The Right State

You can always count on Syria to act in its own best interests.  The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a now say they are willing to participate in a cease-fire arrangement only if other issues are included, things which Israel is unlikely to find acceptable.

Syria, one of Hezbollah’s main backers, said it will press for a cease-fire to end the fighting - but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include the return of the Golan Heights. Israel was unlikely to accept such terms but the remarks were the first indication of Syria’s willingness to be involved in international efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis.

Ashad might as well accept the fact that the Golan Heights are gone.  If he really wants to join the peace process (which he does not), he needs to reign in Hezbollah.

One surprising step taken was Israel’s early acceptance of an international peacekeeping force on their border, especially considering there was already a UN peacekeeping force only three hundred yards from where Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured.  Since then two more soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were also captured.

Since then Israel has been in a semi-declared state of war with Hezbollah and by extention Iran and Syria.  Leave it to UN Ambassador John Bolton to put the entire Syrian offer in perspective.

“Syria doesn’t need dialogue to know what they need to do,” Bolton told “Fox News Sunday.” “They need to lean on Hezbollah to get them to release the two captured Israeli soldiers and stop the launch of rockets against innocent Israeli civilians.

That is the bottom line.  If Syria really wants to be an accepted member of the community of nations, they need to stop supporting terrorists.

In this article the writer, Sam F. Ghattas, makes no distinction between the actions of Hezbollah and Israel.  He makes no distinction between Israeli missiles and bombs and Hezbollah’s rocket attacks.  Israeli missiles are directed towards a specific target.  Israeli bombs are dropped by F-16s and are precision guided.  The IDF has gone out of its way to avoid civilian casualties.  Hezbollah, on the other hand, is intentionally using a weapon of terror, an unguided rocket.  While there have been more civilian causualties in Lebanon than is Israel, it is not for a lack of trying on the part of the terrorist group.  Hezbollah has launched hundreds of unguided rockets into Israel for the single purpose of terror.

The UN is true to form, making no distinction except for the loss of life.

U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, meanwhile, inspected the destruction from Israeli air raids on south Beirut and he stressed need for a halt to the hostilities.

“It’s terrible, I see a lot of children wounded, homeless, suffering. This is a war where civilians pay a disproportionate price in Lebanon and northern Israel. I hadn’t believed it would be block by block leveled to the ground,” he said.

He said the “disproportionate response by Israel is a violation of international humanitarian law.’

Where was the UN outrage when Hezbollah lobed rockets and mortors into northern Israel?  Where was the UN outrage when Palestinians killed themselves and the innocents around them?  Where is the UN outrage when terrorists indiscriminately kill women and children, chop off the heads of civilians, and engage in acts all of which are violations of international law?  The UN urges Israel to use restraint when they are attacked, but utter not a word to Hezbollah.  Can you say anti-Semitism?  Is there any wonder Ehud Olmert will accept NATO forces to patrol the border, but not the UN?

Tags: Iran, Bias, War //