ISRAEL, LEBANON, SYRIA, PALESTINIANS AND IRAN?
As the world looks on at the escalating conflict that is continuing between Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinians with the leaders of each stating that they are now at war with the other, a perplexing question arises in my mind. Could this be the beginning of an offensive against Israel promised by Iranian President Ahmadinejad ? This Iranian madman has been threatening and promising action against Israel since the confrontation over Iran's nuclear development began and with each passing month the threat to Israel has become more pronounced in his rhetoric. Could the invasion by Lebanon kidnapping Israeli soldiers and the missile strikes on Israeli settlements be the beginning of Iran's threat by using one of the border nations around Israel as the catalyst for the promised destruction of Israel ? It is well known that Syria and Lebanon are two countries that harbor and support Hezbollah and the Palestinians now have Hamas as the ruling party in their government both of which, again well known, are supported by Iran. Additionally the governments of Lebanon and Syria receive support from Iran. This could be an indication that Iran is attempting to take this confrontation to a new level by instituting acts of war against Israel. Additionally Israel announced today that their intelligence has learned that the two kidnapped soldiers are being transfered to Iran which indicates direct involvment by Iran. Granted the conflict between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinians has been ongoing. The difference in this particular incident is that each now considers themselves in an active war and not just threatening war if the terror strikes that have always been aimed at Israel did not stop. The invasion of one nation into another, which Lebanon undertook in order to kidnap the Israeli soldiers has always been considered an act of war and as such warranted military action against the invading nation. My gut instinct because of the rhetoric from Iran and the relationship between Iran and those nations that border Israel is that Iran is in some way behind this escalation in order to isolate Israel and attempt to rally Arab nations into war against Israel thus attempting to bring about her destruction as has been threatened by Ahmadinejad. Israel by far has the strongest military in the region and has the means to protect herself, but if this escalates to an Israeli, Arab regional conflict it could become the beginnings of a war involving more than just the nations in the region including the United States. Israel has both in 1969 and again in 1973 proven that she has the means without the assistance of other nations in direct military involvement to protect and defend herself, but the question arises that if this escalates into a regional conflict which involves Iran will it necessitate the involvement of other nations in defense of Israel ? Whether this escalation continues remains to be seen and the next several days or weeks will reveal whether international involvement other than stepping in to create a cease fire will take place. The possibility is very apparent and the truth as to whether Iran is behind this or not will come to light soon because Ahmadinejad will not be able to resist taking the credit for Iran's involvement especially if his goal is to rally Arab nations against Israel. Time will tell but unfortunatly as quickly as this is escalating time may not be a luxury that is available !
Ken Taylor
Ken Taylor
posted by The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth | 11:40 AM
9 Comments:
I am curious, do you know the history of Israel's occupation of Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank?
Iran doesn't need to fan any flames of unrest, Bush has done that by putting a large American occupying force in the Middle East. It has rallied terrorist forces and been great for recruiting. Democratic elections have resulted in Hezbollah now controlling the Lebanese government and Hamas controlling the Palestinian government.
Those occupations were and are a result of Israel attempting to protect herself by creating a buffer from neighbors that since her beginnings as a nation have sought to do Israel harm. When Israel began in 1947 they made the attempt to have peaseful relations with those countries on her borders and their peace attempts were ought right rejected. Since then it has been a back and forth occupation and conflict.
This time though I truly believe that Iran has a hand in the situation especially with the revelation by Israeli intell about the transfer of the soldiers to Iran. What better way for Iran to rally Arabs than to use Lebanon and the Palestinians with assistance from Syria to force Israel into defending herself with the military.
Bush is not the problem here. This situation existed LONG before Bush even contemplted running for President.
Ken
When Israel began in 1947 they made the attempt to have peaseful relations with those countries on her borders and their peace attempts were ought right rejected.
That's a very polly-annish way of looking at the war in 1948. The U.N. (essentially the Allies) forced a two-state divide in the former British mandate of Palestine. The Arabs had ruled in that area for hundreds of years and had actually co-existed quite well with the Jews, Christians, Druze and so on. Now, you can argue that the invasion by the 6 Arab nations following Israel's formation was wrong, but you cannot honestly argue that the Jewish state or its allies were innocent victims. The hatred between Israel and its Arab neighbors runs both ways and has since the beginning.
Here is a quick link if you're interested.
I think you give Ahmadinejad too much credit; he's more a puppet ruler than anything else. He's a useful idiot for the ruling clerics; a loud-mouthed extremist that helps ameliorate Hezbollah and Hamas's influence in Iran. He's a sop to the religious fundamentalists designed to make them think the government is going to push their extremist agenda, when really Iran wants affluence more than war. It's not unlike the way certain Republicans pay lip service to our Christian fundamentalists without really enacting any of their dubious policy goals. Iran certainly wants a destabilized and isolated Israel, but I doubt it would be willing to risk an open war, especially with the U.S. right next door.
Ken, I would disagree with your characterizations of the occupation. I am more in line with SS above. Certainly it is complex.
I will say this, Bush's attempts to bring democracy to the Mid East have further destabilized the region. In every case, what we would consider extremists have won in elections. In addition, our foray into Iraq couldn't have been any better for bin Laden. His goal was to spark a wider global conflict. We certainly have helped him with our poor post-war (nonexistent) plan to secure the nation and establish democracy.
Granted the Iraeli/Arab hatred has been going on long before the formation of modern Israel in 1947 and my description was brief and not detailed.
I believe that Iran has more of a stake in this than just wanting to destabalize the region and isolate Israel. Though Ahmadinejad is not the power in Iran the thocracy that actually rules Iran has not refuted anything he has said and has agreed with much of it in statements made by the ruling Mullahs.
There is much more here than initially meets the eye and Iran is a driving force behind the scene.
Ken
the UN is sterile in this and Israel has every right to protect themselves. They are surrounded by an enemy that wants them annihilated - - What would we do if Canada and Mexico suddenly decided America was a pirate state and needed to be eliminated from the face of the earth?
Go kick ass Israel!
Isreal is in the wrong and will reap what they sow!
This is Distressing..
By presuming that the arabs do not want peace and never will and justifying occupying their land and kiccking them out of it under the security umbrella will lead to continous wars.. and this is what is happening.
The Arabs do not want to eleminate Israel, this is a Myth.. Only few years ago in the Arab Summit in Beirut, the arabs proposed COLLECTIVELY (and this is rare) that if Israel returns to the 1967 border (which is better than 1948 for Israel at start of conflict) and allows the refugees to return or compensate them.. ALL arabic countries will sign a collective peace agreement with israel and normalise relationships (trade etc..)..
Israel rejected....
If Israel wanted peace, Israel would not build setelments in occopied territories..
War has made Israel Prosper.. it brought it more land, natural resources, more money in foreign aid (4 billion usd from the US each year), more technology and more power. so why would they want peace.. with peace they would have to give up all these.
You only have to look at history, both perspectives, the inherrited culture and the behaviour of each party when they are confronted with opportunities to end the conflict.
Our country blindly supports them, our country blocked 82 UN resoltion out of which 43 were resolutions against Israel.. it is because our support to israel that we gathered hatered in the muslim world and became terrorist targets to the extreamists..
Why do we support them??? simple... because they effect the results of our local election. As an American administration, to stay in power you have no choice but supporting Israel right or wrong..
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