Fighting Rages in Gaza, Lebanon [Updated]
From the headlines, someone with a cursory view of the news might assume that all the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza is due to Israeli aggression. "Israeli Air Strikes Stoke Gaza Violence" reads one typical headline. To many, it is all a fault of the "Zionists" in Israel. But look at what's really going on...
For the past few weeks (and longer) Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel, while they also fight with rival Fatah factions in the Gaza Strip (Hamas supports the Palestinian prime minister, Fatah supports the president). At least 50 Palestinians dead so far. The factions made another "truce" on Saturday, but since its the fifth one in almost a week, I'm not terribly confident... To the North, the Lebanese Army is fighting Fatah militia members in the Palestinian refugee camps, at least 60 people confirmed dead there so far. Interestingly, one of the dead is Saddam El-Hajdib, who was wanted in connection with the attempted bombing of German trains last year.
Don't so many Palestinian supporters say that if Israel just left, we would have peace in the Middle East? Maybe the Lebanese and the Palestinians need to get their own houses in order before Israel even thinks about further withdrawal. They gave up the Gaza strip a few years ago (against strong internal pressure) and the reward for that was further rocket attacks into Israeli cities.
Update 5/22/2007 10:50am: Yesterday the Lebanese army began firing shells directly into the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. This situation is so convoluted, I don't know if it was the right or wrong decision. But can you imagine the world outrage if the US or the UK did this? But I guess as long as its muslims killing muslims, the usual suspects such as Al-Jezeera or The Guardian aren't sure who to blame (Although the Guardian's article does try to hint at US involvement).
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