which was carried
out in 1982 against the U.S. embassy in Bei-
rut. Even today, the Iranian president is hold-
ing his speeches or attending public events in
the uniform of the Basitschi-e Mostasafan. [9]
Being aware of these facts, it is absolutely
necessary to prevent Iran from getting nuclear
first-strike ability.
Why there are no alternatives
The president of Iran, Mahmud Ahmadine-
jad, is probably the most powerful man in the
region. Due to his control over Hezbollah he
is holding the key in his hands to stop this
conflict, but it seems as if he is not interested
in a stable Middle East where the Jews are liv-
ing in peace with their neighbours. A peaceful
co-existence with Israel is possible; this can
be seen on Egypt and Jordan. Both countries
have signed peace treaties with Israel. Fol-
lowing an Ahmadinejad speech from October
2005 in which he explained his desire to wipe
Israel from the map, and being aware that
Hezbollah is supported by Iran, each conflict
with Hezbollah is more or less about the sheer
existence of the Jewish state. In May 2000,
the IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon
to the international border, and it was backed
and approved by United Nations resolution
1559. The resolution also called Lebanon to
send its army to protect the border, but Leba-
non did not send the army. The real paradox
of this conflict is that the Israeli Defence
Forces (IDF) are actually doing the job of the
Lebanese army.
Another alternative that isn’t work-
ing, which ended in a tragedy for four UN
observers (Khiyam) is the UN mission in
southern Lebanon (UNIFIL). UN troops
could only observe what was happening and
write reports; they were not able to disarm
an extremist organisation like Hezbollah. It
became even worse for the UN. In the begin-
ning of this conflict, the UN positions were
used as shields for Hezbollah against Israeli
air strikes. Hezbollah fired from the vicinity
of the UN posts. [5]
The weapon systems installed in south-
ern Lebanon by Hezbollah are/were artillery
rockets of several types. Hezbollah claims
to have approximately 10,000 missiles. Most
rockets are modified, so that they cause as
many injuries and as much damage possible.
For example, in the vests of the suicide bomb-
ers, the warhead is covered with small balls
from ball bearings. Due to the lack of will or
power of the Lebanese army, one had to step
into Lebanon to neutralise these missiles.
The balls inside the rockets have enough
energy to break the glass of windshields of
cars at a distance of 100-200m around the
detonation point. These modified rockets,
which cannot be intercepted, represent an
enormous psychological threat to the civilian
population. On some days more than 200
of these rockets were launched against the
northern part of Israel including the city of
Haifa. Haifa is home to 250,000 inhabitants,
members of five different religions, living side
by side in harmony, peace and mutual respect.
A rich tapestry of contrasts and colours, vary-
ing cultures and ethnic groups makes up the
fabric of life in Haifa. Secular, religious and
ultra-Orthodox Jews live side by side with
Christians, Moslems, Baha’i and Druze.
Israel has always tried to spare civilians
(i.e. by posting f lyers before each raid over
Beirut), while on the opposing side Israel’s
enemies systematically prevent any separation
of the militias from the civilian population.
And furthermore, they single out every Jew
– armed or not – as their target. Finally, Israel
is in the difficult situation that it is rather
impossible to negotiate with extremists who
have the slogan “We love the death”. [8]
Israel is seen as the western outpost
among the states in the Middle East region. It
is the only democracy in the Middle East. The
GDP of 7 million Israelis is as high as that of
100 million inhabitants in the neighbouring
states, although this country has had to defend
its existence since it was founded. For the
radicals (jihad) inside Islam, the destruction
of this country is their first goal on their way
to building a new empire under the Islamic
law, sharia. Particularly, in the conflict with
Hezbollah, Israel is fighting this war also for
values Europe stands for because there is no
third way between civilisation and violent
totalitarianism. [8]
What happened between Israel and Hez-
bollah is, as in some other places, the visible
peak of a cultural conflict between western
values and the extreme view of a small minor-
ity inside Islam. The recent attempt to bomb
airplanes between the U.S. and U.K., and the
attempt to bomb two commuter trains in Ger-
many (31.07.2006) were two more incidents
with this background. Again, Islam itself is a
peaceful religion. Only a small group believes
in jihad and is thereby destroying the reputa-
tion of the whole religion itself. Therefore, the
solution can only come from inside Islam and
this means a discussion/conflict between the
small but violent group of followers of jihad
on one side and on the other side the majority
who sees the future of Islam in peaceful co-
existence with other religions.
Sources:
[1] New York Times 10.08.2006: At a Makeshift River
Crossing in South Lebanon, Guerrillas Come Out in the
Open.
[2] Zeit online International: Rat der falschen Wächter.
8/2006
[3] taz 09.08.2006: Israel hat keine Wahl.
[4] Die Zeit 26.10.2005: Von der Landkarte tilgen.
[5] United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL):
Press Release, Naqoura 26.07.2006
[6] www.wikipedia.org: Mine (Waffe). Pkt.6.2.2 hu-
manitäres Minenräumen. 8/2006
[7] www.wikipedia.org: Basitschi-e Mostasafan. 8/2006
[8] www.redaktion-bahamas.org 8/2006
[9] CICERO, Juni 2006: Kanonenfutter der Mullahs
(von Mathias Künzel)
Pictures were provided by PARD Technion (Division
of Public Affairs and Resource Development, Technion
– Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa) and Lenny
Maschkowski, a professional independent photo-journalist
from Haifa.
* The Grapevine has to object to the use of Wiki-
pedia as a source here, at the most pointed section
of the response. Wikipedia is for Simpsons’ plots,
not history.
The above article is a reader response to our inter-
net coverage of the recent Lebanon crisis. We print
it in an attempt to show opinions other than those
of our own editorial staff. We welcome similar
responses to any issues that readers feel we have
misrepresented. BC
Reader Response : Why Israel Has No Alternative
by stefan kubens
local voice
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