Realities, Absurdities Of Israel-U.S. Policies

The abductions provided the excuse to do what Israel was planning anyway — try and destroy Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel and the U.S. are redrawing the map of the region, with a wink and a nod from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. They are all spooked by the American disaster in Iraq, the growing influence of Iran, the failure to curb its nuclear program, and by the rise of Hezbollah, in particular. Regardless, the crisis has brought to the fore some of the realities and absurdities of Israeli-American policies. Arab lives are cheap. "Is the value of human life less in Lebanon than that of citizens elsewhere?" asked a distraught Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. "Are we children of a lesser God? Is an Israeli teardrop worth more than a drop of Lebanese blood?" Yes. Bush wants an end to the conflict but he does not want a ceasefire. The U.S. sympathizes with the suffering of the Lebanese and the Palestinians but it won't stop the Israeli offensives that create the suffering. The immediate causes of the twin wars in Gaza and Lebanon must be addressed but not the nearly four decade-long occupation and colonization of Palestinian and Syrian lands. Israel won't negotiate a prisoner exchange — getting its soldiers back in return for four or five Lebanese prisoners and some of the 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, including women and children — even though it has swapped prisoners before. http://tinyurl.com/ryz9m

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