Op-Ed: Middle-East Conflict

Josh Moore

Over the last few weeks a war had raged between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah guerillas. These guerillas have long used Southern Lebanon as their command post for anti-Israeli operations. Recently a ceasefire has taken hold, though as of this writing International forces lead by France and the U.N. are still waiting to be deployed to the buffer zone in Southern Lebanon. Despite warnings from Israel that the Lebanese should not return to their homes in Southern Lebanon as the tenuous cease-fire could be broken at any moment, streams of refugees flooded back to the towns where they had built their lives, to find little more than rubble.

I, like I imagine many around the world, am asking why such a ceasefire took so long to initiate. Why is it that despite calls from nearly every western and eastern power denouncing the violence from both sides and calling for an end to the conflict, the United States refused to demand a ceasefire? The answer to this question, for those outside the imperial stronghold of Washington, is a matter of opinion.  However, what is a matter of fact is that if the administration in Washington had demanded a ceasefire, Israel would have no choice but to follow. Israel receives one third of the US foreign aid budget, averaging between $2-3 Billion annually since 1974.  This amount is the largest amount of foreign aid given to any nation by the United States, and a very large percentage is used by Israel for its Military Defense budget. With such economic leverage, had the US demanded the cease-fire of one of the strongest militaries in the region, Israel would have had little choice but to follow. The United States did not, however, demand an immediate end to the battle, and as a result anywhere from 800 to 1,000 Lebanese civilians, and 50 to 60 Israeli citizens died.

As a supporter of Human Rights and equality, it saddens me to live in a country that can have such double standards for which deaths are acceptable and which are “acts of terrorism”. In the 5 years since 9/11 the United States has been directly involved in two major wars in retaliation for the nearly 3,000 people lost. Yet, it will, at least financially, support a conflict such as that between Israel and Hezbollah, that can claim one third of the number of 9/11 casualties and it is somehow acceptable. I am not saying that Israel is without merit in its claims for a country and freedom from persecution, and that Hezbollah is grounded in its antipathy towards Israel. I feel quite to the contrary. However, I cannot, in good conscience, stand by and say that the means to an end is the further destruction of countless civilians on both sides of the Lebanese boarder. There is, without a doubt to anyone who lived through 9/11, or has been witness to a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, blood on the hands of extremist militants who seek to destroy freedom. However, it is important that we as Americans, leaders of the free and developed world, ask ourselves the question: In this conflict, where the blood of civilians, both Israeli and Lebanese, has fallen on our feet, are we comfortable being the lesser of all evil? - josh@brownscapeprod.com

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