« July 2006 | Main | October 2006 »

Hezbollah’s Deadliest Weapon

August 30, 2006 9:39 AM

By WILF DINNICK

Hezbollah’s deadliest weapon leaves Israel and the west with no defense.

The Merkava tank is the pride of the Israeli Army but it turned out to be a ripe target for Hezbollah.

The Merkava is believed to be one of the toughest and safest tanks in the world. Astonishingly, Hezbollah fighters were able to render them almost useless by firing anti-tank missiles.

The Hezbollah fighters hit sixty tanks, total destroying twelve and killing about 30 crew members in 34 days of fighting. The Israeli Army is likely reassessing its strategy with the Merkava.

Military analysts say Israeli intelligence knew about the anti-tank missile but perhaps just not how accurate they could be fired by Hezbollah fighters.

“The surprise might not be the type of the missiles’ says Yiftar Shapir, a military analyst with the Jaffa Centre ‘but there being the most up-to-date version of the missiles.”

There were many anti-tank missiles used but the Metis and the Kornet were some of the most vicious. 

They are easy to carry and simple to fire. The missile is set on a small tripod. The operator looks through a view-finder, presses FIRE and keeps the target in sight to guide it to its target, some of them effective up to four kilometers away. Almost no training is needed to fire the weapon.

What makes some of the missiles so deadly is once they hit, a first explosion pierces the armor and then a second charge punches into the tank and explodes.

For Hezbollah, a hit-and-run guerilla army, it is an effective weapon

In fact, anytime a group of Israeli soldiers would take over a house or be grouped together in one area, Hezbollah would fire the weapon. These missiles killed almost all of the Israeli soldiers in the conflict

In Israel, the finger is pointed directly at the Russians

The Russians sold 5000 anti-tank missiles to Syria in the year 2000.

Yossi Kuperwasser is a General with the Israeli Defense Forces. He told ABC News ‘the Russians are supplying these weapons either directly or indirectly to Hezbollah, most likely though Syria’

In November of 2005, Israel found the tail of one missile, shipped it to Russia for an explanation. The Russians said no serial number could be found and refused to say it was their weapon.

So far, Israel’s only protection is to blow massive amounts of smoke on the battle field, hoping to obscure the view of those aiming the anti-tank missiles… hardly a sophisticated defense for the Israeli Army.   

August 30, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (8)

No More Private Numbers

August 29, 2006 9:38 AM

By WILF DINNICK

It has be one of the more frightening telephone calls to receive in Gaza.

An anonymous soldier from the Israeli army calls a house to warn the people inside to get out. Moments later, the Israeli Air Force zeroes in with a missile.

‘Leave your home. You have one hour before we destroy it’… or something equally as frightening is read over the phone.

The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) refuses to comment on this practice.

For the Palestinian families receiving the call, it means quickly packing up and moving children safely out of the house.

Then something strange began to happen: The calls started to come and the missiles did not.

It become apparent to many people living in Gaza, friends were playing 'not so funny' jokes on one another and others in Gaza found ways to infuriate their enemies.

A Palestinian would call from an unlisted number and using a Hebrew accent, pretend to be from the Israeli Army.

‘Leave your home. You have one hour before we destroy it’ they would say.

So last week the Palestinian Attorney General cut off all unlisted or private numbers.

The Palestinian Authority feared people would get a real call from the Israelis and think it was a joke and stay at home… and be killed.

So if you live in Gaza today you can no longer have an unlisted or private number.

August 29, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

When will I go to Gaza again?

August 25, 2006 9:18 AM

By SIMON MCGREGOR-WOOD

Two days ago, I didn’t go to Gaza because I was scared of getting kidnapped.

The British Consulate in Jerusalem told me they had leaned there was a credible threat of kidnapping of British journalists working in Gaza. I’m British.

Reluctantly, I decided I couldn’t take the risk.

Then came the video of the two Fox journalists, Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig --and the statement from the self-styled Holy Jihad Brigades.

To many, it appeared that the group was serious, and at least influenced by al Qaeda. It seemed that the rules of the game in Gaza had suddenly changed.

I can’t tell you how sad I feel. I have colleagues in Gaza who have become good friends. I know their families and their children. How can I tell them that I can’t come to work with them anymore? Because for now, I don’t think I can.

Gaza has never been an easy place to work. The violence there has become an almost daily ritual. When the Israeli army moves in, it is particularly dangerous for journalists.  The chances of getting caught in crossfire becomes so much higher, the Israeli fire can be indiscriminate.

But in the four and a half years I have been here, I have never felt targeted by the Palestinians. Now, that has changed. The Holy Jihad Brigades kidnapped the two Fox journalists because they were western journalists. So am I.

The daily traffic of journalists through the main checkpoint into Gaza has almost dried up. That’s bad news for us, bad news for journalism, and very bad news for the people of Gaza.

I hope the two Fox men get released soon. I hope the people who kidnapped them are just an extreme minority. I hope to be back in Gaza soon, but I have no idea when.

August 25, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Israel May Talk To Syria

August 22, 2006 10:14 AM

By WILF DINNICK

Some of Israel’s leaders are starting to talk about making peace with part of the "Axis Of Evil."

Avi Dichter floated the idea on Israeli Army Radio this week. Dichter is no "dove."  He is the Minister of Internal Security and was the head of Shin Bet, the lead security service in Israel.   

Simply, the deal would mean Israel gives back The Golan it conquered in 1967 and then latter annexed from Syria and in exchange it would get security guarantees on its border.

Syria would also have to stop supporting Hezbollah and Hamas, two organizations the Israeli government has been trying to topple unsuccessfully for years. The belief is that Lebanon would then fall in line and a three-way peace deal would be possible. 

Even critics in Israel are not ruling out talks. One Israeli cabinet minister saying, “Syria houses the worst terrorists there are. Any negotiation with it must be gradual."

For the United States it would mean isolating Iran from Syria, splitting apart the ‘Axis of Evil’ and perhaps adding pressure on Iran when it comes to the nuclear debate.

The complications would be in the details of this deal. The Golan is strategically significant to Israel.  Much of the land is a plateau between 400 and 1,700 feet high, looking right down into Israel.  The Golan is also an essential source of water for the country, providing more than 12 percent of the nation’s water requirements.

One major stumbling block to any deal maybe the present U.S. administration. Bush has made it clear his government does not negotiate with countries harboring terrorists and he may demand Israel do the same. Still, Dichter is hinting that perhaps a country like the US should step forward

“Israel can initiate it. Ultimately, initiatives of this kind are of a third party – and there is an abundance of third parties in the world. If a third party approaches us, we must reply in the positive."

While this has been talked about for years, Israel is now starting the idea of negotiating again, after accomplishing so little on the battlefield in the 33-day conflict with Syrian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Already, Syria is sending messages back through the media. A Syrian Member of Parliament, Dr. Muhammad Habash told an Arabic newspaper that "in principle Syria has nothing to prevent it from holding public and realistic negotiations (with Israel)."

 

August 22, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

August 18, 2006 12:03 PM

By WILF DINNICK

The pressure on Olmert’s government for the ‘failure’ of the conflict continues to grow. 

The army reservists sent the Prime Minister a petition.

“Mr. Prime Minister.  We were astounded to hear that the Israeli government agreed to the Security Council resolution and the cease-fire without having our two comrades in arms”

The petition is now circulating among different brigades and names are being added.

If the Israeli prisoners are not returned, the small cracks in the government could split wide open. 

With hundreds of newborns being named Nasrallah, a hit song in his honor and a new military wing in Nablus with his name,  what was really accomplished for the Arab world, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and for the people of Lebanon?

August 18, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

War On Lebanon Day 27

August 07, 2006 6:19 PM

Chaker F. Saab wrote to ABC News from Beirut, Lebanon.  Chaker is a manager at Tinol Paint Company, he has not been to work since the war began.

A new day of horror…a new day of terror…a new day of siege…a new day of suffocation… and a new day of tough survival.

I woke up today at 5 AM at the sound of Israeli planes and rockets.  The whole building was shaking; there were several extremely strong explosions.  I immediately switched on the TV (I was lucky we had electricity) and found out that Dahyeh was hit again. Destruction, destruction and killing… We can’t stand it anymore!

We are living a period of hell.  Every day, we see tens of civilians including children killed and thousands fleeing their homes to safe (or safer) places.  So far, 1000 civilians have been killed, 3500 wounded and 1 million have been displaced, more than 1/4th of the total Lebanese population!

Every night before I go to sleep, I look out the window and see people sleeping on the sidewalks and in their cars; with tears in my eyes I pray God to protect my family, friends, home and my beloved country hoping that this day would be the last day of war…

This evening again, I heard several explosions to find out that two residential buildings in Chyah were completely destroyed with 10 people dead under the rubble and 30 people wounded.  I called my friend who works at Beirut Mall, which is a few meters away from the explosions, thank God he was still alive. A few days ago I was there at the same mall which now houses 2000 refugees in its multi-level underground parking.  Imagine if the rockets had hit the mall, the disaster would have been tenfold…

May God protect innocent civilians and especially children, and may He bring the conscience back to world leaders who are seeing the mass extermination of the Lebanese population, yet still not calling for a cease-fire.

To all those reading this, please pray for us… and pressure your governments to ask for a cease-fire, you would be helping a just cause…

What more could one say?

August 7, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

August 07, 2006 5:29 PM

Update from Dr. Bill Schecter in Northern Israel

Today was a very bad day.  Our cousins started firing missiles quite early, around 10am.  We had multiple air raid alarms here in Safed. 

Unfortunately, a missile landed amidst a group of Miluimnikim (miluim means "reserves" and a miluimnik is a reserve soldier.)  These guys were resting in the shade at Kfar Giladi, on the Lebanese border when the missile landed killing 9.  A 10th died in the field while receiving treatment and the 11th died in our operating room with penetrating injuries to the head, neck and a branch of the coronary artery. I opened his chest, but we could not restart his heart.  A most depressing day.

I have delayed my return to the U.S. until August 16.  Hopefully my services will not be needed required after that.  This is the longest war that Israel has fought (with the exception of the War of Independence in 1948). 

In retrospect, it would have been better to enter Lebanon with a force of 50,000-60,000 men at the onset of the conflict to clean out the area definitively with overwhelming force.  The general feeling here is that the staged increase in force has led to more deaths and will ultimately lead to another war because Arab States will be less afraid of Israel. 

Troops are massing in the fields around Rosh Pinna and other areas in the north.  Tanks, half tracks and other heavy equipment are on the roads and in the fields.  Last night I visited a Kibbutz near Kiryat Shmona.  The beautiful alley of eucalyptus trees leading to Kfar Blum as you turn off the main highway is now covered with ash and the fields burned by exploding Katyushas.  There was huge pall of smoke over Kiryat Shmona and another drifting south east from Lebanon.  As I drove back, I saw fires burning in the mountains above Kiryat Shmona.

Well, that is all from Northern Israel for today.  We will hope for a better day tomorrow.

August 7, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (1)

August 04, 2006 5:42 PM

Naylah Saab is in Beirut with her family.

Today has been a very stressful day because, as you probably heard, Israel threatened to hit the heart of Beirut. Some people started to fix their underground shelters, but unfortunately we, as well as many others, don't have one.

All day we watch the news (when we have electricity.)  My husband's sister and her husband moved in with us after they ran from their home in Sidon (south of Lebanon). We keep discussing whether to travel to a safer area, or just stay and wait. My husband cannot leave his work, and I will not leave without him. I have a 40 day old baby, and I'm terrified of having to run with her if the bombing starts in Beirut.

We are already using our savings, as companies have stopped paying  salaries. The companies that are open are not at all productive, so many have started laying off employees.

We keep the windows open at all times as we are scared that the pressure might break them. We even keep the curtains drawn so that we don't get injured in case the glass breaks.

In supermarkets, the shelves are almost empty. We have to go several times a day to get what we need. Water is scarce, and we have to wait in line or order a day ahead for bread. I can't always find the right brand of milk for my baby, and am trying to stock up. Of course everything has become more expensive. 

The wonderful coast of Lebanon looks black Israelis deliberately hit major fuel tanks. Viscous oil covers the sandy shore.

The Israelis are throwing leaflets threatening to hit different areas, and calling random numbers in the middle of the night to scare people. My sister, as well as many friends, got a call with a recording threatening the Lebanese. 

Every Lebanese family has some relatives or friends in dangerous areas who they haven't heard news of.

We are of the privileged few who still have the means to obtain food and water, and can afford to travel if need be. Many people are sleeping on the streets, begging for food. Many people are in shelters.

I really hope that this heartless killing will end before they destroy all that's left of this beautiful country that took years to rebuild.

This is organized mass terrorism, performed by an official army, while the world is watching, some even approvingly.  Is killing a one day old child an act of self defense? Is bombing a shelter and killing 70 civilians, mostly children an act of self defense?

As I was rereading this, we heard a big blast. It seems they have started bombing the suburbs of Beirut again. There were four consecutive blasts that sounded terrifyingly close. We can hear the warplanes now. I don't know if I can go through this again, or if I can let my daughter go through this.

August 4, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

August 04, 2006 4:46 PM

Update from Dr. Bill Schecter who is volunteering as an emergency room surgeon in Safed in Northern Israel.

Well, this has become a fight to the death!  Yesterday the President of Iran announced that the only way to solve the Middle East Conflict is to wipe Israel off the face of the map.  Yesterday 3 people were killed in Akko, a mixed Jewish\Arab City north of Haifa.  An additional 3 people were killed in Maalot, near the Lebanese Border. One of those killed was driving in his car at the time the Katyusha landed on top of him.  I wonder what the odds of that are?

Last night, driving home from work, the highway was filled with trailers hauling tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as tourist buses, which should have been taking tourists on a tour of the Galilee, hauling soldiers, who should be studying or working, to the front.  The sound of blasts just started.  I can't tell whether they are incoming Katyushas or our artillery, but I suspect they are Katyushas.

During the night, another 3 soldiers were killed including one doctor, a resident in orthopedics who was called up for military service (they call it order # 8 which means whatever else your are doing is irrelevant--it is only used in time of national emergency).  Several friends have sons who are in the military and they don't know where they are.

We are still doing regular emergency surgery for the local population though  most people have moved with family, friends and strangers who opened their homes to the center of the country.  Nasrallah has threatened to bomb Tel Aviv.  Intelligence sources say he has the missiles to do it.  If that happens there will be a swift, furious and terrible response and many more innocent people will die, both in Lebanon and Israel.  By the way, as far as I am concerned, the Israeli soldiers in Lebanon are innocent.  I can guarantee you that none of them want to be there.  However, over 3000 rockets have fallen on Israel in the past three weeks--and that is simply unacceptable!

I very much hope that a resolution will be achieved but am most pessimistic.  As the Psalmist implored:  "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem"

August 4, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

Nasrallah's horoscope

August 04, 2006 4:10 PM

Daphna Venyige is a member of the ABC News team in Jerusalem. 

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s birthday’s coming up.  On August 31st he will be turning 46 years old.  The secretary-general of the radical Lebanese Islamist Shiite group, Hezbollah, is a Virgo.

Virgo is the only astrological sign represented by a female.   

“But one’s personality isn’t only determined by their sun sign”, says Miriam Binyamin, Israel’s leading astrologist.  “When Hassan Nasrallah was born, the planet Pluto was in close proximity to his sun sign, Virgo.  Nasrallah, to me, is much more Pluto than Virgo.” 

Pluto is known as "the great renewer”.  Those born with Pluto in their sun signs experience the need to participate in world transformation, but Pluto is also associated with extreme power and corruption. 

The planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 and its discovery coincided with the rise of Fascism in Europe and the major increase of organized crime in the USA.  During that decade nuclear armament also saw its beginnings.  Pluto is the sign which is active under the surface.  Just as the sun works from above warming the planet, Pluto is the Lord of the Underworld and symbolizes everything that is beneath our consciousness.

Nasrallah’s one saving grace, Miriam Binyamin told me, is that his moon is in Sagittarius, which has kept Nasrallah alive until today.  Jupiter, the planet which rules Sagittarius, is the Planet of Luck. 

However, the winds are changing for Nasrallah, says Binyamin.  “Neptune entered the sign of Virgo a couple of weeks ago and this is what will bring about his demise.  Nasrallah is currently experiencing a lot of anxiety and uncertainty”, she says, “he is not what he used to be.” 

Other famous Virgos:

Yasser Arafat and Michael Jackson

August 4, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

Suspended Life

August 03, 2006 10:46 AM

By Nurit Tsur is in Nazareth Illith in north Israel. She is a currently an adviser for Israeli Parliament Member Danny Yatom who was a former head of Israeli Intelligence organization "Mossad".

I woke up this morning to the sound of the alarm screaming in my ears. My father, who was on his way to work as a taxi driver, opened the door to my room and urged me to enter the safe room.  I've become used to the alarm and to the distant "booms" and vibrations that follow. Or so I was trying to convince my self. 

I live in Nazareth Illith, a city that suffers more from the alarms than the strikes of the "Katuysha" missiles although some did fall on the edges of town several times. I have just returned to my parent's house after living in Tel-Aviv for six years and in September I'm heading to London School of Economics for a year.  I'm spending my last month in Israel worrying about missiles and attacks of all sorts.

In Israel we live in constant belief that we can't afford to lose a war. Any war! Every war is a war of survival. We want to live peacefully with our neighbors but we cannot let anyone come across our national interests of being able to keep on surviving as a Jewish democratic state. 

I started thinking about all the unnecessary killing that is going on in both sides and came to no understanding. I only know that we must make an effort to stop the unreasonable war that was forced on us by the terror organizations. Israel and Lebanese governments must start talking to each other and create a "free terrorist zone". Western society in turn must insist upon eliminating all "forces of evil" that are trying to make this a region of bloodshed and chaos. That was my conclusion.

Meanwhile I will try not to think of bad things while I'm driving and also to enter the safe room when the alarm starts screaming again. You never know where the strike will come from.

August 3, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

August 02, 2006 3:19 PM

SEND US YOUR THOUGHTS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

Sara Saab lives in Beirut.  She decided not to evacuate from the city.

Its Sunday night, eighteen days since the war started, Beirut is a ghost city. Lying on my bed in our Beirut apartment, listening to “No Bravery” by James Blunt on my I-Pod, trying to drown the noises of the Israel’s aircraft outside “…houses burnt beyond repair the smell of death is in the air…” resonates in my ears. That Sunday I watched the Qana massacre on our television.

How did it come to this? Only three weeks ago my friends and I were in a pub watching the World Cup Final oblivious of the fate awaiting us. Now we find ourselves cut off from a world that has turned blind to our misery and deaf to our pleas.

No words can ever describe the destruction and chaos that has thrashed our beloved country and injured our brave citizens.

The summer of 2006 was going to be Lebanon’s hottest tourist season to date, with an expected revenue of  $2.5 billion, instead the war is leaving us with expected losses of $1.5 billion, and the number increases daily. The number of tourists was going to reach 1.6 million, instead 1.5 million Lebanese citizens has left the country and more then 700,000 civilians are displaced. Our public and private schools, and parks are crammed with refugees who were forced to leave south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut. Our public and private beaches have been affected by the bombing.  A power utility spilled at least 10,000 tons of heavy fuel oil into the sea causing an environmental catastrophe. The bombing of the Lebanese infrastructure (bridges, roads, airport runaway etc…) leaves a dark grey smoke that works its way through the entire city and adds to the environmental disaster.

It is difficult to sit here quietly when children’s lives are being snatched.  National TV broadcasts the aftermath pictures of the attacks on our lands: children’s bodies slashed, burned, and smashed… all words that account for objects since this is how the Israeli’s perceive our children. 800 innocent Lebanese civilians are dead and as I type many more are being slaughtered.

In a world where people slaughter the innocent without mercy or retribution how can we have faith in humanity?

“Why are you still in Lebanon?” screams my friend on the phone.

“There is no place like home!” I reply.

Why are negotiations for a cease-fire taking so long? What could be more valuable than human life? Today, Hezbollah bombed 200 rockets into the north of Israel and Israel has threatened to retaliate into the depths of Beirut. I live in awe to what is coming and there is nothing I can do to defend my country. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” says Mahatama Ghandi.

August 2, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

August 02, 2006 1:33 PM

Update from Dr. Bill Schecter in Safed, Northern Israel.

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day.  "Only" a few mortar rounds fired into Kiryat Shmoneh.  The hospitals in the Center of the Country are rotating volunteer surgeons up here (like me) to care for the wounded.  We are staying in Rosh Pinna which is about a 15 minute drive from Safed down the mountain.  Rosh Pinna in Hebrew means cornerstone and it was one of the first communities established in the Turkish Province of Palestine in the 1880s on land purchased by the Rothschilds.  Many of the original beautiful stone homes remain.  My room is a renovated old stable across a beautiful courtyard from the family's house with whom I am being quatered. 

I went to sleep and bout 22:00 only to be awakened at midnight with news that we were about to get an incoming helicopter with casualties.  We waited for the casualties for almost 3 hours.  As previously, extraction of the casualties from the urban warfare environment is extremely difficult and landing a helicopter extremely dangerous as any one with an RPG can bring down a helicopter if they are in the right position.

There was one particularly poignant sight.  Doctors, nurses, soldiers, technicians and security personnel were all hanging around sitting on gurneys waiting for the wounded and wondering what was delaying the transport.  Suddenly, a worried father who had been informed showed up at 02:30 searching for his son, and we had not yet received the casualties.

We receive 7 casualties.  As opposed to the urban warfare casualties that I usually take care of, these boys were relatively lightly injured--smoke inhalation, superficial shrapnel injuries--but looked completely exhausted.  They hadn't slept in 50 hours (no RRC writing rules about an 80 hour work week on the battlefield!!).  They were covered in dirt and soot.  An anti-tank missile exploded in the room of a house where they set up an observation post.  Three of their friends died.  I am sure they were grieving for their comrades and this morning they all wanted to attend the funerals today but were in no shape to do so.  We sorted them out and I made it home for 2 hours sleep before morning rounds.

This morning on rounds we had 5 air-raid sirens and 6 Katyusha fell, two with very loud explosions close to the hospital.  The patients and their families immediately took out cell phones and began making worried calls in Hebrew and Arabic to family members to make sure they are all right.  This is a very Israeli phenomenum although I imagine the rest of the world is catching up with the epidemic of terrorism.  The London phone system ceased to function because of the high volume of calls last year after the 4 sequential bombings on July 7, 2005.  All in all 200 Katyushas were fired so far into northern Israel today!  Shortly after the big explosions we received 4 civilian casualties from Safed. 

Later in the day, a Kibbutznik was killed in his house in a Kibbutz just north of Nahariya by a Katyusha.

This afternoon I was asked to give a lecture to the whole staff on the organization of care for mass casualties.  It was well received.  I have never given this particular lecture in Hebrew but it went pretty well considering I didn't have any time to prepare because of the Katyusha casualties from this morning and the military casualties from last night.
Tonight is the beginning of the 9th Day of the Hebrew month of Av, the day on which the first and second Temples were destroyed and various other catastrophes in history occurred to the Jews (including, if I am not mistaken, the crushing of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War 11).  Observant Jews fast for 24 hours on this day and read the book of Lamentations in recollection of these events.  The Book of Lamentations seems like appropriate reading for other reasons at this time but the morale of the young soldiers, the public and the medical teams remains high.

We hope for better times and that our children will finish the job up in Lebanon as soon as possible so that the Katyushas will stop flying, the kidnapped soldiers (hopefully) will return home to their families and that the injury, death and destruction on both sides of the Israel-Lebanese Border will soon end.

August 2, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

Treating Patients Of War In Northern Israel

August 01, 2006 3:50 PM

Dr. Bill Schecter is in Safed, Northern Israel.  Dr. Schecter is the chief of surgery at San Francisco general hospital, he lives in San Francisco, and travels to Israel twice a year to teach courses on trauma surgery.  He was planning to go to Israel for a conference on surgery.  The conference was cancelled but Dr. Schecter decided to volunteer his services to help with the war wounded.

Sunday was a difficult day.  A building in Lebanon containing civilians was bombed, over 50 women and children were killed.  That evening there was a live broadcast on TV, of the preliminary investigation of the incident with expressions of great regret not only by the military but by the whole country.  The next day there was a live broadcast of a parliamentary debate on the decision to go to war, the tactics and the incident in Kfar Cana. 

While there is a national consensus that the war is justified (missiles were raining down on Israel for hours prior to and after the kidnapping of the two soldiers), Knesset members with radically opposed views attacked members of the government, the war and the incident in Kfar Cana.  Whatever one thinks of the war, Israel, with all its problems, remains a vibrant and open democracy.  There is no other country in the Middle East where opposing views with personal attacks on the Head of State, the Chief of Staff and the Minister of Defense would be broadcast on national television particularly in a time of war.   When Israel makes a mistake and innocent people are killed, there is an open investigation and, national introspection and depression.  When our cousins kill innocent women and children in Israel, there is rejoicing throughout the Arab world as if a great victory has been won.  Unfortunately, in the international media, you see the pictures from Lebanon but not from Israel.  I doubt that it has been reported that the hospital I am working in has received two direct hits from Katyushas and the hospital in Nahariya has received at least one.

Yesterday we discharged a Shiite woman from a village in South Lebanon who had a superficial gunshot wound on her back--an example of the "collateral damage" that occurs once the "dogs of war" are unleashed.  The Army brought her grown son to Israel to be with his mother. The Red Cross is arranging their repatriation to Lebanon.  She is a very nice lady who handed out candy to all the doctors and nurses who cared for her.  It seems it wouldn't be difficult to get along except that Islamic ideologues cannot accept non-Muslim political hegemony within the House of Islam.  The Shiites during the Lebanese War in the 1980's initially greeted the Israeli troops with flowers as they drove out the Sunni PLO that had established bases in and around their villages.  The fundamentalist Shiite Hezbollah began as a movement after the war influenced by the Shiite Iranian Revolution.

At about 12:30a on Monday morning we received 7 soldiers, mostly with shrapnel wounds.  I was up until about 5:00am helping to sort them out.  Fortunately only one required surgery.  They had already undergone the test of time.  It took more than 12 hours to evacuate them because they were trapped by hostile fire.  This is an example of the difficulties of urban warfare.  The necessity of limiting civilian casualties when urban guerrilla fighters are using civilians as shields makes safe extraction of the injured very difficult.

It is particularly sad that children on both sides of the border live in fear of bombs and rockets and must sleep in shelters at a time when they should be in summer camp, which have been cancelled, and enjoying their vacation.  Images of the dead children in Lebanon have been replayed countless times on international TV.  When Arab children died in Nazareth from Katyushas, the event was briefly mentioned in the international press and then forgotten.  Nasrallah called the Shahids (Holy Martyrs!).

A sort of cease fire (there are no air raids for 48 hours but ground operations are continuing) is in effect.  I am not holding my breath as I just heard a Katyusha land close by!

August 1, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

Living In Beirut

August 01, 2006 12:26 PM

Samih Dakrouni is a driver currently in Beirut.  He spoke with ABC News from Beirut today through a translator.  Samih is a Sunni Muslim

I have been in Beirut since the airport was bombed, so for over two weeks now.  We left Southern Lebanon for Beirut when the bombing started.  We have been sleeping in the shelter on the ground floor of my apartment building, for fear of bombs. 

Beirut has been quiet because of the 48 hour ceasefire.  There are airplanes landing at the airport to bring in relief supplies.  It is quiet here now but who knows what will happen next.  The Bekaa Valley is on fire right now and the same could happen here.

We are ten people living in a two bedroom apartment.  Usually I live there with my wife and four children.  There is basically no electricity and so no water in the apartment.  Yesterday there was electricity for 6 hours and today we were down to two hours so things are just getting worse.  We buy drinking water, 10 litres for 75cents.  This is twice what it would normally cost to buy water. 

Food prices have doubled or tripled.  A truck with food will arrive from as far away as Tripoli.  There are then fights about who gets the food.  The drivers also overcharge for the food because of the trouble they go through to get the food to Lebanon.

We are a good people, I am a good man would help anyone in need.  We hear Israeli planes fly over us everyday killing innocent women and children.  I cannot help but blame Israel.  We do not want war, we just want to live.

August 1, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (1)