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Q&A om Israel og Libanon
Den moderate libanesiske blog Beirut Spring har en række svar på spørgsmål fra amerikanske og israelske læsere, der måske kan forklare de mere moderate, ikke Hizbollah-venlige libaneseres syn på situationen:
Q: This one is from Brett, New Jersey, In the US:Bloggens indehaver Mustapha giver selv spørgsmålene følgende kommentar med på vejen: "Just because the questions come from Israel and the US doesn’t mean that they are not legitimate. Some questions are very valid, but some are downright ridiculous. Still, I will try answering the important ones."
Is there anything Israel could do short of completely pulling out of the Middle East that would soothe tensions between it and Lebanon?
A: The reason we are skeptical of Israel here, is because many people are threatened by a chest-thumping power-mongering neighbor. People here very much believe that Hezbollah is the product of Israeli aggression and not vice versa.
Israel has never tried any long-term trust building measures, (like for instance the unilateral hand of peace India handed Pakistan a few years ago.) It always gave us reasons to be skeptical of its intentions (continuous air raids even in peace times). Israel believes that its security lies in military superiority. This advantage is now dead. So it urgently needs to find long-term solutions, by keeping its “anti-terror” operations gradual and long term, and adding a “soft power” component (think IRA)
Q. This question keeps showing up in the comments section of this blog:
Hezbollah started this. Doesn’t Israel have the right to defend itself?
A: Think Zidane.
The world cup hero fell from grace because he head-butted his Italian opponent. There is no doubt that the Italian player “started” this, but zidane’s reaction, like Israel’s, is simply outrageous and repelled even his most ardent of supporters.
Because of this, most Lebanese now believe that the Israeli plans to bomb our country, our Army, our infrastructure and our innocent children were just waiting for an excuse, like the kidnapping of two soldiers.
Q: Another common question:
What if this was the other way around. What if Hezbollah rockets killed Israeli babies?
A: I don’t get it, babies are babies and children are children. Israelis are human after all and we, and the international community, mourn the loss of all innocent human life equally. But you’re right, there’s a catch: Many Hezbollah supporters don’t see you as humans and propagate this message aggressively. If the random bombing continues, other Lebanese will start thinking the same way too.
Q: Israel doesn’t target civilians, Hezbollah does. Doesn’t that make Israel morally superior?
A: People here look at results. For every bit of shattered glass in Haifa, there’s a dead Lebanese civilian. Besides, a lot of Lebanese doubt that you are too blind to see clearly marked civilian targets, like ambulances and UN-posts. We honestly believe that you pretend these to be mistakes, while secretely intending to terrorize us into submission. One word: It won’t happen
Q: Lebanese believe that the Jews want to control the world and the media.
A: the 10% who believe this and swear by Aljazeera are not a threat. Unless your actions make their beliefs more mainstream
Og i denne ånd videregives hans Q&A-session hermed også her - i et håb om at kunne bidrage til endnu en lille nuancering af de gældende forestillinger om den igangværende krise.