Zogby poll of Lebanese Arabs

An interesting poll out of the University of Maryland.
Posted originally on LGF.

A wide gap exists between Lebanon’s Shiite and other communities in their opinion on a number of issues including the outcome of the recent war with Israel and the situation in Iraq and Iran, according to a survey released in Washington Friday.
The survey, conducted November 11-16 by Zogby International polling firm on behalf of the University of Maryland’s Sadat Chair for Peace and Development, shows that more than 70 percent of the country’s Shiites believe that Israel was the biggest loser in the war with Hizbullah this summer. That’s in contrast to Sunnis, Christians and Druze in the country who overwhelmingly believe that the Lebanese people were the biggest losers.
Nearly 50 percent of Shiites questioned also believe Arabs should continue to fight Israel even if the Jewish state returns all territories occupied in the 1967 war as opposed to Sunnis, Christians and Druze who believe otherwise, according to the poll. On Iraq, more than 50 percent of Sunnis, Christians and Druze believe civil war in that country will expand rapidly if the U.S. quickly withdraws its forces as opposed to nearly 50 percent of Shiite who believe that Iraqis will find a way to bridge their differences if U.S. forces pull out.
More than 90 percent of Shiites also believe that Iran has the right to its nuclear program as opposed to a majority who feel otherwise in the three other ommunities.

The Myth of ‘Disproportionate’ Force

The dust has finally began to settle on Lebanon and North Israel, allowing a somber reflection of exactly what happened and more importantly how we stop it from happening again. One of the things I found immensely aggravating in this conflict is the one sided focus of the international media on the suffering in Lebanon and its complete disregard of identical suffering in Israel. Over one million Israeli citizens were displaced in the current fighting, finding refuge in tent cities throughout the country. Have you heard about Israeli refugees in the news? I sincerely doubt it. The international media has a tendency to paint a black and white picture, no matter what the facts on the ground are.

This brings me to the main point, the myth of disproportionate force. It seems as if it is an established fact that Israel used excessive force in Lebanon and killed an outrageous number of civilians. We heard United Nations officials publicly denounce Israel military action, as well as many European leaders.

Did Israel really use excessive force?
How did the one month war in Lebanon compare to other wars?
Were civilian deaths truly excessive?

The table below shows civilian deaths in four recent conflicts in the region: 1) The Syrian civil war of 1982, 2) NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 3) The American led NATO war in Afghanistan of 2001, and 4) The recent war in Lebanon. The reason I did not include the Iraq war (over 40,000 casualties) is because, I do not consider it to have international legitimacy and it is significantly longer than the wars under discussion.

The first thing you will note is exactly how many civilians have died in ‘respectable’ and ‘internationally legitimate’ campaigns such as the war in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. Over 3000 civilians have died in each of these wars which were led by the democratic governments of Europe and North America. Both of these conflicts included a significant French military force, surprising because France has been one of the main critics of Israeli actions in Lebanon. The total casualties of the recent war in Lebanon are about 1000 (although Israel maintains about half of those are Hezbollah fighters), significantly less than the other two ‘legitimate’ and ‘respectable’ wars.

If 1000 casualties cannot be deemed excessive what can be?

It is a difficult question to answer as the obvious response is,
ANY civilian casualties are excessive and ALL wars are fundamentally wrong.

But some wars are just more wrong than others… On February 2, 1982 the Syrian government (one of the main supporters of the Hezbollah) demonstrated exactly what is the definition of disproportionate force and excessive civilian casualties. In response to a Muslim Brotherhood challenge to the government of Syria, the Syrian army circled the city of Hama and its 350,000 inhabitants and used artillery to blast Hama into submission. Syrian Human Rights Committee estimates 30,000 to 40,000 were killed. Most of the old city was completely destroyed, including its palaces, mosques, and ancient ruins.

It is interesting to note exactly how silent the world has been following the Hama massacre. There were no international calls to halt the fighting. The United Nations were not involved. The French didn’t even offer any comments. Consider that the death toll, was 30-fold greater than that in Lebanon.

So now you are probably asking yourself what is my point?
All wars are wrong, but we already knew that.

My point is simple, the world needs to stop crying wolf whenever Israel is fighting. The reason is simple, if the people in Israel start thinking they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t, then Israel will stop caring about civilian casualties. If the Israeli Army is blamed for causing massive civilian deaths even when it is taking great care to avoid civilian casualties, it will simply stop caring at some point.

The next war in Lebanon might cost the lives of 50,000 civilians.
It will be our fault

“No Jew has blown himself up in a German restaurant”

Once in a while, a person shows up with the ability to speak the thought of millions around the globe. To me, this person is Dr. Wafa Sultan, a secular Syrian-American psychiatrist who lives in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Sultan has the courage to stand up for her beliefs and defend them against millions of Muslim fanatics who would like nothing better than to see her dead.

At a time where dozens of newspapers and television networks prefer to bury their head in the sand than to publish a few cartoons, this type of courage is awe inspiring. Below you will find Dr. Sultan’s recent interview on Al-Jazeera. Dr. Sultan points are simple, this is not a clash between civilizations, but rather a clash between the modern world and a barbaric middle-ages mindset. Muslims worldwide have little respect to other religions to the point of attacking synagogues, churches, and Buddhist temples throughout the world. At the same time, Muslims demand respect and reverence to their own religion. Regarding terrorism, Dr. Sultan clearly states that even after the Holocaust, no Jew has ever blown himself up in a German restaurant. Similarly no Buddhist gunned down Muslim civilians even following the destruction of statues of Buddha.

Sultan revealed to the Times that she was shocked into secularism by the 1979 atrocities committed by the Muslim Brotherhood against innocent Syrian people, including the machine-gun assassination of her professor in her classroom in front of her eyes at the University of Aleppo where she was a medical student. "They shot hundreds of bullets into him, shouting, 'God is great!' " she said. "At that point, I lost my trust in their god and began to question all our teachings. It was the turning point of my life, and it has led me to this present point. I had to leave. I had to look for another god."

Hiding among civilians

A interesting movie clearly shows Hezbullah firing rockets from inside the village of Qana in South Lebanon.

The missiles can clearly be seen, as well as the village which cannot be mistaken.

These images were taken by an Israeli Army drone. The drone also follows several launchers back to parking garages of civilian houses.

Excerpts from the Israeli Prime Minster Address (July 31, 2006)

Citizens of Israel, My friends, heads of local authorities,

The alarm sirens which are heard day and night across the north echo throughout the entire country and gradually spread throughout the world. Many identify with our struggle and support our most simple and natural demand to be a free nation in our land!

From here I wish to convey a message to everyone: we are determined to win this battle. We are paying a heavy price, an endlessly painful price in human life, disruption of the life routine, loss of personal security and massive destruction of private and public property, but we are not willing to forfeit our right to a simple life, a life free of terror, free of constant turmoil, threat, fanaticism and hatred.

We are not willing to give up our right to a normal life – like any other nation, like any other society, anywhere.

Not everyone identifies with us. More than a few criticize us and express reservations with our battle. We seek neither conflict nor confrontation [with them], but it is our right to tell all those who criticize us: none of you would ever acquiesce to such murderous attacks against your citizens. I do not want to tell you what you would have done if you had been in our place.

I will only say that the State of Israel sanctifies the most fundamental moral values, which are carved in our ancient Jewish tradition – and in our blood which was spilled – and we do not need any nation or any country to teach us these principles. We do not pursue innocent civilians, we do not fight against the Lebanese people and we do not seek to topple their government. We are fighting against murdering terrorists, and we will not stop fighting them until we remove them from our border.

I deeply regret the civilians – adults and children – who were killed in Kafer Kana. We did not seek to harm them, we did not want their death. They were not our enemies and they were not the target of our aircraft.

I wish to appeal to the citizens of Lebanon: Again you are being led by murderous terrorists into a reality of destruction and devastation. Just when a new chapter began in your country, with new spirits of freedom and democracy, you were taken hostage by the Hizballah organization of murderers. This organization does not fight the war of the people of Lebanon. There is no cause for conflict between us and Lebanon. There is no territorial dispute and no ideological “abyss” between us. We and you need to want the same thing – the right to a simple, quiet and safe life.
Hizballah is serving the interests of other nations, primarily Syria and Iran. These countries spread venom. They cultivate hatred, fanaticism, radicalism and insatiable lust to destroy those who live according to other norms of ethics and culture.

You, residents of Lebanon, even those who are angry with us and our army for the massive damage inflicted upon you as a result of this war – a war which you did not want and which most of you had no part or interest in – know very well that your enemy is not the State of Israel, but rather Sheikh Nassrallah and his ilk, who were ready to sacrifice the lives of so many of you in order to serve the interests of a foreign country.

See for yourselves how many Arab-Muslim countries distance themselves from Hizballah and join the majority of world nations which denounce this terrorist organization and justify Israel's right to self-defense. Was all this worth it? Is this what you would have chosen had the decision been in your hands?

Citizens of Lebanon, we regret the pain caused to so many of you, the fact that you had to flee your homes and places of residence and the unintentional harm to innocents, but we do not apologize for it. We want to coexist with you in calm and tranquility, and, with G-d's help, also in peace. But we will not give up – not even for a moment – our right to protect the State of Israel and defend our lives, and we will not apologize to those who dare to question Israel’s right to exist.

The founder of the State of Israel, David Ben Gurion, said at the Temporary State Council in 1948: "while we have never despaired of the human conscience and never ceased – and will never cease – from demanding from the world what is rightfully ours, based on law and justice, we must always memorize to ourselves, day and night, that our existence – our freedom, our future – depend first and foremost on ourselves, our efforts, our abilities and our will".

Who bears responsibility to the Qana attack ?

There is little doubt that world leaders, who have significant financial interests in the Arab world, would take the opportunity to condemn Israel for the bombing of the village of Qana. As of today, Qana is the site of a second large-scale killing of civilians.

* In 1996, Israeli artillery shells killed 100 civilians
* Today, Israeli fire killed over 54 civilians

Both of these attacks were carried out in the middle of an intense battle between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters who have been using the village of Qana as a lunching site for rockets against Israeli villages on the other side of the international border.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday expressed "deep regret" for the Israeli air strike that cost scores of life in the south Lebanese village of Qana…Olmert, responding to harsh criticism of the strike, said that Hezbollah had used Qana as a base for launching hundreds of rockets at Israel. "From the village and its surroundings, hundreds of Katyusha (rockets) have been fired at Israel, toward Kiryat Shmona and Afula… All the residents (of Qana) were warned and told to leave. No one was ordered to fire on civilians and we have no policy of killing innocent people."

A very similar story was told by the Christians residents of Ain Ebel village who were forced to leave thier homes due to the bombing.

“Hezbollah came to Ain Ebel to shoot its rockets,” said Fayad Hanna Amar, a young Christian man, referring to his village [in South Lebanon]. “They are shooting from
between our houses.” “Please,’’ he added, “write that in your newspaper.”

In fact, the UN Report on the 1996 shelling of Qana makes specific mention of that fact.

Hezbollah fighters fired two or three rockets from a location 350 metres south-east of the United Nations compound. [Later], they fired four or five rockets from location 600 metres south-east of the compound. About 15 minutes before the shelling, [Hezbollah fighters] fired between five and eight rounds of 120 millimetre mortar from a location 220 metres south-west of the centre of the compound… According to witnesses, the mortar was installed there between 1100 and 1200 hours that day, but no action was taken by UNIFIL personnel to remove it. (On 15 April, a [UN Officer] had been shot in the chest as he tried to prevent Hezbollah fighters from firing rockets.)

As horrible as these attacks were, and in spite of the Israeli responsibility to these attacks, the International Law is very clear on that matter. Any military organization including Hezbollah should clearly distinguish itself from the civilian population or bear responsibility for civilian casualties.

On 9 June 1977 the United Nations adopted Protocol 1 as a supplement to the Geneva Convention of 1949. The new ruling reads as follows: “Combatants are obliged to distinguish themselves from civilian populations while they are engaged in an attack or in a military operation preparatory to an attack.”

“It is a violation of the laws of war to engage in combat without meeting certain requirements, among them the wearing of a distinctive uniform or other easily identifiable badge and the carrying of weapons openly… the taking of hostages [is forbidden].”

Hmmm... interesting. "The taking of hostages is forbidden". I wonder what started this war in Lebanon.

International hypocrisy in Rome

This is what the CNN reported on the so-called international conference in Rome,

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Leaders and representatives of countries around the world are meeting in Rome to discuss how to bring an end to the conflict in Lebanon and ease the humanitarian crisis.

The interesting part is not what was discussed or decided in this conference but who was invited. According to the media the conference was attended by: the European Union, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Lebanon, Russia, and the World Bank.

One important name is missing from this list of “countries around the world” discussing the current conflict. Why was Israel, the country that was attacked, which is currently doing the fighting in Lebanon, not invited? Who is supposed to represent the Israeli point of view in this conference? Saudi Arabia?!

In this conference:

The European Union represents $54 billion of financial interested across the Arab world.
The United States represents over $50 billion of financial interested in Israel and Iraq
Russia represents over $50 billion of financial interest in Syria and Iran
Kofi Annan is trying to appear credible following his involvement in the “oil for food” outrage
Lebanon is an obvious side of this conflict, especially considering the Hezbollah is a part of the Lebanese government.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia wish to clam the situation as quickly as possible but would not mind seeing Israel being wiped off the map
Jordan is afraid of terrorist organizations trying to take over the kingdom like they did in 1971
Turkey might be the only neutral party in this conference

A close look at this list will show that nobody is present to discuss or present the Israeli point of view at the conference. Considering the bias most conference participants had toward the Arab world, is it that surprising that the United States appeared to be all alone in calling for a sustainable solution ?