As Israel makes war on two fronts, Lebanon and Palestine, the Palestinian front has been pushed out of the news by the attacks on Lebanon.
During this week attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Israeli army killed 26 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including five children and two women, and injured at least 200 civilians including 55 children, 5 women, and two journalists. Two children also died from previous wounds.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli army killed 20 people, including 16 in offensives on the city of Beit Hanoun and al-Maghazi refugee camp, bringing the number dead to 108 since Israel began the military operation Summer Rain on June 28.
In the West Bank city of Nablus the Israeli army killed four residents; three were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed wing of Fateh. Thirty-three civilians were also injured, including journalists and members of a medical crew.
In the West Bank city of Nablus the Israeli army demolished a municipal headquarters that includes a central jail, the military intelligence department and the police department. In Gaza, the Israeli army bombed and destroyed the Ministries of the Economy and Foreign Affairs, in addition to several houses and two bridges.
The Israeli army temporarily reopened Rafah Crossing border in coordination with the third party observers after holding six thousand people hostage at the crossing for three weeks. Five people died at the crossing before Israel lifted the closure for two days.
The Israeli army illegally arrested at least 31 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and 5 in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank city of Nablus at least 150 Palestinians were illegally detained for various lengths of time and held without charges.
While demonising Hamas and Hezbolah as terrorist organizations, the reality is that both organizations are political and military, whose existence is the result of Imperialist machinations of the West in the Middle East. Their origins begin with the American war in Lebanon twenty years ago, and the Iraq Iran war, which the Americans aided and abetted, in order to destabilize the region for the benefit of their client state Israel.
Hezbolah is begrudgingly credited with being a serious military organization, better prepared to battle Israel than Lebanon's army or even Hamas. And we need to remember that. This is not a terrorist organization, nor is it a minor armed struggle faction, it is in fact a well armed and organized military force.
Its existence was the result of the Iraq/Iran war, thank you America. I could go on here about chickens coming home to roost, but that point seems lost on the commentators who would rather run around like chickens with their heads cut off, or chicken little, saying "gee why is this happening?".
The reality is that Hezbollah should be given credit where credit is due, they did something none of their Arab allies dared to, that is show military support for the Palestinians after the Israelis invaded Gaza.
What reporters and commentators continue to ignore, is that Israel had already been bombing and attacking Gaza, including the killing of innocent civilians which it denied doing, prior to the kidnapping of one of its soldiers.
Hezbollah then kidnapped another set of soldiers in solidarity with Palestine. Seems straight forward to me. Since Israel is holding thousands of Palestinians illegally in jails, the demand was for their release. Which Israel has complied with before, so the expectation is that they would again.
With a concerted effort by the West to delegtimize the Hamas government in Palestine, complete with economic boycotts producing a real humanitarian crisis in the region, Israel has been at war with the Palestinians since the beginning of the year.
Of course with the worlds attention diverted by the American war in Iraq and Afghanistan, another two front war, Israel knows it can declare war on the Palestinians with nary a peep from the West. And in fact can expect the Americans to support it without question, which they do, since the Israeli state is doing its masters bidding.
Hezbollah made a bold and daring political and military feint at the Israeli military state. This so called bastion of parliamentary democracy in the Middle East is nothing of the kind, they are a militarized state capitalist regime, fascism by any other name, a terrorist founded state that uses state terror against its enemies.
Israel's strategy of retaliation dates back to the 1950s when it was largely conducted by a young officer named Ariel Sharon.
Hezbollah is not Hamas, nor are they Fateh, allowing Nablus and other Palestinian cities to be pounded mercilessly while holding press conferences denouncing Israel.
The systematic bombing of Southern Beirut has created an exodus of civilians, and the disappearance of Hezbollah fighters into the hills, preparing for the inevitable Israeli invasion.
Hezbollah, defeated Israel before, and can face a strategic military fight with Israel again. Israel admits as much, thus it is attacking Lebanon's infrastructure to demoralize the population, it is a terror attack, to undermine support for Hezbollah. Its impact has been the opposite.
What really worries Israel is the potential for a three front war, that is if Syria becomes involved, so the merciless destruction of Lebanon is a warning to neighboring states to keep out of this battle.
So the focus on Syria has been their supposed link to Hezbollah, as if anyone could tell Hezbollah what to do, in reality the subtext has been keep out of this.
Israel and its American allies are worried about a third front being opened up in this war.
Two front wars historically lead to defeat as we saw with both Napoleon and Hitler. Hezbollah has correctly estimated that if they attack Israel, it creates a military problem for Israel, and reduces its ability to continue attacking Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
While the world moans and groans about Lebanon, the continued war against the Palestinians gets lost in the news coverage. We need to remember this through all the lies and distortions, that Israel declared war on the Palestinians, economically, politically and militarily, with support of America and its Western syncophants, back when Hamas was "democratically' elected.
The Palestinians and Hezbollah have no real allies amongst the Arab nations. They are fascist medievalist states, oil partners with America or its economic dependents, like Jordan, fearful of the Palestinian cause being used to rally the masses to overthrow the regimes in power. The Arab Leagues denunciation of Hezbollah has more to do with this than with their alliance with the West in the War on Terror. Whatever that is.
America and Israel now fight losing battles in the their two front wars, the worlds greatest military power and its client state are being stretched beyond their capabilities militarily in the Middle East.
Having failed to learn the lessons of the British Empire, the American Empire is bogged down in the very region that led to the demise of that earlier Empire. The military politics of the Cold War are at work here again, instead of Commies its Terrorists. When the Cold War heated up in Viet Nam, the lessons learned from that war have been lost on the American Empire, both Republicans and Democrats have failed to remember that a peoples war can defeat a more technologically superior military power.
Hezbollah has not forgotten that lesson, and in taking the fight to Israel has become a rallying point for Arab dissention in the Middle East. When the Lebanese population, regardless of religious beliefs, cry We Are Hezbollah, then America, Israel and the Arab League, tremble in fear.
The war on Hezbollah is a war against mass uprising in the Middle East. A victory for Hezbollah, could well precipitate such a revolt. Defeating Israel on the battle field and forcing it back across the border, could ignite a fire storm of revolution in the Middle East.
That America wants Israel to take out Hezbollah is clear, it helps their oil allies in the Arab League as much as it helps Israel. America refuses a ceasefire agreement, in hopes Israel can defeat Hezbollah militarily. The hopes of the Arab League are that Israel can defeat Hezbollah as well, for if not, their regimes will crumble as the Arab masses see that the Great Powers can be challenged and defeated. We Are Hezbollah will be the rallying cry of revolt in the Middle East if they are successful, and woe betide the regimes in Egypt,Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc.
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